The “hero” hasn’t disappeared from comic books, he has just changed faces.
The heroes of the golden and silver and bronze ages of comics represented the feeling of everyday society in America; a virtuous being who battled the forces of evil to save the earth(or the girl). The heroes in the golden age, such as Superman, the Green Hornet and Captain Marvel, reflected a time in American history when the economy was strong, women were looked at with respect rather than scorn, and the evils that confronted the civilian and hero alike were visible and defeatable. Villains such as Lex Luthor, the Black Satan, and the Clown were over the top, and were always thwarted in the end by their respective arch-heroes. As we see later in comics, though, characters such as Lex Luthor also makes a change, becoming more human and evoking the sympathy of readers.
Later came the Viet-Nam War, gas shortages, crises in the Middle East and troubles in Central America, and the late Silver/early Bronze Age was born. Heroes began to take on more human characteristics; the Hulk, with the savage buried beneath the figure of Dr. Banner, being released during anger or frustration, and his constant conflict within himself to control the beast; The X-Men, homo-superior beings, mutated from the human gene, who are the constant victims of prejudice and hatred from their human counterparts, so much so that most are forced to hide the fact that they are mutants from the general population; and Daredevil, a blind vigilante who was prone togetting injured on the job. These characters were more representative of the American society at the time, which was going through a change from family friendly “Leave it to Beaver” type households, to broken homes, with one parent missing.
The current evolution of the comic book hero began with modern age of comics, in the form of characters who all-to-human traits take precedence over the whole “defeat evil” plots of yesteryear. Batman, for example, took on a very humanized role as the “Dark Knight”, as immortalized by Frank Miller. Bruce Wayne felt the death of his parents, he mourned them, he became a bit wacky, put on a suit based on a rodent, hunted down villains, and beat them nearly to the point of death. There were times when Superman, the very anti-thesis of what Batman has become, had to step in and stay the hand of the Caped Crusader from actually killing someone. Comic book readers also saw the rise of DC’s “Vigilante”, and Marvel’s “Punisher”,
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