Jessica Balanzategui and Liam Burke
“Anyone can wear the mask. YOU could wear the mask. If you didn’t know that before, I hope you do now.”
Miles Morales in Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse
The 2018 animated superhero movie Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse (Perischetti, Ramsey and Rothman) closed with the new Spider-Man, Afro-Latino Miles Morales, reminding audiences of the fluidity of superhero identities. The dimension-hopping film offered a variety of web-slingers, from the hipster Spider-Gwen to the anthropomorphic, Looney-Tunes-cartoon-esque animal Spider-Ham (real name Peter Porker). This plurality continued into the film’s animation style, which blended traditional animation with computer generated imagery. Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse was a fitting close to a year that had seen the superhero leap industrial, cultural, and social boundaries: Black Panther (Coogler 2018) broke box office records and barriers for the representation of superheroes on screen; Spider-Man leapt into a fully realised New York in the best-selling Playstation Game (Marvel’s Spider-Man, Insomiac Games and Sony Interactive Entertainment 2018); and broadcasters and streaming services extended their rosters of superhero shows to include Titans (Goldsman, Johns, and Berlanti 2018), Black Lightning (Akil 2018), and Cloak & Dagger (Pokaski 2018). Each new development expands and complicates how we define the superhero identity. This special issue charts some of the ways superheroes have challenged generic classification, navigated transmedia extensions, and crossed national boundaries.
Questions of genre have long been key to considerations of the textual and cultural identity of superhero fiction (Eco; Cawelti; Burke; Harvey; Coogan), which has been associated with generic “murkiness” (Hatfield, Heer, and Worcester 3) and characterised by a “blend of influences” (Murray 12) since its crystallization as a distinct mode in the late 1930s and 1940s. While Coogan and Reynolds have outlined how, despite this inherent hybridity, superhero fiction can be defined as a genre that spans multiple media, as the post-9/11 superhero renaissance reached its peak throughout the 2010s, superhero storytelling has become acutely generically hybrid and polyphonic. As a number of scholars, including Andrew Lynch, Duncan McLean, Martyn Pedler, and Jack Teiwes, explore from different angles in this special issue, the increasingly multilayered transtextual and transmedia extension of superhero narratives in the twenty-first century has led to continuous (re)negotiations with genre and continuity that are both self-reflexive and strategic.
In the case of the most commercially successful and culturally influential superhero franchise of the twenty-first century, the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU), the franchise has expanded to encompass ten individual film series or films centred around key superhero characters, in addition to four ensemble “Avengers” films that draw many of these key characters together. As more threads have been weaved into the MCU web, Marvel Studios have adopted a strategy of aligning different character and franchise brands with specific generic pleasures in an attempt to differentiate the various segments of the MCU and appeal to particular demographics. For instance, the first stand-alone Marvel Studio’s Spider-Man film, Spider-Man: Homecoming (Watts 2017), introduced the teen coming-of-age comedy into the MCU, as is signalled by the film’s subtitle, which references the high-school homecoming dance that constitutes the film’s third act, a common feature of the teen film. This generic allegiance was emphasised in the film’s marketing materials, which included a poster campaign that parodically mimicked the iconic poster for The Breakfast Club (Hughes 1985). By contrast, the Captain America films draw nostalgically from war films and adventure serials of the 1940s, including the fifteen part 1944 Republic film serial, Captain America (Clifton and English), which was the first cinematic adaptation of the Captain America comics (and the first film series to feature a Marvel – then known as Timely Comics – character). Furthermore, the Guardians of the Galaxy film series is predominantly fantasy sci-fi that functions as a comic bricolage of 1970s and 1980s fantasy adventure films, such as the Indiana Jones franchise and Starman (Carpenter 1984) (which is explicitly referenced in the Guardians of the Galaxy series).
Thus, the MCU experiments with the pattern of “difference and repetition” (Neale 48) characteristic of genre filmmaking – or, in other words, the pleasurable interplay between adherence to and subversion of familiar generic formulae – by incorporating a number of different generic shades into the sprawling diegetic world built across the twenty-three films of the first three phases. All of the MCU films subscribe in broad strokes to superhero genre characteristics, which are defined relatively consistently across the work of superhero scholars including Reynolds and Coogan, while self-reflexively critiquing or playing with facets of this formula. This generic play is partly provoked by the way each of the individual character’s film series are generically differentiated in alignment with the branded identity of each franchise: for instance, the Guardians of the Galaxy films are marketed using “retro” pop songs – in particular Blue Swede’s 1974 cover of “Hooked on a Feeling” – and film posters that recall VHS tape covers and vinyl records. In the ensemble films, multiple generic influences coalesce and intermingle to form a fugue-like constellation of styles, tropes, and regimes of verisimilitude. Thus, in the case of the MCU, the interplay of difference and repetition does not occur diachronically within a single genre, but relates to a strategy of generic mixing beneath the broad umbrella of the superhero genre aimed at balancing novelty and familiarity in one expansive diegetic universe.
Furthermore, both the DC and Marvel superhero film franchises have numerous television spin-off series that further complicate superhero fiction’s relationships with genre in the twenty-first century. As Lynch asserts in his article in this special issue, the Marvel/Netflix collaboration of 2015-2019 resulted in distinctively generically hybridised TV series that by turns adapt the popular comics upon which they are based, draw upon the forms and generic tropes of their blockbuster cinematic counterparts, and imply cultural distance from these “lower brow” superhero texts through stylish, Quality TV-like title sequences and a grittier, more realistic regime of verisimilitude. The superheroes of the twenty-first century thus disrupt hierarchies and categories of cultural prestige, genre, and style. The articles in this special issue seek to articulate how such processes of generic mixing impact upon the identity of superhero characters: transculturally (Pellegrin), textually (Lynch), and aesthetically (Pedler; Torre).
In addition to leaping genres in a single bound, these costume-clad adventurers have proven uniquely adept at breaking down the boundaries between media platforms. Disney and WarnerMedia have placed superheroes at the forefront of their transmedia initiatives. In 2018, American telecommunications company AT&T acquired Time Warner and its media subsidiaries including DC Comics. The new conglomerate, WarnerMedia, intends to be a dominant player in the streaming video on demand (SVOD) market, a space the company has made early steps into with the DC Universe streaming service, a transmedia initiative that provides subscribers with access to comics books, classic superhero movies, and new TV shows such as Titans, Doom Patrol (Carver 2019), and Swamp Thing (Duaberman and Verheieden 2019). In 2019, Disney acquired 20th Century Fox, bringing Marvel characters previously licensed with Fox, such as X-Men and the Fantastic Four, into their remit. Indeed, the media conglomerate has positioned superheroes alongside princesses and Jedi as their transmedia anchors, as they also look to also move into the streaming space. Disney’s new streaming service Disney+ will feature big budget miniseries including Falcon & the Winter Soldier (Spellman 2020) and WandaVision (Schaeffer 2020/2021) that will extend the narratives of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Migrating their popular film characters to Disney+ is intended to cement Disney’s dominance of the streaming market.
With their cross-generational appeal, widely recognized iconography, and never-ending quest for justice, superheroes are uniquely placed to triumph in an era that places an emphasis on “spreadable media” (Jenkins et al. 2). The transmedia extension of superheroes have made characters that were once fixed on the comic book page much more pervasive and popular, but it has also complicated their identities. As Dan Torre notes in his contribution to this issue, not every extension takes place in a single bound, with medium specific differences shaping all aspects of the superhero including their voice. Similarly, as Martyn Pedler and Jack Teiwes interrogate in their articles, continuity and reboots becomes an increasingly complex process when characters with decades of publication history are extended to multiple media platforms.
Superheroes have not only become transmedia icons, but also transnational archetypes. Created in the depths of the Depression as a response to the challenges of the Machine Age, superheroes are inescapably modern, urban, and American. Murray, referencing Jewett and Lawrence’s reworking of Campbell’s monomyth to reflect American exceptionalism, describes the superhero as “an example of the American monomyth in that it reflects a certain predisposition towards utopian thinking and the association of America with paradise” (Murray 11-12). International comic creators traditionally avoided the superhero genre due to its inextricable link with America. When local superheroes have been created they tend to be satiric like the Manga One-Punch Man, anti-heroic, as in the Italian master criminal Diabolik, or, in the case of British counter-culture hero Zenith, both. These international superheroes often comment on American cultural imperialism, with Murray noting of British superheroes: “[they] have often worked against the assumptions and conventions of the genre, forming a countertradition that subverts the superhero, employs a mode of parody, and in some instances offer a satirical critique of the genre and its politics” (Murray 3-4). In keeping with this tradition is the satirical Supergroom, a superhero parody character featured in the long-running Bande Dessinée Spirou. In her contribution to this issue, Annick Pellegrin charts how this satirical superhero reveals key facets of France and Belgium’s complicated relationship with the US. Despite early resistance to superheroes, many countries and regions have recently introduced locally produced heroes such as Australia’s Cleverman, Russia’s Guardians, and Pakistan’s Burka Avenger. These examples further enrich and complicate the superhero identity as they reimagine the now global icon to respond to local cultures, politics, and traditions.
The superhero genre is often described as an all-encompassing genre built around familiar thrills and predictable character developments. However, opening this special issue, Duncan McLean’s paper, “Not Another Superhero Movie: Genre Blending in the Marvel Cinematic Universe”, charts how Marvel Studios deftly use genre blending and mixing across their transmedia endeavours to avoid the audience fatigue that can plague genres. In particular, he describes how Marvel have balanced the distinct generic identities of individual films within the larger cinematic crossovers in a way that celebrates rather than obscures the diverse generic identities of the superheroes. As McLean demonstrates, while these strategies do not prevent novice audiences from investing in the individual franchise installments, like the complex narratives (Mittell) of Quality TV, they reward those audience members with a fuller understanding of the larger franchise.
Moving specifically to Quality TV, in his article “’I’m not trying to be a hero’: Quality TV superheroes and generic hybridity in the marvel/Netflix television series”, Andrew Lynch examines how superhero series have self-consciously challenged paradigms of taste and genre in the era of prestige television on subscription streaming video on demand (SVOD) services. Lynch focuses on the period in which Marvel and streaming service Netflix collaborated to produce superhero programs such as Daredevil (Knight 2015-2018), Jessica Jones (Rosenberg 2015-2019), and Luke Cage (Coker 2016-2018), arguing that these programs combine the seemingly incompatible modes of superhero fiction and Quality TV. Lynch contends that the Marvel/Netflix collaborations are uniquely suited to this seemingly disjunctive genre combination, because these shows are based upon comic books that are thoroughly generically hybrid, and contribute to the increasingly tonally-diverse Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU).
Martyn Pedler explores the persistent narrative function of trauma, remembering, and forgetting in the Batman mythology in his article “‘I’m Eight Years Old Again’: Batman’s Tragedy, Memory, and Continuity.” Drawing upon theorisations of the aesthetics of trauma and the contradictions of superhero continuity, Pedler suggests that fixations with Batman’s traumatic origin story across time, media, and different iterations illuminate the complex logic of comic book continuity. Pedler examines how Batman’s traumatic origins function as his “narrative engine” across different texts and contexts, and underpin each text’s hyperconscious, amnesiac, and/or oneiric approach to comic book continuity.
Maintaining this interest in continuity, Jack Teiwes’ paper “The Man Of Steel Vs. Reactionary Meta-Reboots! New systems of adaptation and continuity management in multimedia superhero narratives” applies a fresh perspective to the increasingly complex issue of superhero reboots and canon. As superheroes are spread across multiple media platforms, their identities are often pulled in contradictory directions. Teiwes demonstrates how industry and audience alike have sought to reconcile competing versions of beloved characters. With a particular focus on Superman, this article demonstrates how the Last Son of Krypton is often the first to brave company-wide reboots and retcons, with varying degrees of success. Tiewes argues that viewing such reinventions as adaptations rather than new episodes in a longer career may provide a firmer conceptual framework to navigate the choppy waters of superhero continuity.
Through their iconic insignias and coordinated costumes, superheroes are recognisable at a distance. However, in his article “Super-Voices: Vocal Performances and Identity in Superhero Comics, Animation, Radio, and Cinema”, Dan Torre reminds us that vocal performances can also contribute greatly to a superhero’s identity. From Batman’s gruff to Hulk’s growls, Torre considers how these vocal performances are shaped by different media from the seemingly silent comics to the audio dependent radio. This article brings overdue attention to the topic of vocal performance in superhero scholarship, helping to round out our understanding of superhero identities.
Moving from heroes to villains, in “‘If You’re Good at Something, Never Do it for Free’: Cinematic Supervillains, Narrative Effectiveness, and Brand-Building”, Chris Comerford and Jason Bainbridge analyse the efficacy of different strategies to foster audience engagement with cinematic supervillains. They consider how supervillains contribute to superhero franchise branding and brand awareness, illuminating how factors such as screen time, casting, and narrative function align with critical and audience reception of supervillain characters. In so doing, Comerford and Bainbridge seek to articulate what constitutes an effective versus an ineffective cinematic supervillain.
Extending our analysis to international examples, in her article “Groomboy SuperGroom (if you don’t mind): Reflecting on Costume and Fleshing out Spirou”, Annick Pellegrin examines how longstanding Belgian comic book character Spirou has been self-reflexively redeveloped in recent years, in ways that reflect upon Spirou’s cultural function as a myth and multilayered sign. Focusing in particular on how authorial team Yoann and Vehlmann have approached Spirou’s iconic—but increasingly textually irrelevant—bellboy costume, Pellegrin demonstrates how Yoann and Vehlmann playfully relate Spirou to American superheroes.
An interview between comic book historian Ian Gordon and celebrated comic book creator David Hine closes this issue. Hine interrogates how the contemporary push for diversity in comic book publishing is often opportunistic on the part of publishers, yet suggests that there is a long history of civic-minded creators who have used these malleable marvels to address socio-political issues. The creator also examines how superheroes are “essentially fascistic vigilantes” and how different writers and artists have sought to address this with varying degrees of success. Reflecting on his own experiences creating the French Muslim version of Batman, Nightrunner, Hine notes how economic imperatives often limit boundary-pushing superhero stories. However, ending the issue on an optimistic note, Hine describes how the growing number of independent comics has allowed creators to “put political and artistic integrity above commercial considerations.”
The different perspectives in this special issue’s articles help chart how superhero identities have navigated an era of textual, industrial, and cultural fluidity, demonstrating the increasing flexibility of these long-standing icons.
Works Cited
Burke, Liam. Superhero Movies. Pocket Essentials, 2008.
Cawelti, John G. Adventure, Mystery, and Romance: Formula Stories as Art and Popular Culture. The University of Chicago Press, 1976.
Coogan, Peter. Superhero: the Secret Origin of a Genre. MonkeyBrain Books, 2006.
Eco, Umberto. “The Myth of Superman.” Diacritics, vol. 2, no. 1, 1972, pp. 14–22.
Harvey, Robert C. The Art of the Comic Book: an Aesthetic History. University Press of Mississippi, 1996.
Hatfield, Charles, et al., editors. The Superhero Reader. University Press of Mississippi, 2013.
Jenkins, Henry, et al. Spreadable Media: Creating Value and Meaning in a Networked Culture. New York University Press, 2013.
Jewett, Robert, and John Shelton Lawrence. The Myth of the American Superhero. W.B. Eerdmans, 2002.
Murray, Chris. The British Superhero. University Press of Mississippi, 2017.
Reynolds, Richard. Super Heroes: a Modern Mythology. University Press of Mississippi, 1994.
Mittell, Jason. Complex TV: The Poetics of Contemporary Television Storytelling. NYU Press, 2015.
Neale, Steve. Genre. The British Film Institute, 1980.
Biographical notes:
Jessica Balanzategui is a Lecturer in Cinema and Screen Studies at Swinburne University of Technology. Jessica’s research examines childhood, history, and national identity in global film and television; the impact of technological and industrial change on cinema and entertainment cultures; and vernacular storytelling and aesthetics in digital cultures (particularly the digital gothic). Her book, The Uncanny Child in Transnational Cinema, was published in 2018 by Amsterdam University Press, and her work has been published in numerous edited collections and refereed journals (such as Studies in Australasian Cinema, The Quarterly Review of Film and Video, and The Journal of Visual Culture). Jessica is the founding editor of Amsterdam University Press’s new book series, “Horror and Gothic Media Cultures”, and she is an editor of Refractory: A Journal of Entertainment Media.
Liam Burke is a senior media studies lecturer and major coordinator at Swinburne University of Technology, Melbourne, Australia. Liam has published widely on comic books and adaptation, with his books including The Comic Book Film Adaptation: Exploring Modern Hollywood’s Leading Genre, Superhero Movies, and the edited collection Fan Phenomena Batman. His next book, the edited collection The Superhero Symbol (with Ian Gordon and Angela Ndalianis), will be published by Rutgers University Press in 2019. Liam is a chief investigator of the Australian Research Council funded project Superheroes & Me.