The main reason there has been a spat of Superhero movies since 2000 (when x-men came out, pre 911, you may also want to count Blade which was what, 1998?), is that Marvel finally sorted out their licencing issues with the formation of Marvel Studios in 1996. Before that it was a mess.

With licensing sorted they started small with Blade, then hit the jackpot with Xmen and the first Spiderman (a movie that had been stuck in development, due to never ending licence issues for 25 years) which was filmed pre-911.

With the phenomenal success of these movies, the technology to now make them work, and 25years of fan frustration behind them, franchise after franchise followed suit. It was a formula, it worked, the end.

Remember, DC had no such licence issues and had been creating Superman (Reeve) and Batman (Burton et al) mvies for years, and succesful ones at that.

he is right about one thing though, no Brit would be seen dead in a cape unless for comic effect. Our idea of a superhero is Judge Dredd a leather clad psychopath who blows peoples heads of blam blam.