Caped Crusaders, Masked Vigilantes, and Billion Dollar Franchises: The Political Economy of Superheroes

Over the course of the past decade, Superheroes have leapt, in what seems like a single bound, from the margins of popular culture to their current position as the undisputed hegemons of the entertainment industry. So much so that to say they have become culturally ubiquitous is to offer the same sort of cliché as to argue that Batman is a fascist.What is masked by the meteoric ascent of the spandex set to such levels of mass cultural appeal is the fact that Superheroes are one of American Capitalism's original and most enduring tropes. Why have they stuck around for so long? And what does it say about political consciousness that masked vigilantes are such popular figures? And, maybe most importantly for socialists, which of them champion causes worthy of our support (critical or otherwise)?To find out all of this AND MORE, go down to your local Socialism 2018 app and add this talk to your pull list, True Believer!