Age of the superheroes

When it comes to movies these days, superheroes seem to be the best bet to having a huge hit.
And this year, there is a whole line-up of films coming our way. The prequel to the X-Men series, X-Men: First Class has finally arrived. And there will be more to come such as The Green Lantern, Captain America, The Dark Knight Rises, The third instalment of the Transformers series, and of course, one cannot forget India’s take on the genre, Ra.One.One will also get see reboots of characters like Superman and Spider-Man.
Why do we love superheroes? Is it because we are always looking for a larger-than-life character who can take all the evils of the world? Or is it something about their persona that we are really attracted to? True, we are excited to see Batman drive the Bat mobile over rooftops and Superman flanking bullets like they were paper. And Spider-Man’s web slinging stunts are certainly a delight.
Today, times have changed. Most of the latest films do not belong to the original idea found in comic books of yesteryear, where it was only the heroics of the hero that made the film a hit. It’s no longer about a man who puts on a suit and defeats the bad guy. It is the human story that we all connect with. It is not only about the situations he deals with, but also how he confronts his demons and how he has adapted to the present day scenario. Perhaps the best films to showcase this thought were Director Christopher Nolan’s take on Batman with Batman Begins and The Dark Knight, which were lauded by fans and critics for its realism. Both films did very well at the box office, with Batman earning $371,853,783 and The Dark Knight $1,001,921,825 worldwide.
The idea of Batman sacrificing his personal desires to save the city of Gotham is an inherently human feeling that we all connect with. The concept of mutants going to war because they are hated by others for being ‘different’ is something that we have seen time and again in communal riots. Spider-Man’s life changing choices are similar to what we go through every day where we have to choose between doing the right thing and simply looking at self gain. As viewers, we connect with these concepts as it appeals to our human nature. Not to mention we also get some beautiful love interests, some crazy arch villains, great special effects and a whole lot of action to go with it.
The beauty of cinema is that it has the power to take an old concept, and showcase in a new light. And when we see some of our favourite characters in a new avatar, we are obviously excited to see it.