The Future of Superheroes
Superhero movies are the most popular thing in Hollywood. What will they look like in the future?
By Peter Nomeland
It’s been two years since Marvel Studios released “Avengers: Endgame,” the record-breaking culmination of the 22 movies in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, marking the end of an era regarding superheroes. This March, the “Snyder Cut,” director Zack Snyder’s extended version of his 2017 film “Justice League”—which was tampered with by the studio and disowned by his legions of fans—was dropped on HBO Max. They represent two very different endpoints of the cinematic universes Marvel and DC have created, but with varying degrees of success. Marvel has created the most successful movie franchise in history with almost no bad projects to their name, and DC has made some of the most polarizing films of the past decade.
Iron Man and Captain America might be gone, but Marvel is showing no sign of slowing their film and television output. After a year off due to COVID-19 delays, we’ve already gotten the TV shows “WandaVision” and “The Falcon and the Winter Soldier” on Disney+, and we’re just getting started. Barring any more delays, we are expected to get four more TV shows and four theatrically released films including “Black Widow” and a third Tom Holland “Spider-Man” movie. 2022 gets even crazier with five planned movies and even more shows. This is the most popular franchise in the world, so it’s no surprise that Disney wants to get as much content out of this studio as they possibly can. The MCU has perfected a formula of tone that they stick to, which makes for consistently good entertainment, but it makes you wonder how they will evolve with many of their more prominent characters leaving the fold.
DC seems to be taking a very different approach. Even as vocal groups of Snyder fans ask that the connected universe continues, the studio seems dedicated to keeping everything separate. We already have a new Batman (RIP Batfleck) in Robert Pattinson who is signed on to play the character in a new trilogy. James Gunn has jumped ship from Marvel to DC to write and direct a “sequel-reboot” of the Suicide Squad with Margot Robbie back as Harley Quinn. The trailer looks like it is everything the previous film wasn’t: R-rated, a ton of fun, and completely free from any cinematic universe constraints. With how mismanaged and inconsistent the attempted connected DC universe became after their first few outings, it looks like the studio is doing what they probably should have done in the first place. Don’t try to be like Marvel and make everything one franchise, just make the best movies you can with talented people who understand the characters.
However, one of my favorite superhero properties of recent memory hasn't been from Marvel or DC, but from Amazon. “The Boys” is a television show based on comic books about what would happen if superheroes actually existed. And by actually existed I mean that they are egotistical maniacs who are employed by a large conglomerate. You know, like Amazon. This dark, subversive take on the superhero genre is ultimately not really about superheroes. The original comics run was written by Garth Ennis, who was vocally not a fan of traditional superhero cliches. Rather, the show looks at what would happen if superheroes were in the real world, and is about real world issues like capitalism and racism. It also has a lot more blood than the average superhero property. Like a lot.
So yeah, we are not going to be starving for new superhero content in the next couple of years. But these daunting slates of movies may force you to ask the question: Are we going to get burned out by new comic book properties releasing every other week? It’s a lot to consider, and ultimately we won’t know until this new phase passes. One thing is for sure though, if people keep watching, Hollywood will make these movies until they run out of comics on the shelves. “The Falcon and the Winter Soldier” has given me hope that Marvel can still make good content in a post-Thanos world. And I’ve watched the trailer for “The Batman” about 100 times. But one has to wonder, if the genre doesn’t start expanding itself in tone like “The Boys” does, will audiences start feeling a superhero hangover?