§16§§This book analyzes the cinematic superhero as social practice. The study's critical context brings together psychoanalysis and restorative and reflective nostalgia as a way of understanding the ideological function of superhero fantasy. It explores the origins of cinematic superhero fantasy from antecedents in myth and religion, to twentieth-century comic book, to the cinematic breakthrough with Superman (1978). The authors then focus on Spider-Man as reflective response to Superman's restorative nostalgia, and read MCU's overarching narrative from Iron Man to End Game in terms of the concurrent social, political, and environmental conditions as a world in crisis. Zornado and Reilly take up Wonder Woman and Black Panther as self-conscious attempts to reflect on gender and race in restorative superhero fantasy, and explore Christopher Nolan's Dark Knight trilogy as a meditation on the need for authoritarian fascism. The book concludes with Logan, Wonder Woman 1984, and Amazon P §16§rime'sThe Boys as distinctly reflective fantasy narratives critical of the superhero fantasy phenomenon.§§ §04§§1. Chapter One:- Introduction: A Plague of Superheroe.- Chapter Two:- The Superhero with a Thousand Faces.- Chapter Three:- Fantasy and the Working-Class Superhero.- Chapter Four:- Fantasies of the Anthropocene.- Chapter Five:- The Cinematic Superhero as Other.- Chapter Six:- Superhero Fantasy in Crisis.- Chapter Seven:- Conclusion: Destroy All Monsters!§§§ §02§§Joseph Zornado is Professor of English at Rhode Island College, USA, and author of numerous essays and books, including Disney and the Dialectic of Desire: Fantasy as Social Practice (Palgrave MacMillan, 2017) and Critical Thinking: Developing the Intellectual Tools for Social Justice (2019).§ §Sara Reilly is Adjunct Instructor and Academic Advisor at Rhode Island College, USA. She teaches first-year writing and college success.§
