I have, recently, been fascinated with rise of superhero myths in culture today.  From comic books, TV shows, movies, etc., they are everywhere.  Pop culture is chalk full of superhero (vampires for females) stories as of late.

My hypothesis is that this is not a coincidence.  I believe that our collective cultural subconscious is attempting to deal with the imminent birth of nanotechnology (just as Superman and Spiderman were born as result of culture processing nuclear technology and the effects of radiation).  Listen to experts in the field and they will tell you that nanotechnology effects are on the horizon and they will significantly alter our lives.  It will be possible, in the fairly near future, to inject nano-bots into our blood stream that will be programmed to fight certain (cancer for example) cells.  Consequently, they would act like white blood cells on steroids.  It will also, inevitably, be possible to replace red blood cells with nano-bots that will provide more oxygen in our blood streams allowing us to hold our breath longer, run faster, jump higher, etc.  This is not distant science fiction anymore, this is the inevitable future.  This is why, I think, the superhero myth has remerged with a vengeance.  The future is coming and we, as society, have begun to collectively process it the way we also have, through story.

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