Martin, J. F. (2025, May). The Primacy and Potential of Superhero Narratives: Insights from   Developmental Psychology.  Paper presented at the Art of Storytelling: Archetypes in Focus Conference for the London Arts Based Research Center, Oxford University [I Presented Online].

• Relevant publication(s): Black Panther (2021), Comics and Citizenship (2023), Superheroes and Children’s Moral Understanding (2023), and Social Superheroes (2024)

Drawing on previous Luke Cage scholarship (2023 and 2024) and various media sources, the paper focuses on how two themes characteristic of his superhero mission, mutual trust and shared obligations, suggest a path forward in the midst of American civil disagreements.

Philosopher Paul Ricoeur, speaking on justice, notes that while injustice is ubiquitous throughout society, whereas how to best address it is not. Or, put another way, it is easier to identify what is morally wrong in social relations than to ensure those relations are morally right. Vigilantes exemplify this discrepancy, and one notable example is Daredevil: Born Again.

Constructivist analyses of Black Panther, Luke Cage, and Bishop help reveal some of the ways superheroes, despite their consistent motivations and frequent predictability (e.g., in terms of the motivations of many of their villains, use of violence, etc.), are both socially responsive to and adaptive within their differing social contexts. They are embedded in varied social interactions and relationships–an embeddedness that has implications for both pedagogy and scholarship.

By trying to understand the nature of the decisions made by such a complex and multifaceted character (the X-Man Bishop)—one who, despite occupying various positions within and outside of the law across dystopian and non-dystopian social arrangements, consistently fights to alter them in the face of injustice—we may come to a slightly better understanding of ourselves.

Insofar public corruption, crime, and institutional distrust inform many Harlemites’ understanding of Harlem and their place in it, Luke Cage’s superhero mission needs to be understood as coterminous with Harlemites’ experiences, behaviors, and beliefs concerning these matters.

These features are explored through analyses rooted in three distinct disciplines and applied to three superheroes whose narratives are often rooted in the communities in which they live: sociology (Daredevil and Hell’s Kitchen), psychology (Black Panther and Wakanda), and citizenship education (Batman and Gotham).

Van der Ven suggests the role of subjective interpretations should be accounted for when thinking about how people may experience morally laden situations and the conflicting moral interpretations that may  result….Applied to TWD, it is possible for individuals who vary in their assumptions or beliefs about the post-zombie world to interpret the same morally laden act differently.

Martin, J. (2019, November). Superheroes, society, and…social studies?: Superhero narratives and their potential to facilitate socio-moral discourse.  Paper presented at the forty-fifth annual meeting of the Association for Moral Education, Seattle, WA.

• Relevant publication(s): Black Panther and Civics (2021), Comics and Citizenship (2023), and Luke Cage and Civil Discourse (In Progress)

Given the prevalence of superhero media and the general consistency between (1) increasing sociomoral capacities (as implicated in SDT-related findings)...and (2) the broadening of social life contexts inherent within the Washington State’s Grade Level Expectations for Social Studies…, films like Black Panther (2018) that readily portray characters expressing diverse viewpoints may assist educators in their goals of fostering the development of thoughtful, considerate, and respectful citizens.

...by analyzing Batman narratives through the lens of…the existence of distinct domains of social concepts and the importance of coordination to navigate situations with competing concepts or considerations…and centering Gotham as the primary unit of analysis, opportunities for reflecting on the relationship between understandings of God and understandings of the social world may become apparent.

Unlike his American superhero counterparts (such as Iron Man, Captain America, and Spider-Man) who can operate solely as protectors and sometimes avengers of their e solely as protectors and sometimes avengers of their city, the country, or the world without also being responsible for addressing the various perspectives of its inhabitants, T'Challa does not have that luxury.

“When it comes to socio-political discourse within a democratic society, I think it could do us some good to apply Smith’s (2018) approach to superheroes to our own conversations and debates about relevant issues. Just as Smith first specified an area of general agreement (i.e., an “ethical core”) by which an analysis of superheroes could follow, as participants in a democratic society, we should consider taking inventory of our areas of general agreement regarding an issue before articulating our areas of disagreement.”

...take some of the superhero media I have enjoyed this summer and the kinds of questions I ponder while watching them. What does the isolationist vs. interventionist debate in Black Panther (2018) say about our understandings of harm/welfare considerations as they pertain to those within and outside of our families, ‘groups’, and/or nations? What are the implications of the outcome of Avengers: Infinity War (2018) for our understandings of pride, purpose, and cooperation? Finally, how do the depictions of Harlem and Luke Cage’s relationship with Harlem in Luke Cage (2016–) relate to our everyday notions of criminality and civilian life?