Superhero movies, many of them based on comic books, have become the most popular genre in the multiplex cinemas of the 21st century. Hero worship has provided profits for long established publishers like DC Comics and Marvel Comics, who began their successful business with Superman, Wonder Woman, Spider Man and Captain America. Since the first comic books appeared just before the Second World War, they have gone through several resurgences in popularity. It has been suggested that no other icons have come back strongly again and again after being marginalized for decades. This raises the question of why muscle-bound men in tights continue to capture the interest and imagination of young and old alike.