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Salzer, Ranhild. "Crafting Marvelous Men: Captain America, Enacting Masculinity, and the Marvel Method." Comics Studies x Gender Studies. Schnittmengen von Forschung, Lehre und Praxis – Intersections of Research, Teaching, and Practice. Eds. Marina Rauchenbacher, Katharina Serles and Naomi Lobnig. Comicstudien. Berlin u. Boston: de Gruyter, 2025. 101–12. Added by: joachim (28/08/2025, 08:48) |
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| Resource type: Book Chapter Language: en: English DOI: 10.1515/9783110775754-014 BibTeX citation key: Salzer2025 Email resource to friend View all bibliographic details  |
Categories: General Keywords: "Captain America", Gender, Marvel, Superhero, USA Creators: Lobnig, Rauchenbacher, Salzer, Serles Publisher: de Gruyter (Berlin u. Boston) Collection: Comics Studies x Gender Studies. Schnittmengen von Forschung, Lehre und Praxis – Intersections of Research, Teaching, and Practice |
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This article applies masculinity studies concepts to the reading of American super-hero comics. Bringing masculinity, gender, and comics studies together, it analyzes how male superheroes’ interactions with hegemonic ideals of masculinity are depicted in these comics as homosocial gender enactments. Combining gender studies and comics studies to investigate superhero comics is nothing new. However, only a small number of recent articles have critically focused on constructions of masculinity in superhero comics, a situation this article seeks to rectify. The interactions between superhero comics and constructions of masculinity go beyond depicting male protagonists, the majority of whom are white, Judeo-Christian, heterosexual, and – with a few exceptions – able-bodied. They depict masculinity and, in particular, its hegemonic variation as enactments of homosociality. When it comes to depicting hegemonic masculinity, which is always a “culturally exalted form of masculinity” and therefore not a realistic representation of masculinity, superhero comics enable their male protagonists to enact this masculinity as a ‘hybrid bloc.’ I will illustrate this point by looking at the first time Captain America appeared under the banner of Marvel Comics in 1964.
Added by: joachim |