Sovereignty and Superheroes (2016) by Neal Curtis

When

I read the journal article that preceded the book early in my Whitworth career, and the book about two years ago.

Why

I found Curtis’s argument in the article concerning viewing superheroes through the lens of sovereignty very interesting at the time. The more papers I wrote and wanted to write concerning superheroes and moral development, the more I kept coming back to this idea. So, reading the book was a must.

How

Particularly given the superheroes I tend to focus on (e.g., Black Panther, Luke Cage, and Bishop), questions regarding superheroes’ relationship with the state are important to my approach toward understanding their missions. This has particularly been the case in recent publications, with a couple examples being Social Superheroes (2024) and Superhero Justice (2025).