The dark, gritty motife if there because it works, bob. It sells. Do you think the Dark Knight would've been better if it was geared to a PG rating? For one, we wouldn't have the joker, like ever, and that was the movie's only selling point. With it, the Dark Knight was a cash cow, cause everyone liked it. I get what your saying, thinking that this gritty stuff is getting a bit clumped in the media, but ever since the Iron Man flash of "TERRORISTS ARE REAL?" in that cave, Dramatizing these superheroes is the thing to do. I guarantee you that if the Twilight series started making movies about Mythological Vampires instead of that sparkly abstinence preaching, people would be shocked by that news as well. So the fact that a Superhero movie was made as if it was a Superhero movie is shocking isn't a strange notion.