It's... complicated?

As a culture, individualism is not usually given as much value in Europe as in the United States. In the American collective imagination, it is very normal for a single person to solve society's problems alone. There is a long tradition, from the myth of the cowboy to Rambo. In Europe, there is more of a belief that it is the state's responsibility to solve society's problems. There are a number of reasons, but let's say that one of the biggest is historical: in Europe we had dictatorships of men who said that they alone would solve all the problems and that democracies were useless and ineffective. These dictatorships were politically far right, so usually here extreme individualism is associated politically with the right.


Second, there is a problem of symbolism and context. The symbolism of superheroes, in an American context is politically neutral, in a European context takes on a precise political connotation - a far right connotation (i.e. people who alone, outside the rules, fight crime because the democratic state is useless. Violence as a problem solver. Fetishization of arms and muscles. Costumes which resemble military uniforms etc).

Bear in mind that when a politician here pays extreme attention to respect for law and order, he is often called a "cowboy politician", harking back to the American imagination.

Don't get it wrong, we love cowboys, superheroes, action heroes who single-handedly kill thousands of bad guys. We're just uncomfortable with these stories being set here, because they become immediately politically charged.

To answer your question, I am sure that these Italian superheroes have nothing strange in the eyes of an American, but an Italian immediately associates them with certain political values. 

I mean, look at these representatives of Forza Nuova (an extreme-extreme right party) doing a demonstration: it could easily be the classic costume of some urban superhero