When superheroes made their appearance in the world of comics during the Golden Age, publishers aimed at young readers, teenagers who could see in these heroes as fun and unstoppable adventure companions, devoid of the problems of real life. It took a world conflict and a darker vision in the post-war period to push superheroes into a more human and concrete dimension, a maturation that developed during the Silver Age and Bronze Age. This evolution, however, was long from being complete and found its definitive realization in what was called the Iron Age, but which, given its contents, is better known as the Dark Age.
The transition from Bronze Age to Iron Age materialized with the growing openness on the part of superhero story writers to show social aspects that would hardly have been expected in previous periods. The introduction of these themes was also made possible by the spread of superhero comics to a more adult audience, capable of interpreting certain narrative suggestions.
Masks fall
This passage to a narrative with more adult themes it started at the turn of the Silver Age and Bronze Age, with the appearance of stories such as The Night Gwen Stacy died or the Green Lantern / Green Arrow story cycle by Neil Adams. Finally free from the yoke of the Comics Code Authority, the screenwriters could then rely on reality to find inspiration for their stories, inserting serious elements such as drug addiction or alcoholism into the lives of their protagonists.
