“The Marvels” sets an anti-record for box office, heroes are being cut out of the DC universe in packs, and Sony’s superhero films are full of script holes. Let’s try to figure out why movies about guys in capes have taken a wrong turn and how studios are trying to save the day.
It’s paradoxical, but true: 10-15 years ago, superhero movies were more exciting than they are now. Yes, the graphics were simpler, the plots were more naive, the scale of the events was not as large. But there was a sense of novelty that organically flowed into audience hunger. Because we received a thematic movie not once a season, but once every few years.
Judge for yourself. Marvel has already released three movies this year. DC also has three, and in December we will have Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom. And these are just feature films, there are also animations and TV series.
Movie studios’ plans for superhero content are planned for years to come. From Sony alone, we expect Kraven the Hunter, Madame Web, and the Venom threequel in 2024. And Marvel’s plans are generally measured in five years: the studio has scheduled the release dates of its films until 2026.
It seems like everything is super, but only the global market has already seen the emergence of the expression superhero fatigue. James Gunn, director of Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 and head of DC Studios, considers most comic books “dumb.” And big premieres like Shazam! Fury of the Gods or Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania failed to even recoup production costs.
Nowadays, superheroics are going through something similar to what the peplum genre went through in the 1950s. These were expensive, sprawling films dedicated to stories from ancient times. At that time, films about Julius Caesar, Cleopatra, and Ben-Hur were considered win-win bingers, and the demand for them would never disappear. But it ended, and the peplum of headliners migrated to a niche genre. And now this transformation is threatening superhero films.
When did it all go wrong?
Why did the crisis creep up on a genre that was doing so well until recently? It seems like Avengers: Endgame, which surpassed James Cameron’s Avatar in terms of box office. Superheroes were at the peak of their popularity, and now they are getting close to the end of their rope – why is that?
There are several reasons for this. One is the coronavirus pandemic, which nearly canceled movie theaters, forcing Marvel to focus on streaming content. Two, the lack of access to the Chinese market: American superhero films could not get theatrical release in China for three years. Three – the strike of the US Writers Guild, which slowed down the production of new films and TV series. Four – the decline in interest in superhero movies, recorded by American business analysts.
The last point is a thing that depends not on external circumstances but on the efforts of screenwriters and directors. The latest releases from Sony, Marvel, and DC are crammed with unnecessary plot branches, soapy CGI, scant motivation, and characters whose stories lead nowhere. The screenwriters try to cover up these flaws with an emphasis on inclusivity and equality, but this move is more appealing to movie critics than to ordinary viewers.
Let’s take a look at what’s happening right now in the superhero universes of Marvel, DC, and Sony and how the movie companies are trying to overcome the looming crisis.
What’s going on at DC?
In the fall of 2022, it became known that James Gunn, who directed Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 for Marvel, would become one of the heads of DC Studios. In fact, this is one of the main things that has happened to the studio in recent years.
The latest DC films have either shown restrained results or failed at the box office. For example, Wonder Woman 1984 grossed $34 million less than it took to create it. And The Flash, which at one time was positioned as a reboot of the universe, was supposed to raise $450 million to break even. But it received only 270 million.
Gunn tackled the problem radically, virtually resetting the DC movie universe to zero. Only John Cena, Viola Davis, and Cholo Mariduña, who played the roles of Peacekeeper, Amanda Waller, and Blue Beetle, respectively, will remain. But Henry Cavill, Ben Affleck, Gal Gadot, Jason Mamoa, and Ezra Miller (Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, Aquaman, and The Flash) will not return to their characters.
As for the sequels to Batman with Robert Pattinson and Joker with Joaquin Phoenix, they will be part of DC Elseworlds, a branch of the main cinematic universe that will host films that do not fit into the current canon. There will be a film about a black Superman, which J.J. Abrams plans to produce.
In one of his interviews, Gunn said that movie comics must change in order to survive. But the head of DC Studios does not plan to abandon the classic characters: the first movie of the updated universe will be a picture about Superman. Then there are plans to release films about Batman, Superman’s cousin Kara Zor-El, Swamp Thing and the Authority, a team of radical superheroes.
What interesting things can be seen at DC now? In our opinion, these are projects that don’t really overlap with the main global studio. For example, Doom Patrol, which is dedicated to loser superheroes. Or the animated series Harley Quinn, which is almost a sitcom, where villains are mixed with purely mundane things.
What’s going on with Marvel?
The Marvel cinematic universe is divided into sagas. “Avengers: Infinity War” ended with the victory over Thanos. And the current one, Multiverse Saga, tells about the dangers that lurk in alternative worlds. In fact, we are now in the middle of this saga.
One of the main problems faced by the leaders of the cinematic universe is the loss of characters that viewers have been following for a decade. It hasn’t yet been possible to find an alternative to Captain America, Iron Man, and Thor, even though Marvel has released a whole host of new heroes. It got to the point where the studio is seriously discussing the return of the original Avengers.
Another Marvel headache is the scandal surrounding Jonathan Magers, who played Kang the Conqueror in Loki and Ant-Man. Kang was supposed to be the main villain of the saga, a kind of new Thanos. But in March of this year, Meijers was arrested on charges of domestic violence. The studio doubts that the actor will be able to win this case, so they are thinking of shifting the focus from Kang to another villain, Dr. Doom. The big question is how to realize this.
At the same time, Marel is accused of overworking its special effects specialists, and the company is trying to compensate for the problems with the depth of its scripts by producing sequels. Even Disney CEO Bob Iger noted the latter:
“Sequels usually work well for us, but, for example, do you need a third or fourth movie about the same character? Or is it time to turn to other characters?”
In fact, this is what the studio is doing now. Marvel is looking for screenwriters for the new X-Men, preparing to relaunch Blade with Mahershala Ali, and is pushing back the premiere of Thunderbolts, a movie about a team of anti-heroes. The latter may include minor characters we’ve already seen on the big and small screens – Red Guardian, Taskmaster, Ghost, Winter Soldier, etc.
What interesting Marvel movies can you watch now? While “The Marvels” is setting an anti-record at the box office, you can turn to the studio’s most unconventional works in recent years. For example, WandaVision, which imitates American sitcoms from different decades. Or the spin-off horror Werewolf by Night, which was shot in the style of old-school Universal horror. This fall, the mini-movie has just received a color version.
How is Sony doing?
They have less appetite than DC and Marvel. The studio has the rights to some Marvel characters, around which it is building its franchise.
Spider-Man remains one of its central characters. In the past, Sony, through Columbia Pictures, had direct access to this character, which resulted in films with Tobey Maguire and Andrew Garfield. Now, the “friendly neighbor” is hanging in the arms of Marvel, and all that remains for Sony is to create films about Spidey’s enemies and allies.
These are the two parts of Venom with Tom Hardy and Morbius with Jared Leto. And in 2024, Madame Web will be released, featuring three Spider-Women at once. And Kraven the Hunter, which will introduce the supervillain hunter Sergei Kravinov. He was supposed to appear in Sam Raimi’s fourth Spider-Man movie, which was never made, but as a result, he will only get to the big screens now.
Sony’s new superhero movie series combines not only the spider theme but also the number of crutches in the scripts. And while this didn’t hurt the Venom films (both the original and the sequel performed well at the box office), Morbius failed miserably. The movie was so bad that viewers jokingly called it an Oscar-winner and asked to see it in theaters for a second time. And Sony marketers bought it: “Morbius” was re-released in theaters, where it flopped for the second time.
The most interesting thing that can happen with Sony’s characters is the intersection with Marvel’s characters. We’ve already seen the Vulture from Spider-Man: Homecoming peeked into the post-credits scene of Morbius. And that a part of Venom remained in the Marvel world in the finale of Spider-Man: No Way Home. So we are looking forward to interesting collaborations that will include not only fanservice but also a good story.
What interesting things can you watch at Sony now? The animated features “Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse” and “Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse” can be recommended with a clear conscience. Excellent graphics, brisk pacing, and an unabashed plot – we hope that the threequel will be the same.
What is the result?
Now the genre is at a crossroads. Filmmakers have too many heroes, plots and locations, and too little desire to get off the beaten path in the field of experimentation. Until recently, superhero movies could be made in the same vein, give or take, but the audience’s patience is running out. To replenish it, film studios will have to at least minimally ennoble the genre.
For now, we have to either be content with popcorn action movies or look for gems in niche subgenres. For example, there are a lot of great series about loser superheroes now. For example, there are a lot of great TV Series about loser superheroes right now: we’ll leave a selection of such shows right here.
