Ages of Heroism - The Iron Age/Dark age

The Dark Iron Age / Dark Age of Heroism (1990–2000)   The dam finally broke at the end of the 1980s. Decades of government corruption, corporate overreach, widening inequality, and social unrest shattered what remained of public faith in institutions—heroic or otherwise. In the vacuum that followed, the world saw the highest surge of unregistered vigilantes since the early Golden Age, operating beyond oversight and increasingly beyond restraint.   They arrived dressed in black and armed to the teeth. Body armor replaced bright colors. Utility belts swelled into full combat rigs, bristling with ammunition, explosives, and improvised weapons. Lethal force became not just acceptable but routine, justified as efficiency rather than cruelty. These figures rejected symbolism outright. They did not want to be admired, endorsed, or remembered—they wanted threats eliminated.   The Dark Age recast heroism as warfare. Collateral damage was rationalized, moral codes abandoned, and the line between hero and villain blurred until it was often meaningless. Many of these operatives viewed laws as obstacles and public opinion as irrelevant. The message was clear and uncompromising: we are not here to be loved—we are here to end problems, and we will do it our way.   Villains answered in kind. Serial killers, empowered war criminals, and ruthless crime lords stepped out of the shadows and into rogues’ galleries that had once been populated by theatrical bank robbers and grandiose schemers. The old rules—codes, gimmicks, restraint—were discarded as relics of a softer time.   The villains of the Dark Age did not posture or perform. They embraced terror as a tactic and cruelty as a statement. Where earlier adversaries sought attention, these sought results. They made it clear that true evil did not play games, did not leave clues, and did not want an audience—only control, destruction, or silence.   By the turn of the millennium, the consequences were impossible to ignore. Cities were safer in some places and more broken in others. Governments responded with tighter controls, mandatory registration, and compliance regimes that would define the next era. The Dark Age burned hot and fast, leaving scars that the modern world still struggles to justify—or erase.