Hero Overload

WHY ARE WE so obsessed with superheroes? Not a month goes by without a superhero movie or TV series popping up on our screens to generate some mini-hysteria among pop culture fans.

This March, it's the box-office champ Captain Marvel as well as Netflix's The Umbrella Academy that have folks talking. Next month, the cinemas will release Avengers: Endgame and Hellboy, followed by Dark Phoenix in June, Spider-Man: Far From Home in July, The New Mutants in August, and others after that. As for the small screen, there are more than a dozen superhero series playing right now.

On some basic level, we read, listen to or watch stories because they help us make sense of ourselves, our conundrums and the world we live in. But what do superhero stories actually teach us that has value in the real world? Courage? Self-confidence? Love for our fellow humans?