The 10 essays collected here explore superhero narratives in film and TV not just as profitable products but as modern-day myths, and examine the way that these narratives mirror real-life socio-political conflicts of the 20st century such as terrorist attacks. Major themes are the superhero film and geopolitical discourse after 9/11, and masculine and feminine gender negotiated and performed through a patriarchal construct. Some specific topics considered are power, choice, and September 11th in The Dark Knight, the mythos of patriarchy in the X-Men films, 21st century individualized social advocacy in Spider-Man and Kick-Ass, and super puberty and the monstrous superhero in Smallville. Gray teaches French at Carson-Newman College. Kaklamanidou teaches film studies at the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Greece. Annotation ©2011 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)