Between the superhero and the supercrip: Deaf Gain, exceptionalism and normality in contemporary film and television

Abstract

The inspirational ‘supercrip’ has long been a staple of deaf film narrative, but the 2010s and 2020s have seen an explosion in new screen portrayals of superheroes whose powers operate as extreme examples of Deaf Gain. Deaf superheroes both challenge the supercrip trope by resituating their skills in a fantastical context, and perpetuate it through their continued focus on exceptional bodies. Confronting this paradox through analyses of several recent characterizations, this article investigates the deaf superhero corpus’ potential to make a radical contribution to screen representation, not only through its portrayal of deaf exceptionalism, but of deaf normality. Show more