Plot Synopsis

In three one-hour programs, host and narrator Liev Schreiber explores the ongoing cultural impact of the comic-book genre, starting with the emergence of characters during the Depression, showing how superheroes began to affect and reflect social mores, and tracking how these character have become embraced by everyone worldwide. SUPERHEROES: A NEVER-ENDING BATTLE features on-camera interviews with Stan Lee, Adam West, Lynda Carter, Michael Chabon, Todd McFarlane, and many others. The three episodes are: "Truth, Justice, and the American (1938-1958)," which chronicles how the popularity of dozens of superhero characters opened the door for a new generation of artists and writers in the Depression, eventually leading to intense government scrutiny for their influence on American children and the arrival of Superman on TVs in 1952; "Great Power, Great Responsibility (1959-1977)," which documents how a new breed of superhero emerged in the pages of Marvel Comics, inspired by the age of atomic energy and space travel, and with flaws, issues, and problems with which an adult audience was able to identify for the first time; and "A Hero Can Be Anyone (1978-Present)," which highlights how mass media and the general population began to accept superheroes, starting with the arrival of Christopher Reeve as the Man of Steel, through the release of comic-book narratives like Watchmen, and to today, as superheroes have transformed pop culture with feature films, TV shows, video games, and web-based comics.