‘Superman’ and ‘The Fantastic Four: First Steps’ are breathing fresh life into the comic book movie genre
Superhero movies have become a contentious discussion point in the past few years. It’s far cry from 2008—when “Iron Man” was released and started the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) and “The Dark Knight” followed a few months after, and became the first comic book movie to earn over a billion US dollars in the box office. The same goes for the rest of the films, all the way in 2019, when “Avengers: End Game” captured the imagination of the whole world and grossed over a billion US dollars worldwide in just five days (and was named the highest-grossing film of all time until “Avatar” took back the top spot in 2021).
Remembering that era is like talking about the good ol’ days, when people still flocked to the cinema to watch movies—and the rivalry between the fans of the MCU and the DC Extended Universe was evident but not yet so toxic. The years to follow were a rollercoaster for superhero films. Some were successful (The Spider-Man movies, “Deadpool and Wolverine,” “The Batman”), while others floundered (“Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania,” “The Flash,” “The Marvels”).
Along the way, the discussion on these movies have gone nuclear—to like a superhero movie that others deemed unfavorable would get you called names, racism and misogyny ran rampant on the comments sections of films, while other films deemed “woke” would be heavily review-bombed just 30 minutes after the film (or streaming series) was released.
What used to be a space for the youth and the young-at-heart to see their ideals played out on the cinema screen became a battlefield of ideologies and personal preferences. What could have been a fantasy that would allow people to see their hopes and dreams of good people battling out with evil became a warzone where people began gatekeeping who and what a superhero should be and who it was for.
This year, we had four superhero films released. “Captain America: Brave New World” and “Thunderbolts*,” which made $415,101,577 and $382,292,181 worldwide, respectively. Those are pretty good numbers—except the cost of production and marketing for both films means these box office receipts don’t equate to a profit.
In 2025, these are considered flops, despite “Thunderbolts*” garnering quite a lot of praise from critics and those who saw the films.
A fresh take
This month alone, “Superman” and “The Fantastic Four: First Steps” are hoping to bring fresh new life to comic book films. They look and feel different from the films of the post-pandemic era.
James Gunn’s “Superman” is the beginning of a brand new direction for DC and Gunn’s DC Universe. Veering away from Zack Snyder’s darker, grittier approach to comic book movies, Gunn brings back humor and idealism back to DC—along with a more colorful visual palette. On its opening weekend, “Superman” made $125 million and was the third biggest opening of the year. On its third weekend, it has made at least half a billion, though it’s estimated that it needed to cross over $700 million to be deemed profitable.
Opening just last week, “The Fantastic Four: First Steps” debuted at $117.6 million on its opening weekend domestic and has already amassed $216.7 million globally on its first week. Directed by Matt Shakman, the film is in a standalone universe of the MCU, so there’s no need to watch any previous film or series to enjoy it (which has been a major criticism of the MCU titles as of late), and “The Fantastic Four” are one of the oldest and most revered titles of Marvel. The movie has an aesthetic throwback and imagines a futuristic world but with a distinctly ’60s style.
While both movies bring a breath of fresh air to what has become a minefield of debates, arguments, and heated exchanges that is the superhero genre, “Superman” seems to be talked about more favorably while “The Fantastic Four: First Steps” are still getting the brunt of the toxicity. One of the more prevalent cases is the usage of a female Silver Surfer, as the original Silver Surfer, Norin Radd is male and debuted in Fantastic Four #48 in 1966.
Meanwhile, the female Silver Surfer, Shalla-Bal was debuted in Earth X #12 back in 1999, an alternate universe—which has prompted people to say that the “woke agenda” of comic books and mainstream movies and the gender swapping of characters have “gone too far.”
Doing justice to a new generation of heroes
But these are comic book movies. And, yes, while comic books can be enjoyed by people of any age, these films—whether its “Superman” or “The Avengers” or “Batman” or “The Fantastic Four”—are taking these fictions, and all that they represent, and adapting them to the era that it is presently known.
In 2025, this is the era of gender politics and women empowerment. This is a time of the return of fascism and a pushback against progressive ideals. These comic book characters have always championed the outcast and the marginalized, and being adapted in this modern world means that these movies should reflect these modern times.
It’s gatekeeping when one insists that these characters—most of them created in eras when women were portrayed mostly as damsels in distress and people of color rarely carried their own solo titles—cannot be reimagined for this era when a new whole generation of kids and teens need new heroes to look up to. The older folk who are insisting that these characters must the stay the same are forgetting that they have had these characters for the past 20 to 30 years, and even more. There’s a whole new younger generation that’s now having a chance to experience the same kind of joy that we all felt back in the ’80s and ’90s when we got our new comic books, but are seeing it on the big screen where they can now feel like they are seen.
Let’s give it to them. A whole lot of young women and people of color would like a chance to be represented when there was no representation for them at all thirty years ago.
Yes, comic book movies are not just for kids, but also for the kid-at-heart. But these are dark times and we need our heroes and their stories to be more inclusive—more embracing of the differences that we see around us. With “Superman” and “The Fantastic Four: First Steps” being the last superhero movie we are going to see until next year, maybe this could be a reset that could make watching comic book movies fun again. I wouldn’t mind the one year wait if everyone could just calm down and take a breath.
