The Marvel Cinematic Universe is becoming increasingly diverse, on and off screen. The franchise’s continued success depends on remaining culturally relevant.
Although not pitched as one, Avengers: Endgame is an environmental movie. But in reality, we need to face our fears and find solutions, rather than perpetuating the fantasy of regressing into the past.
Marvel villain Thanos wiped out half the universe’s population to create paradise. But as the Avengers find out in Endgame, solving resource scarcity is not that simple.
Plenty of movies have tried to play with time travel to help develop their plot. But Avengers: Endgame adds a little quantum mechanics into the mix as well.
To some, superhero films are the equivalent of fracking. But they offer audiences transcendence, mystery, a moral compass, and even the hope of salvation.
The reviews are coming in pretty harsh for Justice League. If Superman is awesome and Batman is awesome and Wonder Woman is awesome, shouldn’t the three of them together be thrice as awesome?
It was the year of the grown-up superhero. Dark, witty and complex, superheroes on the big and small screen have – mostly – matured past mindless violence.
Speaking with Jason Dittmer on superheroes and fascism
America's flirtations with fascism in the 1930s and the influence of the Second World War gave rise to nationalistic, quasi-fascist superheroes who are still relevant and popular today.
Avengers: Age of Ultron, released this week, is one of many superhero films destined for the multiplex in the coming months and years. What’s behind this trend? And what kind of villain would be powerful enough to stop it in its tracks?
In the fall of 2010, as The Walking Dead was about to debut on TV, I launched my Media Genres: Zombies course at the University of Baltimore and examined what that horror subgenre reflects about our culture…