There is room for a successful argument that mainstream comic book superheroes have never been heroes and have always been champions of the status quo. I get this argument and can even see its merit. This is not my argument however.

My argument is that once Miller’s Dark Knight stuff broke all sales records there has been a constant downward spiral of even this level of “heroism” and that post-Miller mainstream superheroes are today essentially just sociopathic costumed clowns.