Superheroes today are more popular than ever thanks to the adaptations into film of its most outstanding titles (i.e.: Spiderman, Iron Man, Batman the Dark Knight and many more).
The medium has experienced an extreme evolution, from kids’ entertainment to a new kind of medium filled up with
innovative ideas that, represents a whole new concept of comics for a majority of people.
Superheroes in the world are generally seen as another product ‘Made in USA’, being this characteristic another of his trademarks, a feature so important as his superpowers or secret identity. Although some special adventures take our heroes to different countries (i.e.: Spider-Man India) or happen in the outer space (i.e.: Silver Surfer), they look better when placed in American big cities’ landmarks.
Then, it is logical to think that the superhero story has always been an echo of the American society and culture, not only reflecting the traditional and fashionable trends, but becoming an important part in the political and social life (i.e.: turning the superhero into an instrument of army propaganda during the World War II or, introducing public issues like the anti-drug stories of the 1970’s).
Leaving behind the patriotic side of other eras, the future of this medium seems promising due to the quality of the works recently published and the success of the Hollywood adaptations, the video games and the huge range of products and paraphernalia related to the super characters in the market.
The superhero stories are no longer limited to the comic book format, even though it is still on the printed stories where they could better develop their full expression.