ABSTRACT
One recurring structure dominates Superhero narrative: the conflict of antitheses, or the clash between hero and villain. Repeating issue after issue, the antagonism seemingly never ends; and it will be this very structure that this paper will analogously trace. The persistence of opposition within Superhero narrative is not unrecognized; and within the comic books themselves it has become a self-reflexive theme
Joker: It’s the same pattern, endlessly repeated. You and I, always at each other’s throats – how do we stop? (Batman: Secrets #5, Kieth 2006, p. 11)
This irresolvable antagonism lurks at the foundation of the genre; the Superhero is trapped within a pattern of repetition, doomed to endlessly re-enact the same recurring plot. Despite the pervasiveness of this binary opposition, a curious paradox becomes apparent when the text is broken down into analogous structures. An undecidability seems to haunt the comic book Superhero, and it is this very inconsistency that will be the focus of this work. This paper will demonstrate the Superhero’s unstable foundation within the text, and will draw an analogy between comic book form, postcolonial America, and the Superhero himself. The repetitive plot structure of the genre, or the performance of hero
SUPERHEROES AND IDENTITIES
216 C. Pitkethly
against villain, will then become a narrative assertion of the determinate identity that the Superhero lacks.
