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It has occurred to me that the superhero really only originates in America. That seems to be the only country that has produced this phenomenon.

Superheroes fill a gap in the pop culture psyche, similar to the role of Greek mythology. There isn't really anything else that does the job in modern terms. For me, Batman is the one that can most clearly be taken seriously.

I have never met a superhero, but why are we so obsessed with superheroes?

Superheroes are best imagined in comic books. The union between the written word, the image, and then what your imagination has to do to connect those allows for so much.

You don't just have to see superhero movies. Ultimately, those movies are westerns - superheroes are good guys fighting bad guys in a landscape. In westerns, that divide couldn't be any more clear, but the only superpower you have is that you're a quicker shot than the other guy.

I've learned that being a superhero isn't all glitz and glamour. We think if we have a special power, our problem will go away. It's just a new set of problems. Being a superhero alienates you and separates you from humanity. As Spiderman famously said, 'With great power comes great responsibility.'

I am very big into superheroes.

Not to get too deep, but I think one of the reasons we embrace superheroes and this world is that these are just normal people that have incredible powers that are relatable in some ways - in that we don't have great super powers, but there's strength within us that we can utilize in our lives. Ultimately, they're just normal people with problems.

I grew up in Canada and was a huge Spider-Man fan, and never thought of Spider-Man as an American hero.

After 9/11, I knew I wanted to write about power and identity and the way Americans on all sides of the political spectrum often mythologize our leaders, which are themes that the superhero genre has always handled really well.