The mere categorization of entertainment as "wasting their time" is a judgement call in and of itself.

Your original comment condemned superhero entertainment specifically for their content, but not "the formats themselves". Independent of this discussion, I've been thinking lately about how, especially in the most closed-off months of the pandemic quarantine, so many of our pastimes consist of indulging in simulations. Everything from the loftiest performance of a Shakespearean play to the most throwaway TikTok, from the most true-to-life non-fiction narrative account of a real event to the most escapist of comic books, they're all about bringing out minds to a different place.

And I wonder what it all means. As a species we've been at this since the first cave paintings, the earliest oral traditions. And what we're doing now with modern hyperstimulating computer-generated mediums is in that same tradition. But from a biological standpoint, what do these intellectual forms of recreation really mean for us? Is the final goal of our society to automate away all of the hard physical stuff, and then place our bodies in comfortable pods where our only stimulation is the simulated and safe? To play out stories and to experience emotions where we have minimized our vulnerability and maximized our enjoyment? "All necessities provided, all anxieties tranquilized, all boredom amused."

This isn't meant to be a condemnatory dystopian vision or anything. I just wonder if the ideal end state of luxury existence is to live in stories, so the mind and passions can work, but the body is satiated and at peace. So when people indulge in leisure now, is that truly "wasting their time"? Perhaps they are only capturing a fleeting glimpse of the final future of our species.

The nerds won. Nerdy forms of entertainment dominate our culture.

What dominates our culture is by definition not nerdy. It was taken from the nerds. The nerds lost.

Now they have to go find some still obscure interest to invest their time in if they hope to retain their nerd status, otherwise they're just into mass culture like the rest of the lowest common denominator.

You seem to be confusing hipsters and nerds. Nothing about the definition of being a nerd requires a constant search for ever more obscure pursuits to maintain a sense of elitism.

Nothing was "taken" from the nerds, except social stigma. They're still reading comics and watching anime and superhero movies, and playing D&D and video games, etc. They're still nerds even if what they love is more popular than it ever was.

You have to be into nerdy things to be regarded as a nerd. Mass culture doesn't count. Their nerdy interest isn't a nerdy interest anymore, it's been taken from them and changed into a popular interest. A hipster is just a type of nerd.

You have to be deep into things to be regarded as a nerd, but they can be all kinds of things. Baseball is mass culture, but there are baseball nerds delving deep into their stats; Oscars is about mass culture but there are movie nerds who don't do the niche art movies but care to know which minor actor was in which Fast and Furious movie; etc - every aspect of mass culture has their share of nerds as well.

What does a prototypical hipster do? Dresses up in anachronistic clothing. Listens to music on vinyl and plays video games made 20 years before they were born.

Hipsters are nerds.