Recession Superheroes: Impersonators and Millionaires

This photo series by Nicolas Silberfaden, "Impersonators," features superheroes and other pop-culture icons literally "crying" over the economic crisis in the United States. Most of these seeming "cosplayers" are really celebrity impersonators who make their living posing for photos in Los Angeles...and are technically unemployed themselves.

You might recognize Superman, above, from the documentaries "The Reinactors" (2008) and "Confessions of a Superhero" (2007).  Christopher Dennis, perhaps more so than any other living actor, comic book creator, or Man of Steel enthusiast, currently contains the true Superman zeitgeist -- pounding the pavement extolling Kryptonian virtues, keeping his spit-curl jet-black, living in a small apartment crowded with comic book-themed collectibles, and choosing "superhero" as his official life-role.

every good American superhero knows to drink their milk

As textured rubber and military-style body armor replace nylon bodysuits and satin as the superhero costumes of record, Dennis and his fellow Hollywood "impersonators" get "priced out" of the game; who can afford a decent suit resembling Henry Cavill's upcoming movie Superman, for instance?

"Man of Steel": ribbed, for her pleasure

There might even come a time when the "classic" Superman costume design will be forgotten among the newest generations, the bright red-and-blue with the cape resembling no more than a naive glyph from another time.

Silberfaden's photo series also touches upon non-superhero icons as well, such as Rambo:

At which I could only think of my post "Twilight Of The Action Movie Gods." These classic heroes have been handed a pinkslip, victims not only of aging but changing times. They seem too vulnerable in their long-underwear and muscle-displaying wife-beaters. Even the original Robocop seems too quaint, his rebooted makeover giving him more of that military-grade Dark Knight look:

Batman with a Power Rangers helmet: the rebooted Robocop

And that is why there is one superhero you will never see in Silberfaden's photo gallery:

It took many decades, but Iron Man is the superhero of our current times -- Tony Stark has the good sense to be fabulously wealthy, and, unlike head-cases such as Bruce Wayne, is unashamed to be so:

Millionaire-as-superhero: it seems like a premise tailor-made for the Reaganite 1980s. In fact, during the  "meat" of that decade, there were no major/successful superhero movies (the Superman films and "Batman" sort of bookending those ten years at opposite poles). And I believe this is because nobody thought to make that "rich guy superhero" movie. Tony Stark in the comics was too busy atoning for his fiscal sins by fighting alcoholism.

This leads into my final point in this post -- I firmly believe we are stepping into another Eighties scenario. In such a climate, will a Superman movie (especially a "dark, gritty" one) really do well? Won't the Millionaire Superheroes (Batman, Iron Man, Green Arrow) plus the Patriots (Captain America) lead the day, complimented on the opposite side by radical/anarchist heroes the kind of which I don't know if mainstream comics are capable of producing anymore (though certainly it's the subliminal reason the "Watchmen" characters were dusted off). 

In fact, if I had to guess, this is the next hero DC will reboot:

Now, there's a superhero for our times!