Are you a fan of comic books and superhero movies? Have you seen every film in the Marvel Cinematic Universe? Do you eagerly mark your calendar when the latest release date is announced? Or are you growing a little tired of the genre?
In “Is This the Endgame for the Age of Heroes?” Maya Phillips writes:
At the center of 2023’s “The Marvels” is Carol Danvers, a.k.a. Captain Marvel, who, if you’ll recall from the 2019 film “Captain Marvel,” destroyed the all-powerful A.I. leading the Kree empire. Joining Carol Danvers is Monica Rambeau, a.k.a. Photon a.k.a. Pulsar a.k.a. Spectrum, who was first introduced in “Captain Marvel,” then later featured in the Disney+ series “WandaVision,” where she was granted superpowers after an encounter with reality-altering witches. And joining these two Marvels is the teenage New Jersey native Kamala Khan, a.k.a. the titular character of the Disney+ series “Ms. Marvel.”
That’s a lot to take in, which is why the first few minutes of “The Marvels” is just a series of flashbacks designed to catch the audience up before the action even begins. Even for dedicated fans of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, the amount of prerequisite knowledge required to watch any M.C.U. movie or show nowadays is tantamount to a college course.
And it seems like audiences are tiring of the constant homework assignments. A year of diminishing box office returns is more proof that the casual superhero moviegoer is becoming more and more of a rarity given how much is being asked of them, which is full, multiplatform investment.
These franchises are spelling their own downfalls, as the price of entry into the fandoms has become frustratingly high for the dedicated disciples of these worlds, and not at all worth it for casual viewers or prospective new fans. This year has been a prime example of what happens when a pop-culture movement takes hold of an industry and then overreaches. We’re witnessing Ragnarok.
Ms. Phillips continues:
The franchises continue to risk fatiguing their current fans and alienating potential ones. More stand-alone films, more inventiveness, more diversions from the grand plots and cookie-cutter setups would give these stories and their fans room to explore, but instead we’re stuck in a cycle of ever-expanding multiverses, narratives and timelines that even the best S.H.I.E.L.D. agents would find impossible to keep straight.
She concludes:
Superhero movies changed the industry. No matter what you think about them as art, the upswing of these comic book stories from the margins to the drivers of popular culture was swift and remarkable. But now these Clark Kents and Bruce Waynes and Rocket Raccoons and various Marvels risk orchestrating the end of this Age of Heroes.
But like in every superhero movie, there’s hope yet: Stories that end. Characters who die. Universes where the stakes are real and cameos and meta-commentaries aren’t just crutches to bait audiences. Stories that don’t cling to a crumbling concept but perhaps start fresh in another corner of the universe.
Superhero movies used to be super. The heroes are still as strong as before. They just need the movies to match.
Students, read the entire article and then tell us:
Would you say you are just as big a fan now as ever? Or are you growing tired of these mega-budget action films? Are the newest movie releases feeling stale, as if they were made on an assembly line? Or are they just plain confusing? Do you agree with Ms. Phillips that we might be approaching the end of the age of superhero movies? Why or why not?
Ms. Phillips writes, “This year has been a prime example of what happens when a pop-culture movement takes hold of an industry and then overreaches.” Do you agree? What did you think of the latest batch of superhero offerings like “Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3,” “The Flash,” “Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania” or “The Marvels”? Are they as good as previous franchise efforts?
What do you think of Ms. Phillips’s recommendation for “more stand-alone films, more inventiveness, more diversions from the grand plots and cookie-cutter setups”? Do you think those changes would help break the cycle of exhaustion — for both filmmakers and audiences?
If you were asked by Marvel or another movie company to help revitalize the superhero film genre, what ideas would you pitch?
