A world without superheroes
There’s a huge online debate going on in my social media algorithm on whether “Supergirl,” the latest film from DC and Warner Bros. (produced by James Gunn and Peter Safran; directed by Craig Gillespie; screenplay by Ana Noguiera), was a success or not. The box office says otherwise, as Box Office Mojo, a leading source of box office numbers on the internet, states that the film has a worldwide gross of $115 million against an estimated $170 million budget.
We know that doesn’t include marketing and advertising costs, but people have said that Warner and DC doesn’t rely purely on the box office to recoup any losses. They have merchandising and licensing to add extra income—brand tie-ins, comic book sales, soundtracks, etc.—so the bottom line is not decided by the box office alone.
And while the box office is one metric for determining a film’s success, it’s a narrow point of view. Classic films like David Fincher’s “Fight Club,” which is included in many “best of” lists by critics around the world, was a box office disappointment at its release, only making just a little above a hundred million US dollars against its $65 million budget. It was projected to do better. It only did after the film was released on DVD and people bought it like crazy.
Superhero fatigue
We’ve had a whole year without any superhero movies. Last year, both DC and the Marvel Cinematic Universe wanted to realign and recalibrate their release strategies so they wanted to release tent-pole films—James Gunn’s “Superman” and the Marvel Cinematic Universe’s (MCU) “The Fantastic Four: First Steps”—before taking a one-year break from the constant releases.
For the MCU, “Captain America: Brave New World” was a disappointment. And while “Thunderbolts” was well-received and critically praised, this didn’t translate well at the box office.
Both “Superman” and “The Fantastic Four: First Steps” didn’t even come close to half a billion, only crossing half, considering that these are two extremely popular sets of characters and a lot of buzz was being created for these films. They had to work, or else it confirmed what the studios have been dreading: superhero fatigue.
The market had been saturated by so many comic book movies and series, many of which are interconnected, that it led to what one user said “more like doing homework than watching a movie.” People have also remarked that the quality of each new release was steadily declining—rushed CGI effects and rushed storylines being the most oft-repeated criticisms—and so it was timely for the MCU and DC Studios to hold back on a new comic book film adaptation and reorganize.
For one whole year, there were no superhero movies to wait for, and I have to say, it was a wonderful break. Without having a superhero film to anticipate, one could take stock of the amazing horror films that were being released every year with full undivided attention. “Weapons” by Zach Cregger, Sam Raimi’s return with “Send Help,” and Paul Feig’s “The Housemaid” were considered sleeper hits.
Here in the Philippines, with the help of the Film Development Council of the Philippines, a lot of festival-winning films from countries outside Hollywood received local attention like Academy Award-recognized films “It Was Just an Accident” by Jafar Panahi from Iran and the Norwegian film “Sentimental Value” by Joachim Trier.
With great power comes great responsibility
A Hollywood Reporter article by Borys Kit on the behind-the-scenes tension over the final cut of “Supergirl” quotes an unnamed studio executive who claims that the Gen Z market is not into superhero movies; the millennials still are, though. Robert Milakovic, in an article on the website Comic Basics, states that millennials were there at the start of the peak of the comic book to film adaptation phenomenon. From “Iron Man” to the “Avengers,” from DCU’s Snyderverse to Patty Jenkin’s massive hit “Wonder Woman.” That was their time; for Gen Zs, not so much.
Milakovic attributes the generation’s access to multiple storytelling platforms and overall preference for shorter, more unpredictable material.
While scrolling through my Instagram feed, several content creators who snuck into my algorithm talked about Gen Z’s preference for fresher, newer material that is more authentic to today’s realities, which is why films like “Obsession” and “Backrooms” have been so popular with the younger audiences.
So while “Supergirl”’s success is still being debated upon online, “Spider-Man: Brand New Day,” which will be released at the end of the month, will put these theories to the test.
Tom Holland’s Spider-Man has always done well. Holland captures the innocence and spunk characteristic of the comic book character, without sacrificing the real-world struggles that Peter Parker faces. He’s arguably one of the most relatable superhero characters ever created. Will “Spider-Man: Brand New Day” keep the fire burning for superhero movies? And if it underperforms in any way, what will that mean for comic book movies moving forward?
One last chance with ‘Doomsday’
The best of these comic book film adaptations were not just box office gold (some reaching over the billion-dollar mark in the box office), they were cultural landmarks and talking points. But ever since 2019’s “Avengers: Endgame” found a majority of the global movie-going public in cinemas, it was never really matched again. The only thing that came close was “Deadpool & Wolverine,” which leaned heavily on the franchise’s comic and irreverent tone and with the nostalgia of Hugh Jackman back as Wolverine.
By year’s end, the MCU and Disney will be releasing “Avengers: Doomsday.” Its massive cast includes a lot of returning heroes who were supposed to have been retired. This shows that Marvel Studios doesn’t feel confident that the last six years of movies and series have given them characters that can carry this movie.
They even brought back Robert Downey Jr., which feels more desperate rather than a stroke of genius. As much as the Russo brothers did a fantastic job with each of their “Captain America” movies and a great job putting together “Avengers: Infinity War” and “Avengers: Endgame,” bringing them back feels like a step back rather than a step forward.
By bringing back the Fox X-Men characters, it seems like they are going to introduce mutants into the MCU, and it feels a bit disheartening that the beloved X-Men are finally going home by joining the MCU when the landscape doesn’t seem friendly to superhero movies anymore. So meta! How apt!
And the constant releases, the incessant rumor mills that flood my algorithm that’s cued into film news, has become more annoying than building anticipation. I’m actually dreading the arrival of “Avengers: Doomsday.” The burden it carries, culturally and economically, is such a heavy weight. With so many characters, how are they going to tell a cohesive story that can somehow redirect and refocus the audience’s relationship toward the future of comic book adaptations?
And after a year of not having superhero movies, I realized that I’m not exactly that excited for it to return like it did before. One movie every two years is good enough, and maybe a second, as long as they are both well done. There are so many more films to see.
Maybe “Avengers: Endgame” was peak superhero cinema. Can’t we just remember it that way?
