Reaching for Lower Stakes

The box-office performance of Spider-Man: Brand New Day shows that I miscalculated: spandex is still as trendy as it was a decade ago. The disinterest in superheroes was all mine.Which makes me wonder: if superhero fatigue is really my problem, why do I still enjoy Reacher so much? Reacher is basically a superhero too. He can’t shoot webs from his hands or see 14,000,605 possible futures. He’s just a strong guy with a moral compass, but he’s every bit as invincible as those guys. So how come Reacher is so much more enjoyable than any superhero flick out there?Where does the fine line between superheroes and characters like Reacher lie? Where is the line between a superhero and, let’s say, an extraordinary person? Is Sherlock Holmes a superhero? Is James Bond? Or does someone become a superhero only once the story admits that what they can do is impossible?I was contemplating this while watching the latest season of Reacher, and I think the main difference lies not in what these…