Superhero genre shifts focus to humanize characters

illustration by Joe Iredale

“Spider-Man: Brand New Day” opened July 31, 2026 and has already grossed $2.4 billion at the global box office. The film does not face Peter Parker against an unbeatable foe, instead it leaves him lonely after the events of “No Way Home.” Peter is left heartbroken and isolated, which is a bold directorial decision after years of multi-versal Spider-Man films. This choice couldn’t have landed harder: a street-level story that audiences can connect with. 

“No one is like the billionaire that Iron Man is, and no one has that suit and those world-ending threats,” senior Courtney Kirscher said. “That’s why people like Spider-Man so much. He’s down to earth. Any high schooler can relate to him.” 

The story dives deep into Parker’s emotional turmoil. Peter finds himself swinging through New York City unsure of where his mind has gone. 

“When he’s at the party and he sees MJ kissing this other guy because she forgot him, that is super relatable,” junior Griffin Turner said. “Seeing the love of your life with somebody else, knowing that you can’t have them; that is a very human scene.”

Audiences finally got a chance to connect with a financially and emotionally broken side of Peter Parker, which was lacking from the recent installments of Tom Holland’s trilogy. 

“It was cool to see him struggle,” Kirschner said. “It made him so much more relatable than when Tony Stark was handing him all his stuff.”

Another theme audiences can relate to is identity. We’re all human, but what does that really mean? Does your past or your mistakes define who you are? James Gunn’s “Superman” gives Clark Kent his traditional action-packed adventure, but the film treats his kindness and humanity as his greatest superpower. 

“He is an alien, but his core is human,” Turner said. “Each day he gets up and he tries to make the best choice he can. He’s telling Lex [Luthor], ‘I’m human. That’s my greatest strength.’”

Superman has all the abilities to be the most powerful man in the world, yet he chooses to use his gifts to do good for mankind. The film discusses his past as an alien sent to conquer the planet; however, his morals were changed for the better after growing up on a Kansas farm. 

“Before, [superheroes] were larger than life, people you put up on a pedestal,” Chemistry teacher Mrs. Cribb said. “They try to get more into who they are as people now, which I do appreciate.”

Superman is finally able to embrace his humanity in the climax of the film, when he gives his speech to Lex Luthor after saving the planet. 

“I’m as human as anyone. I love, I get scared. I wake up every morning and, despite not knowing what to do, I put one foot in front of the other and try to make the best choices I can,” Clark Kent said, “I screw up all the time, but that is being human. And that’s my greatest strength. And someday, I hope for the sake of the world, you understand that it’s yours.”

Furthermore addressing the theme of identity, “Thunderbolts*” puts trauma and your past life at the center of an unexpected team-up, showing audiences that you do not need to go through life alone. 

“[Yelena] lost her sister. She lost everything and never really felt like she had a true family until ‘Thunderbolts*” Kirschner said. “Going through hard stuff, you kind of find family in different places.”

While big-budget action spectacles like “Avengers: Infinity War” are worth the watch, audiences seem to connect more with the characters on screen through their emotions rather than their powers. 

“They’re not shoving down their pain anymore,” Mrs. Cribb said. “That’s good for [teenagers]. Not to shove things down, to talk it out. You don’t have to walk this life alone. You walk it with people.”