The answer to the question posed in the article title is: yes and no. Yes, the superhero movie genre’s health is struggling, it’s vitals have been compromised, but hope remains,
I explain below. 👇
Struggling Vitals
A lot of what is ailing the superhero/comic book movie genre is self-inflicted. Thanks mainly to the early success of pioneers like Wesley Snipes’s Blade, Toby Maguire’s Spider-Man and Christopher Nolan’s Dark Knight movie franchises, followed by the behemoth that is the Marvel Cinematic Universe, the genre has subsequently been littered with trash based upon the foundation that was set by the aforementioned early stalwarts. Other franchises (mainly non-MCU ones) haven’t been as methodical and meticulous in producing interwoven, compelling stories necessary to build out a successful extended universe.
The ill-fated DCEU, Sony’s Extended Spider-Man Universe and various FOX Studios (Marvel) properties not named Deadpool, X-Men or Logan have flooded the market. And even worse, many have created some general audience brand confusion, and resulted in the dilution of the Marvel movie brand overall.
Streaming Stuffers
Due to the success of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, its parent company, Disney decided to produce content on its own streaming platform in 2019—Disney+.
The platform was partially an extension of the behemoth that was the MCU, for its eager fan base. It started off well with WandaVision, Loki, The Falcon & The Winter Soldier, and Hawkeye.
But as time passed, and the content continued to grow, the response to this growing content dwindled.
Streaming Dilution
After its first batch of shows in 2021, content quantity and frequency increased. But many would say (and show by the dwindling viewership) that the quality did not. From Moon 🌙 Knight to She-Hulk and Secret Invasion, there were more duds than we were used to seeing from Marvel Studios.
Additionally, with all of the new characters and content on streaming versus a slower pace of MCU content in the theaters, a lot of the symbiotic continuity was, at best, waning, or, at worst, being lost. I didn’t feel as connected as I did from 2008-2019 (during the 11-year Infinity Saga run), and a lot of this had to do with the lack of connectivity between Disney+ MCU content and the big screen MCU content.
Forces From Beyond
To be fair, key forces beyond the control of the creators have had a heavy hand in the wobbling superhero movie genre as a whole. Environmental factors, like the global pandemic from 2020-21, battered the overall movie industry. And the Chinese film embargo (early 2020’s) had its hand as well. And lastly, overall superhero movie genre fatigue, especially after the MCU wrapped out so nicely in 2019 with Avengers: Endgame, were all bond to have a huge negative impact.
It’s a new landscape for sure. There have been some great outliers, like the massively popular Deadpool & Wolverine, Spider-Man: No Way Home, and a few DC properties (e.g., Joker and The Batman) that illustrate if the star power is right and the reviews and fan reaction are great, the genre is not really dying.
But I must acknowledge there seems to be a new normal—which is fine. A more discerning market hopefully raise’s creators’s content quality, even if it leads to a decrease in movie quantity.
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