By Ezae Darby
At one point in time, superhero movies were at the forefront of the movie industry. Big productions like “Iron Man”, “The Avengers”, and “The Dark Knight” all ruled the box office and gave fans spectacular performances that they couldn’t wait to see replicated. Unfortunately, that warm, fuzzy feeling that once filled the air has now vanished. In the last few years, superhero movies have lost a ton of momentum. Big franchises like Marvel and DC Studios have put out several projects recently that have left many fans disappointed. This downward spiral does beg the question: Is the age of superhero movies over?
Let’s take it back to where this decline first started. A few months prior to the release of Marvel’s biggest and highest-grossing film to date, “Avengers: Endgame”, which grossed over $2.7 billion in its theatrical run, the studio decided to drop some big news for its ever-so-loyal fanbase. During San Diego Comic-Con (SDCC) 2019, the annual film event, they announced 10 new projects that would be released over the next two years. A bold, yet arguably very exciting announcement that made fans lose their minds.
Unfortunately, these projects were not met with high praise. The first movie to release after “Avengers: Endgame” was “Black Widow”. Much to fans’ disappointment, the movie was a major letdown. The film felt a decade too late when it came to honoring the late avenger and femme fatale, Natasha Romanoff, and had a short-lived theatrical run. According to Forbes, the film made an unfortunate $66.4 million in profit, which was a major loss for Disney to bear.
Much to the studio’s dismay, some of their newer projects continued to underperform. Despite some standouts from the bunch, like the highly-anticipated movie “Spiderman: Far From Home,” the majority of their titles flopped. These included “The Eternals”, “Ant-Man & The Wasp: Quantumania”, and “Thor: Love & Thunder.”
In order to further develop some of their smaller characters and to assist in promoting the new streaming service, Disney+, and Marvel branched outwards into various television shows. These included shows like “WandaVision” and “Loki.” However, these projects alone were also not enough to fully convince fans that Marvel was on a promising path.
To make matters worse, Sony, another corporation that works with Marvel Studios, decided to create its cinematic universe to get in on the profit. Much to their surprise, fans were not very happy with their attempt to hop on this “money train” and, to no avail, their entire cinematic universe collapsed very quickly. Films like “Madame Web”, “Morbius”, “Kraven the Hunter”, and the trilogy of “Venom” movies all performed terribly at the box office and only aided in pushing fans further away from supporting Marvel’s future projects.
Even in the ashes of Marvel’s failures, DC Studios was not too far behind as their projects suffered from the same unfortunate fate. Their 2019 film, Joker, was a smash hit amongst fans. Many saw the studio as being able to even compete with Marvel. However, the sequel to this villain’s tale, Joker: Folie a Deux, was met with harsh reviews by viewers everywhere. This film, along with several others like “Birds of Prey”, “Wonder Woman 1984”, “Black Adam”, and “The Flash”, all bombed badly at the box office. The studio was under so much pressure from fans that they ended up scrapping the entire cinematic universe that they built up for years.
After crossing the point of no return, DC Studios looked towards hiring new management. In October of 2022, the studio hired the highly-talented filmmaker, James Gunn, alongside Peter Safran to run the studio as co-chair and CEO. Under their management, the show “Peacemaker” was released on the streaming service HBO Max and gained high praise for its thrilling action and equally satisfying humor. Gunn even announced a slate of new projects that promised to reel fans back in.
However, the fact of the matter remained that both studios were putting out more content than they could handle; some have even labeled it as “superhero fatigue.” The abundance of projects has diluted the magic that came with these stories. Instead of radiating waves of excitement, suspense, and anticipation, watching superhero movies lately has felt more like a chore.
Despite all of this, many fans still wonder: Where did things go bad? According to a 2023 article by The Guardian, a big part of this issue lies within the treatment of visual effects artists. Several VFX professionals have come forward, slandering the once critically acclaimed studio as a villainous organization that bullies its artists.
Dhruv Govil, a visual effects artist who worked on projects like “Spiderman: Homecoming” and “Guardians of the Galaxy”, called out the studio on social media as being the reason that he left the industry. He went as far as calling the studio a “horrible client” and even said that the experience felt like a “toxic relationship.”
To add insult to injury, Emmy-award-winning visual effects artist, Joe Pavlo, backed up this claim and said his experiences working on “Guardians of the Galaxy” were very similar. He spoke on how workers felt in this environment: “It can be characterized as bullying but filtered through multiple layers of management and supervisor and hierarchy,” he stated, according to Movie Web.
Given the well-received reviews of Marvel movies like “Deadpool & Wolverine,” shows like “Agatha All Along,” and the announcement of upcoming movies like “Fantastic Four: First Steps,” there is hope for the future. Compiled with DC’s new leadership and the production of their new Superman movie “Superman: Legacy,” it’s reasonable for fans to be excited about the future and to give these studios a second chance at making superhero movies great again.