In the past few decades, Western culture, particularly America, has become enamored with superheroes and their stories. The concept of someone suddenly receiving supernatural abilities that allow them to do incredible things is in no way new; it’s been around for centuries. However, my generation seems to have taken a special sort of reverent devotion to superheroes that is unparalleled.

I recently witnessed this devotion first-hand in myself after seeing Marvel’s newest film, "Captain America: Civil War" on the night of its premiere. I always get excited for Marvel movies, and some are better than others, but they never fail to enthrall me. And let me tell you, Marvel really did well on this one. "Captain America: Civil War" is an excellently done movie. I felt as though I was still getting to know different sides of some superheroes that I’ve been watching for years now, while meeting other ones for the first time that make their appearance in this film. Its characters were interesting, its plot was compelling and its special effects were nothing short of a masterpiece. Soon after watching it, I began thinking about Marvel’s widely revered place in our culture. Why is it that we love superheroes so much?

Superhero movies have always touched me in a special way. There’s a unique sort of excitement and hope I get only from watching people with superpowers save people from burning buildings, plundering bridges and the like. I suppose, though, that I not only admire superheroes for their supernatural abilities but also for their compelling and diverse characters. Watching someone become invisible or punch an alien in the face is entertaining and all, but it’s the history and spirit behind a certain character that make watching superhero movies more than just mindless entertainment.

This is why I have always loved Marvel superheroes in particular. Marvel not only has a diverse and complex set of heroes with different backgrounds; they also present a special sort of ethos in their stories that allows one to have hope—hope for goodness and for humans. Marvel never fails to put a smile on my face with its stories because I feel as though I am relating with each of the characters in one way or another, which makes their joys and their tragedies so much more compelling to witness.

Stan Lee, the former president and chairman of Marvel comics, said something similar to this in an interview with HOP Media, in which he was asked questions about his career and the art of storytelling:

“When you were younger, I bet you liked fairytales. Everybody did …. Well, superhero stories are really fairytales for grown-ups or for older people. And you don’t get tired of those things because they’re imaginative, and you’re looking at people who can do things you can’t do and you wish you could. So, I don’t see the public’s infatuation with superheroes ever dying down.”

He then continues to talk about his role as an entertainer and why he believes entertainment to be important, as he says:

“Most people, almost everybody, have lives that have troubles and things to worry about, and if you can entertain somebody — take his or her mind off things that would normally be bothering them — that’s a good thing to do. So, I like to think of myself as an entertainer — someone who offers a little entertainment to people in whatever form it may be.”

I really respect Stan Lee and the work he’s done for Marvel over the years, and I think he has a really good heart in doing what he does. He isn’t really in charge of the movies which Marvel produces, but he writes most of the characters that are in those movies and is the head and heart behind their stories. Stan Lee appears to truly love both people and stories and thus loves bringing them together through the art of storytelling. However, I’d like to further investigate this explanation of entertainment which he presents because I think there’s something more to it than what he says.

I don’t think simply witnessing superheroes do unimaginable things is the whole reason we so enjoy superhero movies. Sure, watching someone be able to fly through the air or pull a helicopter down to the ground (*ahem*- "Captain America: Civil War") is very entertaining—an fairly innocent form of entertainment too. But with the abundance of superhero and action movies made in the last few decades, it can’t just be the wow factor of explosions and lazer guns that keeps us wanting to come see these movies. There has to be some other reason we so badly want to root for these movies' characters.

I believe we, as a people, enjoy watching superheroes pursue goodness. We rally behind a group of people that use their superpowers to defeat evil and bring restoration and peace to the world. We don’t just watch superheroes because they can do amazing things with their bodies, but because they use those amazing abilities to bring order and restoration to the earth by defeating evil.

I saw this to be true in a particular scene from the newest Captain America movie involving Spiderman. (Don’t worry, I don’t think this is much of a spoiler.) In talking with Tony Stark about why he began using his powers to save people, Peter Parker (Spiderman) says, “When you can do the things that I can, but you don't, and then the bad things happen? They happen because of you.” I thought this scene was interesting because it depicts a young kid who knows he holds the power to do incredible things, but even further, understands that those incredible abilities are only good if he uses them to do good. It’s this virtuous character that makes Peter Parker such an interesting and compelling character — a young, scrappy orphan kid who loves his family and is given fantastic powers which he realizes must be used to protect those around him.

Peter Parker is only one of dozens, if not hundreds, of Marvel’s superheroes with compelling personalities, and it’s these characters that give us hope. We thoroughly enjoy watching people do incredibly good things in the spirit of longing to do good things ourselves. These superheroes may possess super strength or mind-reading powers that allow them to save the world from a cataclysmically evil force, but we root for these superheroes because we, to some effect, all long to do the world some good and crush the evil in our own paths.

Superheroes with these very human and relatable qualities have become a huge part of our popular culture. They're widely and genuinely accepted as a good thing to be admired. It brings me hope to see that our pop culture has come to accept superheroes, not only because the heroes are virtuous in of themselves, but also because the common appreciation of superheroes is unifying our culture. People have certainly come together to celebrate the hope that superheroes instill in all of us. They long to rally behind something good, and they don’t want to do it alone. This appreciation for the superheroes and their defeat of evil has become a very communal act. It’s bringing millions of people together in the name of admiring excellence and justice. And in a time where people are so divided as to what they believe and what action to take, a common force of goodness and virtue for everyone to rally behind is unifying and restorative.

Superheroes only symbolize humanity’s quest for redemption of the good. They may only be the fairytales of our age, but superhero stories present a very real ethos that our generation sorely needs. It's not every day our nation comes to agree that something is good when it actually is.

Marvel, you make me proud — proud of art and skill, proud of goodness and proud of humans.

Keep up the good work.