The explanation for this preponderant interest in superhero stories could be traced, potentially, to that transitional period in American history, bridging the summers of 2000 and 2002, when a newfound enthusiasm in comic-book stories arose in the American moviegoer. What may account for this increase, as it does for so many of America’s ongoing syndromes, is the advent of the age of terror, and the stories that audiences needed to hear in its wake. These were, of course, tales of impossible heroism in the face of evil, a commitment to ultimate justice at all costs. The superpower had been rendered momentarily vulnerable, and its media may have adapted to capitalize on that vulnerability.

Observe how willingly films like Man of Steel (2013) co-opt the iconography of destruction, or how, in The Dark Knight, Heath Ledger’s Joker threatens societal order with terroristic chaos. The tone and tenor of superhero blockbusters have long paralleled the public’s view of American interventionism abroad, following the oblivious self-assuredness of the past into the darker, more complicated self-reflection of the present. 9/11 may have been the reboot of the American character. If so, every year since has been a rehash of an old origin story.