The American Hero

The classical hero fights monsters and restores balance to the world. The modern version of the classical hero is the idealised protagonist who sacrifices their safety to fight the bad guys (the modern equivalent of monsters). The bad guys – criminals, gangsters, thieves, murderers, terrorists – use violence to gain money and power. Their actions create suffering and injustice. The idealised protagonist is motivated by a sense of duty and moral obligation to protect the innocent from the guilty.

America is a ‘can do’ society. It’s a place where people admire those with the ability to shape the world around them. The American hero reflects that ‘can do’ attitude, the ‘pioneer spirit’, and notions of the ‘rugged individual’. By the start of the Twentieth Century the myth-making of the Old American West along with the European influence of folk heroes like Robin Hood and stage / literary heroes like The Scarlet Pimpernel (1905). This synthesis led to the creation of American heroes that featured in pulp magazines, newspaper comic strips, radio plays, theatrical serials, and movies.

The masked aristocratic vigilante, Zorro (a product of the Spanish Empire and the inspiration behind Batman) first appeared in The Curse of Capistrano (1919), in the pulp magazine All-Story Weekly. Tarzan, the son of British aristocrats, first appeared in the story Tarzan of the Apes (1912). The interplanetary adventurer John Carter, created by Edgar Rice Burroughs, was a ‘home grown’ American hero. He first appeared in the pulp magazine series Under the Moons of Mars (1912).

The popularity of theatrical serials peaked in the 1930s. The serials included updated versions of John Carter – the space adventurers Flash Gordon, and Buck Rogers (both originated from newspaper comic strips). The theatrical serials offered excitement and escapism for the masses. While aristocratic heroes felt ‘old world’, the science fiction of space could feel both new and ‘American’. The theatrical serial, The Phantom Empire (1935), combined the Western with Science Fiction. It featured singing cowboys, a fedora wearing robot, and a futuristic underground city.

The upbeat tone of the 1920s, the Jazz Age, changed with The Great Depression of the 1930s. The 1930s gangster movies created another uniquely American story after the Western. These movies portrayed an America of idealised protagonist cops fighting flawed gangster baddies. The violence echoed the real world. The gun-toting gangster terrified and fascinated audiences.

During the 1940s and the Second World War, the American hero was duty bound to fight for the nation. Marines and cowboys restored law and order to the world. In parallel, the cartoon-like simplicity of the gangster movie was replaced by Film Noir whose protagonists reflected the cynical atmosphere, but with more nuanced characters. These flawed individuals were ordinary people. They were often victims of crime and social manipulation, male characters tricked by femme fatales.

The 1950s saw a continuation of patriotic War Movies, Westerns, escapist musicals, and comedies. For many viewers, these increasingly felt increasing commercial and detached from reality. The men who had returned from the war were not cardboard cutout heroes and their children often grew up feeling alienated and angry. The origins of the counterculture began with the post-war Beat Generation and 1950s Beatniks.

In the 1960s and 70s, the counterculture went mainstream. It questioned assumptions about American society. Counterculture stories featured flawed protagonists, often labelled ‘anti-heroes’. Instead of actively changing the world about them, these flawed protagonists were more likely to be victims of circumstance and unable to escape their own limitations. In films like The Graduate (1967) this was used for comic effect and to make a wider social comment about society. Benjamin Braddock did eventually manage to change his world, so he wasn’t completely passive. In cop movies, like Serpico (1973), Frank Serpico had to deal with systemic corruption. A cultural switch took place in the slowly dying Western genre. Revisionist Westerns portrayed the once heroic cowboy as the aggressor and Native American Indians as innocent victims.

After the oil shortages and the economic shocks of the 1970s, the American hero learned to be a survivor. The cops became tougher, coping with a rotten bureaucratic system that didn’t care about truth or justice. Inspector Harry Callahan, in Dirty Harry (1971), fought serial killers while being held back by ‘the system’. The American hero became a survivor of the Cold War in films like the Omega Man (1973), living in a post-apocalyptic city and fending off mutants. There was the disaster movie, films like The Poseidon Adventure (1972 film) and The Towering Inferno (1974) where the coolheaded hero had the skills to lead and survive. By the end of the 1970s, the economy began to pick up. The audience wanted something upbeat and optimistic, and they found it with Star Wars (1977). But there was still a lingering distrust of the system in films like Alien (1979).

In the 1980s, the stock market boomed and the nation regained its confidence. Hollywood responded with the comic big action hero. This new breed of wisecracking American hero thrilled audiences and made them laugh in films like Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981), Back to the Future (1985), and Crocodile Dundee (1986). There were buddy moves like Beverly Hills Cop (1984) and Lethal Weapon (1987). There were situational comedies like Honey, I Shrunk the Kids (1989) and Twins (1988).

The economic downturn of the 1990s made people question the system again. The screen heroes reflected a mood of uncertainty. The disaster movie returned with Titanic (1997), Jurassic Park (1993), and Apollo 13 (1995). There were technological dystopias like Strange Days (1995) and The Matrix (1999) which questioned the nature of reality. The tone continued to darken with films like The Sixth Sense‍ (1999) and American Beauty (1999). David Fincher’s Seven (1995) personified the 90s with two protagonists who faced insurmountable horrors and were never fully in control.

The 2000s saw the rise of the big IP franchise in films like Avatar (2009), a revisionist Western in space, Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl (2006), Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone (2001), and The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring (2001). The Dark Knight (2008) took the darkness and realism of Seven and combined it with a classic comic strip hero. The superhero origin story became a template for the massive superhero revival.

The big IP franchises of the 2000s would go on to power the 2010s along with comic strip superheroes. There were reboots of classic movies, like Star Wars, Jurassic Park, and Mad Max. They increasingly featured a girlboss lead in films like Mad Max: Fury Road (2015). Spider-Man was rebooted in 2002. While not especially American, James Bond was rebooted in Casino Royale (2006).

In the 2020s, Top Gun: Maverick (2022) reassured audiences with a traditional male American hero. But this was challenged with continued gender swaps in girlboss films like Mad Max: Furiosa (2024) and diverse casting, like the black superhero film Black Panther: Wakanda Forever (2022). Several big IP franchises have reached natural end points. Avatar: Fire and Ash (2025) felt like more of the same. Mission Impossible ended with Mission: Impossible - The Final Reckoning (2025). And, for context, James Bond came to an end with No Time to Die (2021). Has the superhero genre peaked, or will its winning streak continue? The box-office success of Spider-Man: Brand New Day (2026) has shown that the big IP franchise superhero movie is not yet dead.