Power to the Fandom:
What Superheroes Mean
to Everyday People
The superhero fandom is a large and loud one. Superheroes have become mainstream and are consumed by everyone. From loyal comic book readers to casual movie-goers, the superhero genre has captivated all and captivated the masses.
Superheroes are so popular because they provide an escape from reality. Sitting in a two hour movie or reading a twenty page comic provides a short relief from the lives we live. For a short time audiences and fans are captivated by everyday people deciding to do good in the world on a large scale. These characters are given stories that draw us in and make us love them. We grow attached to them and want them to succeed. While escaping, we also put a little bit of ourselves into the heroes. We imagine that they are like us and that we too could do great things. The connections people make between themselves and superheroes is why representation matters so much.
Anthony Mackie, who plays Sam Wilson AKA Falcon in the Marvel Cinematic Universe is one of the first black superheroes we’ve seen who isn’t white. Don Cheadle’s James Rhodes is of course present, but no one pays attention to him when he’s on screen with Iron Man. After Sam was introduced in Captain America: The Winter Soldier, there were black action figures being sold along Cap’s. Little black boys had someone to dress up as on Halloween that looked like them. Mackie in an interview about his role in Captain America: Civil War, says “I think everyone deserves someone to look up to and admire...we live in a day in age now where little black kids feel like they can’t connect to a character who doesn’t look like them. Or little girls feel like they can’t connect to a character who’s a guy, because they’re just different.” He touches on the fact that representation hasn’t been present in movies for decades. The diversity in superhero movies is badly wanted and refreshing. The power and influence of superheroes is something not quite seen before.
When I went to watch Captain America: Civil War I was excited and ready for the greatest
superhero movie yet. I was not disappointed, but I came out devastated. My love and attachment to Tony Stark was so great that I argued with my friends all the way to the car and the ride back to school was a silent one. In the theater you could feel the emotions of everyone watching Steve and Tony fight, of watching two iconic superheroes disagree.
Even before the movie came out, fans were pitted against each other as they took sides. They had their favorite hero and they would stand by them. At the end of the movie the theater was silent and people just sat in there seats digesting what they had just watched. Marvel had turned their lives upside down in that moment. The euphoria and deep sadness that was palpable in the audience when watching Civil War goes to show the powerful meaning behind superheroes if they could create this intense and very real collective effervescence.