Routledge Companion to Superhero Studies

Lorna Piatti-Farnell (PhD) is the Academic Dean at SAE Creative Media Institute in Auckland, New Zealand. She is the Founder and Director of the Australasian Horror Studies Network and sole editor of the "Routledge Advances in Popular Culture Studies" book series.Carl Wilson is a freelance scholar and author based in the UK.

"The Routledge Companion to Superhero Studies offers a distinct contribution to current superhero literature by capturing the social, cultural, and political impact of these ‘metaphorically charged figures’ as they transform across diverse transnational and multimedia forms. Simultaneously, this anthology foregrounds the significance of Superhero Studies, revealing just how insightful and influential the discipline has become for the humanities and beyond."Wendy Haslem, University of Melbourne"This new book offers a significant, engaging, and richly layered examination of the superhero, both as a cultural icon and field within popular culture studies. It reveals how superheroes mirror and shape societal anxieties, values, and identities. Drawing on wide-ranging cultural, political and philosophical frameworks, the collection offers rigorous analysis and insightful commentary. A vital —and thoroughly enjoyable—contribution to contemporary scholarship on popular culture."Donna Lee Brien, Central Queensland University"A true celebration of the academic study of superheroes in media, this Companion not only provides an accessible guide to the ever-expanding field of superhero studies, but it also beautifully captures how the sheer breadth of interdisciplinary analysis into the evolution and significance of superheroes allows us to unite in examining our connection to these modern myths."Barbra Dillon, Fanbase Press Editor-in-Chief

• Introduction: Approaching Superhero Studies as a Field PART I Creating and Selling the Superhero 1. Creators and the Creative Processes Behind Comics 2. The Flash and the Ages of Superheroes: Racing Through History 3. The Creation of Superheroes and Supervillains Through Alchemy, Science Accidents, and Violent Scientific Delights 4. Experimentation and Containment: The Metafictional Superhero 5. What The Kids Want: Superheroes and Shared Universes 6. Out of the Multiversal Closet: Alternate Realities, Reboots, and Transmedia Coming Outs 7. Punch-Ups on Parade: Celebrating and Marketing Queerness in Marvel and DC’s Pride Month Anthologies 8. Super Powers and Secret Wars: The Cultural Value of Superhero Action Figures 9. From Zero to the Hero’s Journey: The Masters of the Universe Franchise across Audiovisual Transmedia 10. How Externally Licensed Intellectual Property Dictated Changes in Marvel UK’s Publishing Output of the 1970s-1990s PART II Adapting the Superhero 11. Batman and the Body on Screen 12. The Umbrella Academy: Re-imagining the Subversive Superhero Family, from Panel Scenes to Netflix Screens 13. Princesses vs Power: The Animated Depictions of Original and Rebooted She-Ra 14. The Divided Fourth Phase of Marvel Licensed Video Games (2013-) 15. Financial Kryptonite: The Foiled Attempts to Bring Superheroes to the Stage 16. Life and Death in Gotham City: Batman: The Audio Adventures’ Aural History of the Superhero Genre 17. Rehearing the Superhero in the 21st century: Superman, Wonder Woman, and Music 18. Cosplay Capers: The Twinned Genealogies, Cultural Imaginaries, and Affects of Superhero Cosplay 19. Renegotiating Canonicity: Fanboy, Parody, and Mark Garvey’s Union Jack (2019) 20. Winter Soldiers: National Identity and Responsibility in Captain America Fanfiction PART III National Superheroes and Translations 21. Flying British Superheroes of World War II and Beyond: The Historical Turn in Britain’s Aviation War in Popular Culture 22. Canadian Superheroes and the Struggle for National Representation 23. Modern Czech Superheroes: Miracle and the Spring Man as the Defenders of the Nation 24. Look! Up in the Sky! It's a Bird! It's a Plane. No, it's Super-French! 25. Rat-Man: An Italian Superhero Parody 26. Superhero Toys, Nostalgia, and the Assassination of Abe Shinzo 27. The Tokusatsu Heroes and Magical Girls of Senki Zesshō Symphogear 28. Chinese Translations of American Superhero Films and Television Series PART IV Superhero Identities 29. With Great Power, Comes an Armored Corset: Clothing as Empowerment for Female Superheroes 30. What it Means to be Free: Disability, Neurodivergence, and the Super ‘Freak’ 31. The Legal Aspects of the Ownership of a Superhero Identity 32. Companions, Apprentices, Enemies: The Many Roles of the Sidekick 33. Morality and Familial Relationships in the Marvel Cinematic Universe 34. When the Gods Walk Among Us: Superheroes as Dangerous Divinities 35. Not Like the Others: Catwoman as Transgressive Hero 36. Supervillains are the Real Heroes 37. The Cult of Marvel’s Loki(s), and their (Queer) Redemption 38. The Power in Seeing Yourself in Another: X-Men, Audiences, and Queer Rights through X-Men ’97 PART V Evolving Superhero Debates and Concerns 39. Swamp Thing: EcoGothic Monster or Environmental Champion? 40. Animal Man: The Countercultural Superhero of the Anthropocene 41. Wakanda and Technology in the Anthropocene: Black Panther’s Lesson on What a Sustainable Coexistence Looks Like 42. Green Lantern, Structural Racism, and N.K. Jemisin’s Far Sector 43. The Shield or the Skull: The Civil-Military Gap, the Militarized Superhero, and Veteran Stereotypes in American Myth and Memory 44. Trauma in Superhero Films: The Case of Tim Burton’s Batman (1989) and Batman Returns (1992) 45. The Phoenix and Dark Phoenix Sagas: Moral Ambiguity, Disagreement, and the Superhero Mission 46. The Unbelievable Gwenpool and the Limits of Empathy 47. Legacy, Memory, and Fatherhood in All-Star Superman (2005)