Darkness prevails

From happiness to gloominess: what happened to our heroes and superheroes?

Actor Adam West attending the Batman: Return of the Caped Crusaders Press Room at New York Comic-Con in 2016. Mike Coppola / AFP

It has been a tough few weeks for those of us who cling to the idea that the superheroes and spies of TV and film will always be with us. Sir Roger Moore, who played James Bond for 12 years, passed away last month and this week it was announced that Adam West, the original Batman, had died.

Both Moore and West and, indeed, the characters they played, represent a bygone era. Bond in Moore’s hands had a lightness of touch that has all but disappeared in Daniel Craig’s 007. Britain’s most famous secret agent is now a brooding, anachronistic character. The same is true of Batman. In his Sixties incarnation, the caped crusader was a man who made silly asides, got involved in mock fights and ran around a world painted in psychedelic colours. The most recent cinematic adventure of Batman last year found him to be a war-weary, bruised and compromised figure.

Culture, of course, often reflects the prevailing sentiment of the times. If that is so, not even the superheroes can save us now.