Star Trek, Batman, "X-men," "Wolverine" etc -- why the hell do adults care about this shit?

[smalll]

Fuckin' Hell on wheels -- can someone explain to me why ADULTS (often, dishearteningly, well-educated, intelligent, upper-middle-class latte types) care about such juvenilia?

Like I was at my local bar on Friday night, and while ordering a beer up at the bar, happened to eavesdrop on a pair of clearly pleasant, intelligent, youngish upper-middle-class dudes, getting into a deep conversation about Bat Man "qua" Bat Man, plus how far things have advanced paradigm-wise on an almost parabolic curve since Adam West.

What does this say about our culture that otherwise putatively smart dudes obsess about such adolescent follies?

Plus, all us normals have at least HEARD of Batman, Superman, light-sabres and what have you -- but what does it mean when it seems like virtually every other movie that comes out is based on some obscure niche-market comic-book -- -- that anyone who didn't grow up as some premature Jabba the Hut destined to end up as a Cyclops --NEVER HEARD OF (sysops, I think that might be the more exact term) -- when every other such movie means NOTHING to any of us, but of course, most of us keep quiet, because for some reason, your standard contemporary film critic is clearly wikipediaing as fast as they can so that they can pretend that it's somehow normal to have some vague inkling as to what all these pre-pubescent super-heros are about?