Gritty. Hard-boiled. Tortured and flawed. Ah, the elements of the new prototypical superhero.

Audiences no longer crave truth, justice and the American way. They want an icy-cold, psychologically jacked hero that shoots heroin in the women's restroom after ripping out the spine of a baddie while bemoaning Corporate America. Superman, the embodiment of all that is good and right, is now merely looked upon with nostalgia -- not as a viable Hollywood product.

Superman is dead, and we killed him.