We need a hero. Or a few.

I was talking with a fellow writer a few days ago about the state of the film industry and the topic of superheroes and their dominance at the box office came up. We both have backgrounds in independent films, and have both written and directed low-budget projects in the past. 

"This can't last forever, right?" he says to me. 

Selfishly, I think, I hope it does last forever. Not just because The Indestructibles is a book about superheroes and my own little love letter to comic books, but because over the past few years I've let my old love of superheroes become a part of me again, and I'm enjoying the renaissance. Comic book movies make me happy. 

And I found myself thinking--will it last? Is it sustainable? And I thought: well, like any good superhero, it'll last as long as we need it to. 

"We need these kinds of stories right now," I say back to him. We're living in a hard, harsh time. Everything's a little more, or a lot more, challenging than it used to be. The news tells us every day about something awful happening to someone somewhere. I know that personally, on a Friday night, I crave escapism to wash the week away. I want to see a hero in red, white and blue stop a nefarious plot or a teenager find himself cursed with amazing powers he can use to save the day. Because while superheroes sometimes are born in tragedy, they always leave the world better than when they found it. 

We're living in hard times. And that means we need our heroes a little bit more than we used to. 

I hope our heroes stick around for a while. I really do.