Re:Supermensch: What does the superhero craze say about our ...
by scarejunba on Friday March 13, 2020 @04:43PM
(#22570753)
Maybe they're just returning to the roots of the word villain from Old French for a villager/peasant.
Writing this now I see your point was not that they aren't extraordinary, but rather the opposite of anti-wealth. I don't disagree, but I'm not claiming that every movie covers the same ideas either. However, the villains of Spiderman 2, for instance, are a bunch of Iron Man's lower level former employees who specifically call out how they got the short end of the capitalist stick, and how unfair it is that he got the spoils of everything, and how easy it was for him to dispose of them. The villains of Spiderman 1 are just some construction guys who got shafted by the collateral damage of the heroes and are trying to make a living wage. Yes; I do recognize the irony in that both of these working class groups are villains, but they're not meant to be portrayed as "Evil" for the most part. Again, not especially deep, but not "I'M GOING TO DESTROY THE SUN BECAUSE THATS WHAT VILLAINS DO!".
The captain america movies, seem particularly keen on the idea that the american government / law does not define the american ethos.