Comic Book Movie Fatigue
Are Superhero Movies losing their grip on moviegoers?
photo by dylan conybeare
After dominating the box office since the early 2000s, superhero movies have enamored viewers with hit after hit at the theaters. Despite their long-lasting success, throughout the last couple of years, audience and critic reviews have dropped, quality has plummeted significantly, and box office gain has stooped to a low never seen before in the industry. How come?
Despite the recent pandemic interfering with the production and profit of movies, the box office has rebounded since then. Movies like Elvis and Top Gun: Maverick led the charts after the pandemic ended, and the theaters have been stable since. So why have superhero movies been flopping?
Since Blade, Marvel’s first successful feature film which paved the way for the MCU (Marvel Cinematic Universe), Marvel movies have been killing it. 4 movies have graced the top 10 highest-grossing films of all time list, solidifying it as the most successful film franchise of all time. Along with the success, Marvel has started to produce a massive amount of content both in theaters and on Disney+. In 2021 alone, Marvel released 4 films and 5 tv shows, keeping fans busy almost every single month of the year. Since then, they have slowed down slightly, with 3 movies and 3 tv shows being released since. Along with Marvel, DC has also produced content throughout the last couple of years on a much smaller scale, with 4 movies and 1 tv show being put out since 2021 (not considering non-universe correlated projects).
Despite this, critic scores have dropped steeply for most projects, with some even reaching Rotten Tomato scores as low as 47% for Marvel and 39% for DC. While the audience scores usually end up much higher than the critics’, people are still not happy with the content being produced.
This could be for a plethora of reasons. One, and the most simple of them all, is that people are getting tired. Despite promises of delving into different genres and changing the stereotypically rigid way such movies are designed, there have yet to be any improvements. Each movie and show feels like the same format, over and over.
“Superhero movies are like a bad sitcom; they're formulaic and are seldom good.” Gabe Holt, 11, said. “They just keep putting out the same movie over and over so they [can] make more money. I feel like they don’t care about actually making movies; they just care about making money.”
Another reason could be the prioritization of quantity over quality in terms of CGI, plot details, and script writing. Recently, it has been revealed that the VFX (Visual Effects) workers are overworked and underpaid under Marvel Studios, which is reflected in the quality of the movies. The CGI, in movies such as Thor: Love and Thunder, has been mocked for its painful shots of floating heads and cheap-looking costumes.
The plot can’t even redeem the movies in some situations, as it’s clear that the screenwriters are under the same amount of stress as the visual effects editors. Characters don’t translate well between projects, stories feel forced, and plot points just don’t make sense.
Despite the low points, there have been multiple standout comic book movies released recently. Matt Reeves’ The Batman won critical acclaim for its new take on the caped crusader, as well as multiple TV shows, such as Moon Knight and WandaVision, which took new approaches within the superhero genre.
With the low box office income and short theatrical release of Shazam!: Fury of the Gods, it’s clear that we are still in a period of superhero movies flopping. As of April, there are still six movies and seven TV shows slated for release later in the year. The term “Superhero Fatigue” would have gotten you criticized 10 years ago. Now, it will get you praised.