Death, gender, and superheroes

The aim of this thesis is to explore the significance of death in comic books and examine how these representations are said to inform or reinforce cultural views of masculinity and femininity. Using an interdisciplinary, mixed method approach, this thesis utilised photo elicitation via synchronous digital focus groups and a compositional interpretation compiled by the researcher to engage with visual representations of death in order to reveal how these representations are understood by audiences. This thesis demonstrates that there are identifiable differences in the ways that men and women are represented in death. Differences tied to these representations that function to reinforce outdated heteronormative stereotypes regarding both masculinity and femininity. Additionally, this thesis argues that superheroic masculinity and, by extension, the superheroic death, are underpinned by hegemonic masculinity. Within this framework, the deaths of male superheroes are broadly understood as superheroic with participants positioning male superheroes as agentic subjects characterised by demonstrations of heroic action and strength. Furthermore, this thesis reveals that the deaths of female superheroes are characterised by objectification. This functions to deny female superheroes their superheroic status by situating them as violable, sexual objects and undermining their capacity for agency and autonomy, thus positioning the superheroic death as unobtainable.