This country wants and needs a hero.

That conclusion’s not a far jump from the movie seat I sat in for Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban. It wasn’t the movie, though; it was the trailers. Each of them drew from the hero archetype: Catwoman, The Incredibles, Spiderman 2, even The Polar Express (an upcoming Santa Claus movie). Each of them played to a basic human need for the righteous, the powerful.

Each of them offered a solution.

Colossal bad guy? No problemo. World in crisis? To the rescue! Weight of the world crushing down? Pay $8 to see you friendly neighborhood Spiderman.

Now, I’m not saying we should each act an island unto ourselves. I’m a big Sam Raimi fan, and I’ll stand in line with my fistful of dollars like 20 million other Americans on June 30.

But, it is interesting how Hollywood responds to the pangs of our times.