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| From Batman to Iron Man: the super-rich superheroes | From Batman to Iron Man: the super-rich superheroes |
| (5 months later) | |
| It's 75 years to the week (give or take, comics haven't always had precise issue dates) that the first Superman comic hit the newsstands. | It's 75 years to the week (give or take, comics haven't always had precise issue dates) that the first Superman comic hit the newsstands. |
| While he wasn't entirely unprecedented, Superman's first appearance in Action Comics #1 was a watershed moment. In short order dozens of caped imitators were launched to exploit the reading public's immense appetite for stories of strong men in tights punching lumps out of one another. | While he wasn't entirely unprecedented, Superman's first appearance in Action Comics #1 was a watershed moment. In short order dozens of caped imitators were launched to exploit the reading public's immense appetite for stories of strong men in tights punching lumps out of one another. |
| Interestingly though, Superman's earliest foes weren't giant robots or genetically modified supercriminals. That first story – Superman: Champion Of The Oppressed – saw the illegal Kryptonian immigrant right a miscarriage of justice, put an end to a domestic abuse case and strike terror into the heart of an unscrupulous political lobbyist. | Interestingly though, Superman's earliest foes weren't giant robots or genetically modified supercriminals. That first story – Superman: Champion Of The Oppressed – saw the illegal Kryptonian immigrant right a miscarriage of justice, put an end to a domestic abuse case and strike terror into the heart of an unscrupulous political lobbyist. |
| The simple farm boy from Kansas was morally grounded in that same post-Depression sense of moral rectitude that informed Preston Sturges or John Steinbeck. | The simple farm boy from Kansas was morally grounded in that same post-Depression sense of moral rectitude that informed Preston Sturges or John Steinbeck. |
| Fast forward 75 years and superheroes are bigger news than ever. But they aren't just regular Joes with a talent. The two biggest box-office stories right now are billionaire playboy, industrialist and crime-fighter Bruce Wayne and billionaire playboy, inventor and retired arms dealer Tony Stark. Batman and Iron Man respectively. | Fast forward 75 years and superheroes are bigger news than ever. But they aren't just regular Joes with a talent. The two biggest box-office stories right now are billionaire playboy, industrialist and crime-fighter Bruce Wayne and billionaire playboy, inventor and retired arms dealer Tony Stark. Batman and Iron Man respectively. |
| The plot of the first Iron Man movie was centred on a boardroom battle between Stark and his rival, Obadiah Stane. The second focused on a business rivalry between Stark and a rival arms manufacturer, Justin Hammer. Expect more corporate shenanigans in chapter 3, due next week. | The plot of the first Iron Man movie was centred on a boardroom battle between Stark and his rival, Obadiah Stane. The second focused on a business rivalry between Stark and a rival arms manufacturer, Justin Hammer. Expect more corporate shenanigans in chapter 3, due next week. |
| Similarly Batman Begins, Christopher Nolan's feted relaunch of Gotham City's crimebusting vigilante, involved a corporate sellout from within Bruce Wayne's own company. There was more of the same in the concluding part of Nolan's trilogy, The Dark Knight Rises. | Similarly Batman Begins, Christopher Nolan's feted relaunch of Gotham City's crimebusting vigilante, involved a corporate sellout from within Bruce Wayne's own company. There was more of the same in the concluding part of Nolan's trilogy, The Dark Knight Rises. |
| So when did popular culture grow up and fall in love with the military industrial complex? | So when did popular culture grow up and fall in love with the military industrial complex? |
| In part, the recasting of billionaires as supermen is down to the current trend for realism. Money Supermarket threw together some figures on how much it might cost to become a superhero. Batman came out at around $690,000,000. The price of becoming Iron Man was an even more impressive $1,600,000,000. | In part, the recasting of billionaires as supermen is down to the current trend for realism. Money Supermarket threw together some figures on how much it might cost to become a superhero. Batman came out at around $690,000,000. The price of becoming Iron Man was an even more impressive $1,600,000,000. |
| Now, those numbers are fanciful estimates rooted in the weird science of superhero world, but they're probably in the right order of magnitude. Until we find a planet populated by creatures who can fly and shoot lasers from their eyes, or an interstellar police force armed with near-omnipotent jewellery, money is the only real superpower. | Now, those numbers are fanciful estimates rooted in the weird science of superhero world, but they're probably in the right order of magnitude. Until we find a planet populated by creatures who can fly and shoot lasers from their eyes, or an interstellar police force armed with near-omnipotent jewellery, money is the only real superpower. |
| Of course, billionaires aren't the only heroes of hit superhero flicks. There's also The Hulk (scientist employed by the US military), Captain America (super-soldier created by the US military), Hawkeye and Black Widow (assassins employed by a US-dominated covert military force) and Thor (a god). | Of course, billionaires aren't the only heroes of hit superhero flicks. There's also The Hulk (scientist employed by the US military), Captain America (super-soldier created by the US military), Hawkeye and Black Widow (assassins employed by a US-dominated covert military force) and Thor (a god). |
| And that was just The Avengers. | And that was just The Avengers. |
| Marvel also devised Spider-Man, but his adventures are often surprisingly domestic in nature. He spends more time disciplining family friends who have morphed into lizards or goblins than standing up to slum landlords. Marvel's X-Men do, to their credit, seem to care about events beyond their immediate social circle. | Marvel also devised Spider-Man, but his adventures are often surprisingly domestic in nature. He spends more time disciplining family friends who have morphed into lizards or goblins than standing up to slum landlords. Marvel's X-Men do, to their credit, seem to care about events beyond their immediate social circle. |
| DC Comics has enjoyed fewer cinema successes than its great rival Marvel. Its only recent live-action superhero flick apart from the Batman films featured Green Lantern – a test-pilot employed by a US defence contractor who became a sort of space cop. | DC Comics has enjoyed fewer cinema successes than its great rival Marvel. Its only recent live-action superhero flick apart from the Batman films featured Green Lantern – a test-pilot employed by a US defence contractor who became a sort of space cop. |
| All that may well change in June when Man Of Steel, a second attempt at rebooting the Superman franchise, reaches cinemas. Plot details are still sketchy, but the principal antagonist seems to be exiled Kryptonian warlord General Zod. | All that may well change in June when Man Of Steel, a second attempt at rebooting the Superman franchise, reaches cinemas. Plot details are still sketchy, but the principal antagonist seems to be exiled Kryptonian warlord General Zod. |
| There's a skein of New Testament self-sacrifice running through many Superman stories, and I wouldn't be at all surprised if we saw an element of that here. But as it currently stands Man Of Steel does feel as if it might concern a super-powered vendetta where the "little man" is irrelevant except as cannon fodder. | There's a skein of New Testament self-sacrifice running through many Superman stories, and I wouldn't be at all surprised if we saw an element of that here. But as it currently stands Man Of Steel does feel as if it might concern a super-powered vendetta where the "little man" is irrelevant except as cannon fodder. |
| Don't misinterpret my angle here. I love this kind of film. There's barely a superhero flick that I haven't seen and at least partly enjoyed. But just for a change of pace it would be nice to see the supermen stop fighting among themselves and becoming Champions Of The Oppressed again. | Don't misinterpret my angle here. I love this kind of film. There's barely a superhero flick that I haven't seen and at least partly enjoyed. But just for a change of pace it would be nice to see the supermen stop fighting among themselves and becoming Champions Of The Oppressed again. |
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