The Heroes We Need: A Look Into Superhero Deconstruction Narratives

 Although Superhero media has been typically thought of as a lighthearted escapist genre, 2020 has ushered in the success of a different kind of Superhero story with shows like Watchmen and The Boys. These shows provide satirical deconstructions of classic Superhero tropes while acting as analogues to some of this year's most urgent issues. Despite being released eight months before this year’s protests against police brutality, Watchmen foretells an extremely relevant story about accountability, vigilantism, and white supremacy. Set in an alternate timeline where America wins Vietnam and Robert Redford becomes president, the show deals with a cast of non-traditional Superheroes who attempt to stop a group of right-wing terrorists. Even though Superheroes have been outlawed, the police in Watchmen are garbed in elaborate costumes and masks to hide their identities provoking a question that almost seems directed at the audience: “You know how you can tell the difference between a masked cop and a vigilante? Me neither.”  Not only does the quote perceive Superheroes as overglorified law enforcement, the chilling line would eventually come true in our world when multiple police departments across the country masked their faces and badge numbers to avoid accountability during the George Floyd protests.

Not all of the show is rooted in fictional history either. Watchmen’s opening scene had sparked a conversation on social media with a powerful depiction of the Tulsa race massacre that had occured in 1921. Many internet discussants were dismayed at the massacre being a real event that had been conveniently erased in most curriculums of American history. The repercussions of historical events is also one of Watchmen’s biggest themes as it tells the story of a battle against white supremacy that spans over a century. Even in a parallel universe where progressive ideals like reparations were enacted, white supremacy remains rooted in the political powers of the Watchmen universe. In the show, the leader of a white supremacy group garners power by becoming both a senator and presidential candidate with relative ease. Once again, this acts as reference to our own politics mirroring the president’s enablement of the alt right and an increasing number of Republican senators who openly embrace the Qanon conspiracy. 

While Watchmen takes the approach of intertwining Superheroes into the history and current state of racial tension in America, The Boys critiques modern politics by embodying their Superheroes as the worst possible results of unbridled capitalism and rising facism. Equating Superheroes to facist ideology has been a common deconstruction trope since the 70s: Superman is from a race of superior beings who defends his city from invading aliens and Batman’s a wealthy billionaire who thinks the solution to crime is brutalizing the mentally ill. This  argument obviously oversimplifies and overlooks other aspects of Superheroes, but it provides an interesting theme that has become concerningly relevant in recent years. 

The core antagonists in season two of The Boys are the Superheroes, Homelander and Stormfront. Homelander acts as a twisted analog to Superman (Imagine if Clark Kent was a test tube baby raised by a moraless corporation) draped in an American flag and wielding unlimited power, Homelander gleefully commits horrendous crimes in both foreign nations and American cities while maintaining a family friendly public image. Not only is he protected by his powers, he is also free from all legal charges due to the resources of his corporate backers. Homelander simultaneously encapsulates the ability of law enforcement to avoid accountability as well as the disregard for civilian casualties in America’s operations overseas. Meanwhile, Stormfront represents the new subtle form of Nazism that has emerged within recent years. In the show, Stormfront is a never aging Nazi who hides her facist views through the guise of patriotism and fosters a public image of authenticity by “telling it like it is.” Through subtle dog whistles and stoking up fears about “supervillains” using internet memes, Stormfront is able to amass a cult following of unstable and racist fans. The Boys doesn’t pull its punches nor is it worried about being too on the nose. Instead, it discards all subtlety and openly forces the audience to draw connections between heroes like Stormfront and the fearmongering committed by right-wing influencers like Tucker Carlson. Even the show’s evil mega corporation Vought International is a direct shot at Disney’s massive monopoly and their use of performative activism as a marketing tool.

This increasing public fear and distrust of governing authorities is being reflected in our media. 2020 is the year of deconstruction stories because Superheroes don’t feel heroic anymore. When a chaotic year presents us with corrupt authority, invisible enemies, and leeching corporations, Superheroes begin to represent everything wrong with the world. It’s becoming harder to root for the Avengers when they’re a team consisting of soldiers, billionaires, monarchs, and members of a secret police. What does this mean for the future of Superheroes then? 

Well, It’s only a matter of time before the deconstructions are deconstructed themselves. It has already happened in the comic medium where these stories are mocked for their excessive bleakness and edginess. But Watchmen and The Boys weren’t meant to be edgy caricatures of this year’s tragic events nor is it meant to constantly remind us how terrible things are. Under all the dark depictions, both shows are ingrained with a message of hope and acts as a rallying cry. They show us we can’t get happy resolutions unless we work for it and hold oppressors accountable. Through this message of hope, the shows present us with new heroes. In The Boys, the heroes are a group of societal outcasts consisting of ex-cons and abuse victims. In Watchmen, the audience is presented with an ex-Jehovah's witness suffering from anxiety and a black female vigilante based on blaxploitation heroes. These heroes feel more real and grounded since they lack superpowers, gadgets, or any other outlandish abilities. Ultimately, they serve to remind us that true heroism doesn’t derive itself from conventional power but from a collective force fighting for change.