John C. McDowell is the Morpeth chair in theology & religious studies at the University of Newcastle, NSW, Australia. He is associate editor and book review editor for Colloquium.

• Table of ContentsAcknowledgments deleteixPrefaceAbbreviationsIntroduction: Why So Serious?1. The Super ­Body-Politic: Nationally Assembling Joss Whedon’s Exceptional The Avengers2. “He was deceived by a lie”: Tragedy and the Dark Plague of the Politics of Fear in George Lucas’ Star Wars3. Dystopian Polyvalence: Emancipating the Mediated Life from The MatrixChapter NotesBibliographyIndex

John C. McDowell is the Morpeth chair in theology & religious studies at the University of Newcastle, NSW, Australia. He is associate editor and book review editor for Colloquium.

• Table of ContentsAcknowledgments deleteixPrefaceAbbreviationsIntroduction: Why So Serious?1. The Super ­Body-Politic: Nationally Assembling Joss Whedon’s Exceptional The Avengers2. “He was deceived by a lie”: Tragedy and the Dark Plague of the Politics of Fear in George Lucas’ Star Wars3. Dystopian Polyvalence: Emancipating the Mediated Life from The MatrixChapter NotesBibliographyIndex

John C. McDowell is the Morpeth chair in theology & religious studies at the University of Newcastle, NSW, Australia. He is associate editor and book review editor for Colloquium.

• Table of ContentsAcknowledgments deleteixPrefaceAbbreviationsIntroduction: Why So Serious?1. The Super ­Body-Politic: Nationally Assembling Joss Whedon’s Exceptional The Avengers2. “He was deceived by a lie”: Tragedy and the Dark Plague of the Politics of Fear in George Lucas’ Star Wars3. Dystopian Polyvalence: Emancipating the Mediated Life from The MatrixChapter NotesBibliographyIndex