Power, Masculinity, And War: Superman, A Case Study

Summary

Abstract: To anyone with even a cursory knowledge of DC Comics’ character, Superman can be regarded as a particularly notable example of a modern hero, an archon of moral probity and ethical altruism, and, despite being an alien from the planet Krypton, a symbol of physical masculine indomitability. As such, Superman is an ideal target for a deeper postmodern critique of the superhero as a reconstruction of the masculine aesthetic-narrative. Referring to Christopher Knowles’ Our Gods Wear Spandex: The Secret History of Comic Book Heroes (2007), Larry Tye’s Superman: A High-Flying History of America’s Most Enduring Hero (2012), and Glen Weldon’s Superman: The Unauthorized Biography (2013), this paper will discuss how the diegetic disruptiveness of the figure of Superman, that is, a set of his properties or features that include power (here understood as a manifestation of male or at least masculinised energy), and Otherness were institutionalised during the period of World War II. I will stress that it was at this point in the character’s history that Superman became the moral and nationalistic icon it is still widely regarded as today: the point where the so-called “Man of Tomorrow” became the “Man of Steel.” In doing so, this paper will perform an aesthetic and socio-historical close reading of the character to simultaneously theorise and historicise how Superman can be read as a marker of the socio-cultural value of masculinity in pre- and post-World War II America.

Keywords: power, masculinity, Otherness, World War II, Superman

INTRODUCTION

The topic of Superman and war has been described in multiple works, from multiple perspectives, across multiple epochs. These include works by the following: J. A. Mangan in his two edited texts Superman Supreme: Fascist Body as Political Icon ‒ Global Fascism (1999) and Shaping the Superman: Fascist Body as Political Icon – Aryan Fascism (1999); Joseph J. Darowski’s 2012 edited collection The Ages of Superman: Essays on the Man of Steel in Changing Times, which examines Superman’s patriotism during World War II and his increase in power in the years of the Cold War; Mike Conroy’s exploration of the graphic aspects of the relationship between comics and the war years in his 2009 War Comics: A Graphic History; and Cord Scott’s 2007 article “Written in Red, White, and Blue: a Comparison of Comic Book Propaganda from World War II and September 11.”