Monday, September 7, 2015

How Dark Is Too Dark in Superhero Stories?

What I object to is the kind of contemporary superhero writer who says, “Let’s make Captain America a child molester, and that will be ‘edgy.’” No, that will merely violate the long-established essence of the character. Superhero stories are at least as much as about moral heroism as they are about super powers or any of the rest of it. And doesn’t mean the stories can’t be “dark” (though they should not be universally and relentlessly so). For example, the Netflix “Daredevil” is quite dark, but uses that menacing darkness to put a contrasting spotlight on Matt Murdock’s unswerving moral commitment.

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