The following version of this short story was used to create the guide: Eisenberg, Deborah. "Twilight of the Superheroes." Twilight of the Superheroes. Picador, 2006.

Deborah Eisenberg's short story "Twilight of the Superheroes," is a fragmented third person narrative. Though the piece moves frequently between time and space, the following summary employs a linear form.

The son of Jewish immigrants, Rose and Isaac, Nathaniel struggles to find his place in the world. As a boy, his parents failed to understand him. When he was seven, his Aunt Charlie and Uncle Lucien visited from New York City. He thought they were beautiful and free, and became desperate to live in the same world they were from. Years later, after Nathaniel graduated from college, he remained in his hometown. His closest friends, Amity, Madison, and Lyle, moved to the city and found prestigious jobs in public relations, brokerage, and art. Meanwhile, Nathaniel lamented his unchanged life, while working on his comic strip, Passivityman.

One day, Amity called him and encouraged him to do something with his life. She attributed his inertia to a fear of failure. Though Nathaniel protested, he later realized she was right. He suddenly saw his life disappearing before it had even begun. Shortly thereafter he moved to the city.

His parents, however, continued worrying about him. They called Lucien and begged him to help their directionless son. Lucien reluctantly agreed. After his wife died, he thought he would be rid of her family. However, they continued relying upon him for support and advice. He contacted Nathaniel, found him an architectural job, and set him up with a sublet in his friend Mr. Matsumoto's luxury apartment.

The loft seemed perfect for a time. After the market crashed, and Nathaniel's friends lost their jobs or ability to pay rent, they moved in with Nathaniel. At Mr. Matsumoto's everything was beautiful. Then, one clear September morning, while sitting on the terrace together, the friends watched the Twin Towers fall. Though they continued living at Mr. Matsumoto's in the years following, it took them several years to forget what they had seen.

In the narrative present, Lucien sits in his art gallery. After talking to Mr. Matsumoto, he informs Nathaniel that he and his friends will soon have to leave the loft, as Matsumoto is returning to the States. After everyone leaves the gallery, Lucien opens a bottle of wine and begins musing on his life. Suddenly he sees his late wife and old schoolteacher's ghosts appearing before him. The visitations make him realize how much of his youth he wasted. Soon everything he experienced will be forgotten.

Meanwhile, Nathaniel and his friends toast to Mr. Matsumoto's return on the terrace. Amity's new beau comments repeatedly on the view. The friends ignore him, desperate not to remember what it represents. While drinking with his friends, Nathaniel considers changing his life. The only thing he can think to do, however, is contact his former crush. He gets lost in dreams of her.

At the gallery, Lucien imagines his life distilled into images on a textbook page. Children on another planet will someday study his life, this era, with academic detachment.