Excerpt from “The Illusion of Individuality in American Heroism and Masculinity”, an essay
Though the masculine undertones of superhero narratives are more subtle with Spider-Man, the cultural mythology that has entrenched all forms of American media becomes more apparent when comparing Spider-Man to Batman, and especially to Rorschach. Unlike that of Spider-Man’s reboot teaser, the trailer for The Batman (2022) emphasizes Batman’s bloody fights against Gotham’s criminals over Bruce Wayne’s civilian life. In this way, Batman is more associated with extreme violence and mercilessness, and therefore hypermasculinity. As stated by Mervi Miettinen in their article “Men of Steel? Rorschach, Theweleit, and ‘Watchmen's’ Deconstructed Masculinity”, “Superhero comics, as a part of western popular culture, can be read as constituting a part of this ‘metanarrative of masculinity’ through the way they often espouse and promote a particular type of idealized masculinity through the heroes’ looks, action and ideological stand” (104). Even with the murder of Batman’s parents and Peter’s late parents, neither show much emotion towards these losses. It would not make for a very masculine hero to depict a scene of either character crying or mourning the loss of their loved ones. “Looking at the superhero,” Miettinen continues, “the essential masculine attributes attached to him stress the ideal as white, heterosexual, muscular, and violent” (105), most of which are seen quite clearly in both Amazing Spider-Man and The Batman. Peter only partially deviates from these traits as no violence is shown in the initial teaser trailer, and the audience can only surmise Spider-Man’s strength from his ability to parkour across rooftops and swing through the sky, which still shows more skill than brute strength. In the comic Watchmen, Rorschach believes himself to have all of these same characteristics while in the same breath being a poor example of masculine excellence and male perfection. Stuck in his own delusions, Rorschach serves as an example of the harsh reality of idealized American heroism and masculinity.
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On the other side of Western media—opposing Alan Moore’s deconstruction of the American hero in Watchmen—is a long-standing history of media censorship in America. For comics, the organization that prevented alternative viewpoints from being published was known as the Comics Code Authority. Though it was not mandatory to abide by the rules stated by the CCA, most publishers would not take on a project that depicted sex, swearing, communist propaganda, anti-Catholic values, anti-police narratives, or triumphant villain. The CCA was eventually dropped by all publishers, but the remnants of its legacy have continued to influence popular publishers like Marvel comics. Contemporary Spider-Man comics censor all swearing, never depict sex, and show Spider-Man working alongside the police. Similarly, in the Amazing Spider-Man trailer,, there is no deviation from this. Marvel films have become more blatant in recent years about their interest in recreating the same story beats instead of discovering new perspectives. “When watching any individual [Marvel] movie,” Maya Phillips writes, “a kind of pattern recognition — an intellectual interest in how each new story evokes or departs from the others — replaces narrative pleasure” (476). The Marvel brand finds it more important to heed to the hegemonic cultural mythology rather than trying to convince the audience of an alternative one.
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Though Spider-Man’s softer nature appeals to an audience in search of a new perspective of masculinity in heroism, the 2012 film trailer does not speak any new mythologies into existence. Like every iteration before, Marc Webb’s Amazing Spider-Man sells the comfort of his character and a familiar but harmful culture to its audience; the only heroes that prevail are the ones wholly masculine, American, and disconnected from their emotions.
