I’m not someone who watches superhero movies. I don’t have anything against them; they’re just not my thing.

However, this year, I’ve watched two: Suicide Squad, and Zack Snyder’s Justice League. I watched Suicide Squad because I’d signed up for HBO Max to watch a completely different movie, and I wanted to justify the monthly fee for the service. I’d been curious about Suicide Squad because Jared Leto is in it. (The infamous Joker role.)

I watched the Snyder Cut to continue to justify the monthly fee for HBO Max, because Jared Leto is in it, and because I was genuinely moved by the story of how Snyder was forced to leave the first round of the project due to a family tragedy. I’m a fan of second chances, so I was happy to see Snyder get one.

I enjoyed both movies. I got a bit lost in Suicide Squad; I chalked that up to me not being a fan of superhero movies. Maybe I didn’t get it. Or maybe it was the editing. At any rate, I still enjoyed the film. After having watched it, I didn’t understand what all the fuss had been about Jared Leto’s performance as Joker. I enjoyed his performance as Joker. But maybe that’s because (if you haven’t picked up on it already) I’m a fan of Leto’s.

I enjoyed the Snyder Cut the most. I used to watch the Super Friends cartoon when I was in grade school; the Snyder Cut reminded me of the cartoon, only it was darker and more epic. It was four hours long and I was entertained the entire time.

So why do people watch superhero movies?

I’ve seen this theory floating around the internet that superhero movies are a manifestation of a psychological need to have saviors. As in, we’d rather watch a story about a superhero saving the day than go do the things we need to do to save ourselves. (Personally, I’d thought the superhero movie craze was a sort of backlash against the “whatever man, everything is bullshit” ethos that permeated the Gen X era.) But who knows. Like I’ve said, I don’t usually watch superhero movies (unless Jared Leto is in them) so perhaps I’m not qualified to describe exactly how the current manifestation of the genre fits into the modern zeitgeist.

Still. Superheroes have been rattling around the culture for a long time, and, in general, I don’t agree a fascination with superheroes indicates abdication of responsibility for taking action in the world. Some folks, I would imagine, look to superheroes as examples of how to behave.

Human beings have this wonderful quality called “imagination.” We can take it with us wherever we go. If you want to sit at a table all day registering new voters while imagining you’re Wonder Woman, you can do that. And if it helps you slog through a long day of volunteering, why not? If the fantasy gets you out the door to volunteer in the first place, even better. Or, if sometimes pretending you’re Superman helps you achieve a personal goal, especially while you’re doing the (possibly mundane) things that actually get you to the realization of that goal: what’s wrong with that?

I can’t prove that superhero movies encourage activism in some people, as much as they may encourage apathy in others. I can’t prove that people who enjoy superhero movies often use the characters in those movies as a springboard for positive action in their own lives, and communities.

But I have a hunch at least some of them do. And if they do, and make the world a better place as a result: more power to them.