"Walk-On Parts": The Diminished Agency of Grant Morrison's Superhero Celebrities

Abstract

While several comic book writers have written superheroes as analogous to celebrities, Grant Morrison is the author who has done so the most frequently. Using Zenith, Animal Man and The Multiversity as its core examples, this paper suggests that Morrison’s depictions of celebrities differentiates itself from others’ by applying a situationist lens to fame. Morrison’s work reflects Guy Debord’s critique of celebrities’ role in social life, wherein famous people, rather than being distinct individuals, have sacrificed their uniqueness in exchange for fame. Morrison’s celebrities, instead of being able to use their public visibility to positively change society, are constantly impeded by the artifice which constructs their fame in the first place. As a result, they find themselves losing not just the ability for their words and deeds to impact the world, but their ability to express themselves as individuals, ultimately becoming unwitting upholders of the status quo.