And there is a lot of truth to that. This topic has been debated many times. Those who disagree with the statement argue that the genre is a form of escapism, just like every other genre of entertainment. Romance in movies rarely dealt with relationship problems. Hollywood World War II movies are mostly one-sided, leaving out the British and Russians. The superhero genre has been judged too harshly.
Here's an explanation written for the common Singaporean. Although there are a lot of movies are unrealistic, there are many movies that try to be realistic. For example,
Downfall. Superheroes however, can never be real. They do not exist. Costumed vigilantes exist. Ordinary citizens who dress up in colorful costumes and holding "weapons" such as pepper spray or batons. But superheroes, as depicted in comic books, do not exist. Thus the superhero genre is doomed to being unrealistic.
In
Captain America: The Winter Soldier, a global surveillance program was discovered within S.H.I.E.L.D., putting doubts on the moral and ethics of Director Nick Fury. This was overturned, when Hydra was found to be behind the program. Effectively, the heroes continue to be heroes, clean and pristine, while all bad things can be attributed to villains. This does not reflect the reality behind NSA and PRISM. There are no comic book villains behind NSA. No terrorists either. No al-Qaeda, no neo-Nazis, no whatever. Just NSA, and perhaps George W. Bush's administration. Only with
Captain America: Civil War, did the superheroes finally get some blame. Except, it was overshadowed by the villainy of Helmut Zemo.
What about the motives of villains? Weak at best. Ronan could not accept peace. The Red Skull and Hyrda are megalomaniacs who wanted to conquer the world because they are... evil. The fake Mandarin did not have any motive, nor any demands. Zemo seeked vengeance for his family. That makes Loki and Zemo the deepest villains. There is no radical or fundamental religion involved. No desire of economic expansion via territorial occupation, nor territorial dispute.
Now we get to
Watchmen. Commonly claimed as depicted realistic superheroes. Alan Moore prefers "realistic", with the inverted commas. Putting
Watchmen beside al-Qaeda or PRISM, the difference in complexity becomes apparent.
Watchmen is far from realistic. Rorschach, Owlman, the Comedian, all of them flawed and misunderstood heroes. It's like saying the United States is attacked by terrorists because the country is a symbol of freedom, and the price to pay for that freedom is the crazy stuff going on in the US. Not even close to reality.
