Disability and Disfigurement in Twenty-First Century Comic-Book Films

Superhero films are known for their fantastical stretches of reality and of human bodies. Their status as an accessibly and highly popular cultural form makes them rich sources of Anglo-American values, especially surrounding disability, but they have received little critical attention. Superpowers often enable the body to perform acts that, outside of the canon, exist only in the viewer’s imagination, such as flying. These bodily transformations, much like disability, often end up serving as narrative catalysts. Some superheroes (and many villains) are literally disabled, but, as this thesis explores, disability in the superhero film is most often metaphorical. Super-bodies carry a great depth of meaning, from their political propaganda status with nationalist militarism symbols such as Captain America, to their furtherment of the supercrip idea. Normality and freakery are common contrasting themes throughout both Marvel and DC cinematic universes: the deep desire of the super-person to fit in with non-disabled/non-powered society is undercut by the films’ unconscious mimicry of freak shows. The superhero film is abundant with disability metaphor and provides a compelling space in which to explore how disability, the fantastic, and popular culture intersect to form narratives where extraordinary bodies are intrinsic to the basic functioning of the superhero genre.