“…we need voting and vaccines. Batman and Wonder Woman just don’t cut it.”
That’s the thing I woke up to on a gloomy morning this week, an article in The Guardian titled Superhero movies have never seemed more obscene. Well, to be honest, and not-so-polite, an article in such an esteemed publication has never seemed more stupid. For starters, no one in their right minds would expect a caped crusader to battle and defeat Covid-19
Hell no, we don’t expect the Avengers to assemble and wipe the virus off the face of the earth – à la Thanos, neither do we expect the Justice League to beat the sh*t out of it as they did with Steppenwolf. Even the biggest of superhero nerds know that ain’t happening. But at the same time, there couldn’t have been a better time for superhero movies to release, and if there’s one reason why they should, it’s because they bring us HOPE—something the world needs in huge doses now.
What do you feel is the essence of a superhero movie, series or a comic? In essence, the fight for fairness, the fight for what is right and the belief that goodwill eventually wins over evil, no matter how dark the times are. So, is there any better time than now, when the world is fighting gloom, negativity and hopelessness, for Batman or Wonder Woman to make people feel all is not lost? That at the end of the day, there’s always a ray of light which will burst through the clouds of unhappiness.
The world of superheroes is also ‘an escape’ — a relief from all the negativity we are bombarded with by the media — be it the death of an actor and the absolute circus following his death or the rising toll of deaths in this never-ending pandemic. These characters may be flawed, but in essence, are positive people. We are getting tired of politicians, people in power, businessmen and we all need an ideal we can look up to. Would you say it’s really a bad thing if a child believes in the ideals WW or The Dark Knight stand and fight for?
The current state of the world seems chaotic and despairing and that is exactly where superheroes come in. They are who we look up to when we feel hopeless and powerless because that is exactly what they were created for.
The world once again is going through tumultuous times, and we don’t know where’s the end or rather what even the end is going to be. And be it Wonder Woman 1984 or The Batman — it’s the perfect time for these movies to release.
As Batman says in The Dark Knight, “Sometimes the truth isn’t good enough. Sometimes people deserve more. Sometimes people deserve to get their faith rewarded.”
This, my friends, is one such time.
The writer is Kolkata-based storyteller.
We also pay tribute to actor Chadwick Boseman aka The Black Panther who died of colon cancer on August 29, 2020, at the age of 43. Boseman made for a black superhero, inspired several people and will go on to live in the hearts of his fans. RIP King T’challa.
Wakanda Forever…
