Comic book superheroes have soaked the movie house this summer with the angst and rage born of their famously mutated blood. It’s true of the Incredible Hulk, Hancock and Hellboy. And on Friday, the thoroughly human, non-mutated Batman comes roaring back into the cinema. He’ll probably score the highest-grossing weekend of the year if industry predictions bear out.

Shaun Treat

Call these summer action flicks popcorn-tossing entertainment if you must. Shaun Treat, a University of North Texas professor, insists that these superheroes — even the ones who don’t suffer gene-altering accidents — have a lot to say about the American psyche.

Students are curious, packing the small graduate course Treat is teaching this fall, called “The Mythic Rhetoric of the American Hero.” The class has generated national buzz, and Treat isn’t complaining.

For the communications studies professor, the comic book heroes who’ve leapt from the page to the screen say a lot about the people who push money through the ticket window. Superheroes have a lot to say about what Americans want in their nation and their leaders. They say a lot about what we fear, how secular America still connects to the Christian story of salvation, what we lust for and, sometimes, they have a little something to say about our secret sexual kinks.

“The superhero trope is a really good way to look at some of these issues,” said Treat, who wore a well-loved, light blue Superman T-shirt to the interview. “Some people think these issues are dull and boring until you put it in tights and a cape.”

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Treat said the superhero came zooming back to the public’s affection after Sept. 11, 2001. When the emblem of American independence and liberty was assaulted by a poorer clan with much fewer public resources, the nation went to the cinema in search of a guy who could do what the feds couldn’t — take on underworld troublemakers with aplomb and a scant mess.

“It’s not an accident that superheroes rose after 9/11,” Treat said. “A lot of these guys are benevolent terrorists. The main characteristics of a superhero are that they work outside of the law. The law isn’t working. They use violence or technology, and they rely on secular religion. That might sound weird, but if you think about religion as a set of beliefs you use to guide your daily behavior, well, then superheroes are relying on secular religion and they are secular saviors. Super­man is probably the most overt Christ figure. What’s interesting to see is how these mythological characters become a part of a distinct American fantasy about power and evil.”

Christianity has been a big source for graphic novelists who work out societal dramas with magical powers and their own demise. Treat said The Matrix, which has become an iconic superhero movie, is about Jesus with an arsenal.

When comic books and su­per­­heroes were created by post-World War II cartoonists, Treat said Americans were suspicious of science. The evil scientist was a stock villain in the oldies.

These days, science is in higher regard — until you get into biological warfare, cloning and stem cells — but CEOs aren’t.

“These days, we’re seeing the evil capitalist, bad big business. Iron Monger in Iron Man is a great example of the evil capitalist. It’s not hard to see what 21st-century Americans are worried about,” Treat said. “We’re worried about capitalism without a conscience.”

As both fanboys and movie fans quiver in anticipation for The Dark Knight, the latest Batman movie, Treat said they could be digging into a meatier message than they expect.

“For all intents and purposes, Batman is a terrorist,” he said. “In a way, a lot of superheroes flirt with fascist values. Batman does. The normal, democratic system has failed. It can’t solve the problem. Gotham is a mess. So Batman comes in with his toys and his technology and terrorizes the villain — and Gotham. Why doesn’t Batman kill? That’s the line. If you cross it, there’s not much to distinguish you from the bad guys.”

Treat’s class has already been mentioned on blogs and he’s done a slew of interviews. Some people think he’s making too much of the whole thing

“Superheroes have had this stigma since day one, that they are kid stuff. I think it’s a fun way to engage students in social theory,” Treat said. “It’s funny — a lot of my students come in skeptical, and then they tell me I’ve ruined TV or the movies for them because they watch and see all of these things they never saw before.”

The meaning of Iron Man

University of North Texas professor Shaun Treat says Iron Man is a prime example of an anxious nation working through its wartime fears.

“I’m really using the course to examine the antihero,” Treat said. “What happens to someone with hubris and power? With Tony Stark, his weapons kill all these soldiers, and what does he do? He builds a better weapon. Tony Stark gets waterboarded. And you know that part in the movie where he takes his first tour in the suit and lands in Afghanistan? His armor picks out the attackers and zip! Takes ’em out. That was a way to deal with the anxiety about collateral damage, something we’re seeing a lot of in the Middle East.”

The Mean Green

“The Hulk deals with issues of brutality and monstrosity,” Treat said. “He’s the product of the military.” The Hulk is Bruce Banner, a curious scientist who is too arrogant to stop using himself as a test subject. The Hulk helps viewers and readers deal with the military in­dustrial complex — a version of bad big business — and hubris, too.

Race matters

One superhero this summer has the potential to bring up race in America. Hancock, starring Will Smith, is about a ne’er-do-well superhero, who can’t save the day (or even land) without doing property damage.

Hancock (Will Smith) is a hero with a drinking prob¬lem.

“Hancock is a black Superman, and he’s a superhero with alcoholism,” Treat said. “In the Iron Man comic book series, Iron Man goes through a pretty serious drinking phase. It’s not something you hear about, and it might be something a lot of readers saw as just another thing this guy had to go through. With Han­cock, it might be different than that.”

Hancock is different. His alcoholism and his rebelliousness give a critical public reason to hold him up to public ridicule. A white Superman hitting the bottle is just part of a story arc. A black Super­man with a drinking habit is a fatal flaw, and the final straw for the mouthy superhero’s rehabilitation.

Where are the superwomen?

“There are a lot fewer of them,” Treat said. He said female superheroes often tap into male fears about female power.

The Amazon Wonder Woman uses her Lasso of Truth to upend a host of villains, plenty of them male. In X-Men: The Last Stand, Jean Gray becomes Phoe­nix, a nasty turn of events. Her powers heighten and her moral compass is cracked.

“Jean Gray is about female power. If you can’t control it, you’re going to have big problems. That’s the fear,” Treat said. “When Phoenix kills a man, it’s a problem. When Wol­verine pops his claws and starts offing people, everyone cheers. Female superheroes are scary in a different way. I think that’s why Gloria Steinem put Wonder Woman on the first-ever edition of Ms. Magazine in the 1970s.”