In the past, superhero movies were seen as second-rate cinema. Nobody wanted to be involved in these films, and nobody took them seriously. And I don’t blame them. In a time when CGI was still limited and when these stories were generally perceived by society as something for kids, it’s no wonder they didn’t find success in the film industry.
However, everything changed with the arrival of the 21st century. Although we had already seen some advancements with Christopher Reeve’s Superman and Tim Burton’s Batman, it wasn’t until Sam Raimi’s Spider-Man and Bryan Singer’s X-Men came along that something a little more “serious” started to be done with superhero licenses.
Since then, they began experimenting with all sorts of approaches, in a trial and error process where there were more failures than successes. But all of this crystallized in 2008 with two major films that shaped the future of superheroes: Iron Man, which made it clear that everything was ready for a functional Marvel universe, and The Dark Knight, the pinnacle of superhero quality at the time, even winning an Oscar.
From then on, both Marvel Studios with its MCU and DC with some more or less successful attempts made it clear that we were in a golden age of superheroes. But it seems that all of that has come to an end, and even though the success of Avengers: Endgame was still lingering after the pandemic, it seems like we’re in a situation of returning to the time before 2008.
Too many premieres, too many failures
The issue of superhero oversaturation has been warned about ever since they started releasing more than two films of the genre per year. However, now it seems to be becoming a reality. For the past few months and through the summer, we have practically had a new superhero release in theaters every week… and not all of them are successful.
While, of course, there are IPs that are still thriving, as demonstrated by Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse and Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3, many other proposals have not resonated with audiences. Even Ant-Man & The Wasp: Quantumania didn’t perform well at the box office, while its more humble predecessors did.
And when it comes to quality, things aren’t improving either. Marvel Studios’ series have been heavily criticized for their low quality, and the CGI in general in most recent productions from both Marvel and DC raises long debates about what is happening. Furthermore, the idea of exploring multiverses seemed appealing on paper… but the formula has quickly become stale.
The best example of this is the case of DC Studios, which had to backtrack on its extensive roadmap by hiring James Gunn to salvage their universe. And it’s not without reason. Their recent releases have been one failure after another. Neither Black Adam, Shazam! 2, nor The Flash have performed well… and they had high hopes for the latter. All of this has forced them to start fresh, but they still have two more films to release this year, amidst an evident oversaturation where only a miracle can save them from failure.
But it’s not just Marvel and DC facing issues… Sony is also in turmoil. Despite their animated success, their strategy of using Spider-Man villains to make films without Spider-Man is becoming more apparent. Yes, Venom worked well because the character is appealing enough, but Morbius was a complete failure, and Kraven has already become a meme even before the trailer was released.
With so much money lost along the way and a barrage of negative reviews just when it seemed like they had regained lost ground, it’s clear that we are at an impasse in the genre. It’s uncertain whether this is a decline similar to what happened with Westerns in the past, or if they simply need to fine-tune their productions. But something must be done to turn the current landscape around.
From eagerly anticipating two or three superhero films each year, fans have now become apathetic towards each new release. And that, undoubtedly, will significantly alter the studios’ plans. What they thought was a cash cow has become a money pit where they pour in tons of money… and it’s evident that a change of course is finally necessary.
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