They are doing roaring business with their Box Office
collections running in billions of US$. And more than half of the collection
for these global blockbusters comes from the markets (countries) outside the US.
Apart from the sheer value of entertainment, these
superheroes have also been the tools of the soft branding efforts of the US administration and its industries, to project
the US
dominance and supremacy in a positive, more approachable and humanitarian way.
And the bombardment, the messaging, has been consistent.
But like always, like with every such exercise, they, the
American superheroes, raise some valid questions (to enrich the General
Knowledge base; to understand what is yet to be addressed): :)
== How
many times have the American superheroes saved the world?
== How
many times has the US
saved the Earth?
== Who
is the most powerful of the superheroes - one 'manned' with a prefix or one
without it?
To say, like from among the likes of Superman or Ironman
or Batman or Spider-Man or from The Hulk or G.I. Joe or Captain America or
Fantastic Four or X-Men or ‘so on’.
== How
does the nationality of a superhero affect his 'superhero'ness?
Have you come across a superhero of global fame having a
nationality other than American?
== How
come almost of the superheroes of global or universal fame have native or
permanent or mutual connect with the US only?
They are born American or they have grown American or they
come to the Earth from the Outer Space with an American interface as their
primary (and only) connect with the people of the Earth?
== What
are the differences between the American superheroes and the superheroes of
other nations?
== Difference(s)
between the superheroes of the developed and the developing countries? Can underdeveloped
countries afford a superhero?
Yes, other nations, too, have their own superheroes, but
they are restricted to the country of their origin only and are easily
overpowered by the American Superheroes in most of the Box Office duels.
== So
few of them - how deep is the gender bias among the members of the exclusive
group of elite superheroes?
== So
few of them - why don't we have good enough presence of female superheroes, or
the more politically correct term 'superheroines'? Studies?
The gender activists, the women voices, the feminists,
have they carried out studies on this blatant gender-gap on a platform that
packages content and messages reaching out to the global audiences? Have there
been such studies? Please share.
== A
superheroine/super-heroine (female superhero) of global or universal outreach -
name please?
== Evolution
of superheroes and Evolution of women's rights - what are the parallels (and
skews) to be drawn?
And dear folks, the list here is not exhaustive. Much more
can be added. It depends on how curious you get to know how much you can dig
while watching an American superhero movie or while reading about it or even
while watching its phenomenally-larger-than-life promos.
But one thing is for sure, they come with brilliantly
packaged bouts of entertainment for the masses spread across the countries.
It’s just yet another, subtle, American way to say ‘we are
here and we are everywhere’.
:)