In the tail end of 2007 and throughout most of 2008 the World was hit by the most devastating financial crisis it had seen since the Great Depression. I know, strange way to start off a blog post about superheroes but bear with me.
This crash affected nearly everyone, there was not a household in the Western hemisphere and beyond that didn't have to tighten its belt and it meant that suddenly even the most economically oblivious were paying attention to what was happening in the financial markets, and what they saw was not positive.
The movie Ironman was arguably the first and most successful of the new breed of superhero movies to have spawned from the 21st century and which now dominate our cinema screens in an unending conveyor belt of large budgets, colourful explosions and disregard for public safety. Most people know the movie, or have seen it, they know who Tony Stark is and they idolise and adore him and his world saving pals, they hold him in high esteem, and despite being a fictional character people try to emulate him and those he works with in their attempts to defend the planet.
So why am I bringing these two seemingly unrelated subjects together? Well it's simple, Ironman came out in 2008 during the height of the Financial crisis, when people were struggling, jobs were being lost and the news was full of cartoonish villains in the form of money grabbing bankers and perverse politicians. There were no real heroes during the crash, Journalists who should have been held high for revealing the faults in the system were reviled for sensationalising things and pushing markets lower, politicians with good ideas were drowned out in the echo chamber of blame and then suddenly this movie came out.
Superhero movies had been tried repeatedly in the 90s and early 2000s. With failures like Daredevil, Spawn, Elektra, several Hulk movies, Superman Reborn there was no indication that Ironman should be any form of great success, successful sure, but to become a cinematic legend? Probably not, and yet it took over half a billion dollars at the Box Office and launched the entire Marvel Cinematic franchise machine that we've become not just excited by but used to as a part of every day life ten years on.
I don't think that this was a coincidence at all. At a time when people were angry, upset and had nothing to look up to, suddenly we had plastered all around us these seeming roll models, ready made heroes whose lives we could escape into, whose exploits we could observe and enjoy, whose triumphs we could celebrate and whose losses we could grieve for. They are the modern world equivalent of famous explorers whose great adventures entertained the masses in the dark streets of London, or the Dickensian novels that provided an escape in the weekly newspapers for the tired middle classes.
Economics can ultimately be boiled down to supply and demand. I believe the truly monstrous success of the Superhero films of today can be at least in part attributed to the fact that the Financial crash of 2007/8 created a sudden and dramatic explosion in demand for positive escapism. Reality had become unpleasant for so many and so in stepped Robert Downy Jr, beckoning for us to follow him into a shiny world of fantastical machines, improbable characters and witty one liners. From then on it was a self perpetuating machine, the absence of real world heroes and the need for a better reality created the initial boom, which provided the funding and studio interest that lead to more engaging, better written and cleverly tied in films until now, even though things are looking (slightly) more up, we remain invested in the characters and the studios are producing more interesting, relevant and well thought out movies, a far cry from the original rock-em sock ems that first started the franchise. Captain America Civil War even has political commentary in it for God's sake! Did you see the first movie?! All that was was Chris Evans topless and Agent Smith with a bad prosthetic face! (Although thank god for Thor Ragnarok - Taika Waititi for president)
This is no complaint, as may have come across I'm a self professed 'Power-Nerd' and absolutely love these films, regardless of global economic outlooks (even the DC ones but shhh) it's an interesting thought for me though, how do current affairs affect our entertainment habits? How does what we watch mirror how we feel as a community? Is there any limit to how large Chris Hemsworth's Biceps will grow? WILL DC FIRE ZACH SNYDER ALREADY? Time and a lot of money in IMAX theatres will tell.