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Superhero film

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"Superhero movie" redirects here. For the 2008 film, see Superhero Movie.

2011 D23 Expo Marvel panel

Superhero films are films centered around superheroes and their adventures, with characters often possessing superhuman abilities and/or exceptional skills. Superhero films typically blend elements of action, adventure, fantasy, or science fiction. If there are multiple films about a particular superhero character, the first film often focuses on the hero's origin story and typically introduces the hero's nemesis.

Many superhero films are adaptations of existing works. Superhero comics from publishers such as Marvel, DC, and Dark Horse (The Umbrella Academy universe) have frequently been adapted into film. Other superhero films may be based on television properties, such as films from the Japanese Ultraman, Kamen Rider, and Super Sentai franchises. These adaptations are not limited to live action franchises. For instance, both Underdog and The Powerpuff Girls are based on their respective animated television series[1] and The Green Hornet is based primarily on the original radio series and its 1960s television adaptation. Anime superhero films are often based on manga and television shows. Some superhero films, like the RoboCop series, The Meteor Man, the Unbreakable film series, Hancock, Darkman and They Call Me Jeeg, were developed as original projects for the screen.

According to box office income figures from Box Office Mojo, the highest-grossing superhero film franchises since 1967 include:

The MCU alone has earned over $31 billion.[2][3][4] The Marvel Cinematic Universe film Avengers: Endgame (2019) is the highest-grossing superhero film to date, grossing $2,797,501,328 worldwide. It briefly held the record for highest-grossing film of all time[5] before being surpassed by Avatar.[6]

History

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1939–1978: Early years

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Adventures of Captain Marvel(Republic Pictures, 1941)

Superhero stories gained popularity through comic books and were later adapted into film serials. Early examples include Mandrake the Magician (1939), The Shadow (1940), Adventures of Captain Marvel (1941), Batman (1943), The Phantom (1943), Captain America (1944), and Superman (1948).

Between 1941 and 1943, Fleischer Studios produced a series of animated short films based on the Superman comic book.

In the following decades, the decline of Saturday matinee showings of serials along with turmoil in the comic book industry slowed superhero motion picture production, with the exception of Superman and the Mole Men (1951) starring George Reeves, and Batman (1966), a big-screen extension of the Batman television series starring Adam West. Superman and the Mole Men served as a pilot for the TV series Adventures of Superman. Compilations of the series were later released theatrically.

In 1957, Shintoho produced the first film serial featuring the tokusatsu superhero character, Super Giant, signaling a shift in Japanese popular culture toward masked superheroes in tokusatsu. Along with Astro Boy, the Super Giant film series greatly influenced later Japanese tokusatsu superhero films.[7] Moonlight Mask also became popular around that time, with six films retelling the story of the TV series were made.[8] Another early Japanese superhero film was Ōgon Bat (1966), starring Sonny Chiba and based on the 1931 Kamishibai superhero Ōgon Bat.[9]

The kaiju monster Godzilla, originally a villain, began to transition into a superhero role in subsequent films.[10] He has been described as "the original radioactive superhero," due to his nuclear origin story predating Spider-Man's 1962 debut,[10] although Godzilla did not become a hero until Ghidorah, the Three-Headed Monster (1964).[11] By the 1970s, Godzilla came to be viewed as a superhero, with the magazine King of the Monsters in 1977 describing Godzilla as "Superhero of the '70s". Donald F. Glut wrote that Godzilla was "the most universally popular superhero of 1977."[12]

The year 1966 saw the debut of the Ultra Series with the kaiju TV show Ultra Q. However, with the release of the original Ultraman, the franchise started focusing on superheroes. The series was met with a 36.8% average audience rate, a success.[13] In 1967, Ultraman started expanding to films. Early films, such as Ultraman: Monster Movie Feature, were compilations or theatrical releases of TV shows' episodes. The first original Ultraman film was The 6 Ultra Brothers vs. the Monster Army, a co-production with Thailand.[14]

This rise in popularity of television superheroes in Japan led to the start of the Kamen Rider and Super Sentai franchises by famous manga artist Shotaro Ishinomori in 1971 and 1975, respectively. Similar to Ultraman, many early Kamen Rider and Super Sentai episodes were released as films. Original Kamen Rider films released before 1978 include Kamen Rider vs. Shocker, Kamen Rider vs. Ambassador Hell, Kamen Rider V3 vs. Destron Mutants, and Five Riders vs. King Dark.

Original superhero characters emerged in other, more comedy-oriented films, such as the French political satire film Mr. Freedom (1969), the Polish parody Hydrozagadka (1970), and the American B movies Rat Pfink a Boo Boo (1966) and The Wild World of Batwoman (1966).[15][16]

1978–1998: Rising popularity with Superman, Kamen Rider, Batman, and Ultraman Zearth

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Following the success of Star Wars which increased interest in fantasy and science fiction films, Richard Donner's Superman (1978), the first major big-budget DC feature film, was a critical and commercial success[citation needed]. The same year, Toei Company's Spider-Man reimagining and the first Super Sentai crossover film, JAKQ Dengekitai vs. Gorenger, were released. Other successful entries emerged throughout the 1980s, including Eight Riders vs. Galaxy King (1980), Kamen Rider Super-1: The Movie (1981), Richard Lester's Superman II (1981), Spider-Man: The Dragon's Challenge (1981), and Paul Verhoeven's RoboCop (1987). These were followed by Kamen Rider Black: Hurry to Onigashima and Kamen Rider Black: Terrifying! The Phantom House of Devil Pass, both released in 1988.

Other superhero films released during the 1980s include:

The success of Tim Burton's Batman (1989) and its direct follow-up, Batman Returns (1992), spawned the DC Animated Universe.[17]

Superhero movies from the 1990s include:

Marvel Comics' Captain America (1991) did not have a theatrical release, and Roger Corman's The Fantastic Four (1994) was produced solely for the legal maintenance of the film rights to the property[21] and was therefore not released theatrically or on home video.[18]

Alex Proyas' The Crow (1994) became the first independent comic superhero film to establish a franchise.[18] The film introduced a level of violence not seen in previous superhero films targeted at younger audiences and bridged a gap to the more modern action film.[22] The success of The Crow may have influenced the release of a film version of Spawn (1997), Image Comics' leading character. After Marvel bought Malibu Comics (the company that owned The Men in Black comic series), Marvel and Columbia Pictures released the Men in Black film in 1997.[23] This film was the first Marvel property to win an Academy Award and, at the time, was the highest-grossing comic book adaptation.[24] While commercially successful, Joel Schumacher's Batman & Robin (1997) was critically panned for its campiness[25] and deviation from the darker style of the series' first two films directed by Tim Burton.[26] Some have cited it as a factor in the temporary decline of the superhero film sub-genre.[27][28]

Starting with the 1990s, original Ultraman films became more common. In 1996, Tsuburaya released Ultraman Zearth, which parodied the original TV series and later installments.[29] The following year, the sequel titled Ultraman Zearth 2: Superhuman Big Battle - Light and Shadow premiered.

1998–2007: Further rise with Blade and Blade II, X-Men, Raimi's Spider-Man, Daredevil, and Batman Begins

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Wesley Snipes starred as Blade in the Blade films.

In 1998, Marvel released Blade, a darker superhero film blended with traditional action elements, featuring a title character with the powers of a vampire and an arsenal of weaponry.[22] The success of Blade is considered the beginning of Marvel's film success, and a catalyst for further comic book film adaptations.[30][31] The popularity of the Ultraman Tiga TV series led to several films based on it and later installments, including Ultraman Tiga & Ultraman Dyna: Warriors of the Star of Light (1998), Ultraman Gaia: The Battle in Hyperspace (1999) and Ultraman Tiga: The Final Odyssey (2000). Adam Sternbergh of Vulture.com has stated that The Matrix (1999) was influenced by comic books, cyberpunk fiction, Japanese anime, and Hong Kong action films, reinvented the superhero film, setting the template for modern superhero blockbusters and inspiring the superhero renaissance in the early 21st century.[32]

John Kenneth Muir, in The Encyclopedia of Superheroes on Film and Television, describes The Matrix as a revolutionary re-imagination of movie visuals, paving the way for the visuals of later superhero films. He credits it with helping to "make comic-book superheroes hip", and notes that its bullet-time effect effectively demonstrated the concept of "faster than a speeding bullet" on-screen.[33] Inspector Gadget and Mystery Men would then follow to close out the decade for the sub-genre.

Following the success of the Kamen Rider Kuuga television series, a new era of the Kamen Rider franchise began. This led to the production of annual Kamen Rider movies, starting with Kamen Rider Agito: Project G4 in 2001.

2008–present: Ubiquity with the MCU and DCEU, expansion to streaming services

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The cast of Marvel's The Avengers (2012), a commercially successful superhero film and a key entry in the Marvel Cinematic Universe

2008–2014

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The release of Iron Man in 2008 laid the groundwork for the Marvel Cinematic Universe. A few months later, The Dark Knight released to widespread critical acclaim and became the first superhero movie to make over $1 billion at the worldwide box office.[34] 2009 saw the release of Watchmen and X-Men Origins: Wolverine. The 2010s saw a continuation and expansion of the box-office success of superhero films from the 2000s,[35] taking the sub-genre's success and ubiquity to new heights.[36] Matthew Vaughn's adaptation of Kick-Ass was released in 2010, followed by Iron Man 2 a month later. 2011 releases included The Green Hornet,[37] Green Lantern, and X-Men: First Class. After referencing the "Avengers Initiative" in the Iron Man films and The Incredible Hulk, Marvel released Thor on May 6, 2011,[38] followed by Captain America: The First Avenger on July 22, 2011.

While Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance (February 17, 2012) had little audience interest,[39] superhero films dominated the 2012 summer film market, with three films occupying the top three positions of the box office chart.[40] These were Marvel's The Avengers (May 2012), which broke box office records as the highest-grossing superhero film of all time,[41] The Dark Knight Rises (July 20, 2012), and The Amazing Spider-Man (July 12, 2012).

A Superman Returns sequel was planned for 2009 but was delayed and later scrapped in favor of the reboot, Man of Steel (2013).[42]

At the 2012 San Diego Comic-Con, Marvel confirmed that an Ant-Man film was in development, as well as a film based on the 2008 comic series Guardians of the Galaxy, which was released in August 2014. Iron Man 3 was released in May 2013, Thor: The Dark World in November 2013, and Captain America: The Winter Soldier in April 2014. The Amazing Spider-Man 2, the sequel to the 2012 reboot was also released in May 2014 and became the lowest-grossing and poorly received film in the Spider-Man film series. In 2013, a sequel to the 2009 film X-Men Origins: Wolverine, titled The Wolverine was released. In 2014, X-Men: Days of Future Past was released to critical acclaim and financial success; the film became the highest-grossing film in the X-Men series, and effectively rebooted the franchise.

In 2014, Italian filmmaker Gabriele Salvatores directed a superhero-fantasy film titled Il Ragazzo invisible, or The Invisible Boy, which won the Young Audience Award at the 2015 European Film Awards.

2015—2018

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An Avengers sequel, titled Avengers: Age of Ultron, was released in May 2015. Following the success of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, rival DC Comics also planned to make and produce their own shared film universe called the DC Extended Universe, which began with the release of Man of Steel. A sequel titled Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice was scheduled for release in May 2016, though it was later moved up to March 2016. Nickelodeon's 2015 film, The SpongeBob Movie: Sponge Out of Water features the main characters transforming into superheroes. 20th Century Fox rebooted the Fantastic Four series and released Fantastic Four in August 2015.[43]

On March 9, 2015, publishing house Valiant Comics reached an unprecedented nine-figure deal with Chinese company DMG Entertainment to produce their own series of superhero movies, set in their own cinematic universe.[44] The series will be co-produced by Sony Pictures and will start with a movie adaptation of Bloodshot for a 2016 release, followed by Harbinger, both movies receiving a sequel and ending in a crossover movie based on the Harbinger Wars arc from the comic books.[45]

In 2015, Italian filmmaker Gabrielle Mainetti directed a superhero film, titled They Call Me Jeeg starring Claudio Santamaria.[46] Its original title is Lo chiamavano Jeeg Robot, from the Italian name of the anime and manga series Steel Jeeg. It was released in Italy on February 25, 2016.[47]

In 2016, the eighth installment in the X-Men series, Deadpool, was released in February and later went on to become the highest-grossing R-rated film of all time (when adjusted for inflation) and the highest-grossing film of the series. The ninth installment, X-Men: Apocalypse, was released in May. Warner Bros. released Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, the first film to feature both Batman and Superman, also released in March 2016. This film performed moderately well at the box office but received poor reviews. Suicide Squad, released in August, features a team of anti-hero/supervillains. Both Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice and Suicide Squad are set in the DC Extended Universe. Marvel Studios released Captain America: Civil War, in which the Avengers split into two opposing factions, in May, and that November released Doctor Strange, which recounts the superhero origin of Stephen Strange, both of which take place in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. In October, Max Steel, based on the eponymous toy line by Mattel, was released.[48]

January 2017 saw the release of M. Night Shyamalan's Split, which served as a standalone sequel to Unbreakable. The first Finnish superhero film, Rendel: Dark Vengeance, was released in September 2017 and it won the Best Action Movie award at the Erratum Film Festival in Mexico.[49] Power Rangers, a movie reboot of the TV series, was released in March, with Lionsgate planning a seven-film franchise; however, it was a commercial disappointment. By contrast, the film Logan, which was Hugh Jackman and Patrick Stewart's last appearances as their characters in the X-Men film series prior to Disney's acquisition of 20th Century Fox, proved to be a major critical and commercial success. This film was the first ever canon X-Men movie to be rated R and the first superhero movie to receive an Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay. In the summer movie season, Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2, Wonder Woman and Spider-Man: Homecoming confirmed the superhero film dominance of the mainstream movie market.[50] That dominance continued into the fall with the success of Thor: Ragnarok, but Warner Bros.' attempt to consummate its endeavor to have its own shared universe media franchise, the DC Extended Universe, with Justice League was a critical and financial disappointment.

In 2018, Marvel Studios released Black Panther on February 16th, featuring the solo film adaptation of the first mainstream Black superhero, the Black Panther. It was a commercial and critical success in the Marvel Cinematic Universe franchise. Furthermore, it became the first superhero film to be nominated for the Academy Award for Best Picture.[51]

This MCU project was soon followed up by Avengers: Infinity War, released on April 27, 2018, which earned both critical acclaim[52] and worldwide financial success earning an excess of $2 billion.[53] Soon after, 20th Century Fox released Deadpool 2 on May 18, 2018[54] In addition, Incredibles 2, the long-awaited sequel for the Academy Award-winning animated film The Incredibles, had its wide release on June 15, 2018, met with considerable critical acclaim[55] and earned $182.68 million on its premiere weekend.[56] The next superhero film in the Marvel Universe Ant-Man and the Wasp was released on July 6th, with competing studios declining to release major films on American Independence Day in the face of the reliably popular film franchise.

The anti-hero film Venom, based on the comic book character, was released on October 5, 2018, to poor reviews but great box-office success. In December 2018, Warner Bros. released Aquaman, a film about the DC Comics superhero of the same name, which became the DCEU's most successful film at the box office grossing $1.148 billion worldwide.

2019—present

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2019 began with M. Night Shyamalan's Glass, the culmination of Unbreakable and Split, in January. In March, the MCU's Captain Marvel overcame online hostility, in part because of star Brie Larson's comments about lack of diversity in the film and film criticism industries,[57] to become the next film in the franchise to earn over $1 billion worldwide[58] amid largely positive reviews.[59] Later in April, the DCEU's Shazam!, featuring the lead character who was previously known as Captain Marvel himself, had decent box office success for its relatively low budget,[60] which has been seen as further evidence of the revitalization of the Warner Bros. media franchise. That same month, Avengers: Endgame ended the Infinity Saga with widespread acclaim and broke numerous box office records and became the fastest film to exceed $1 billion worldwide, doing so in just five days. Avengers: Endgame became the highest-grossing film of all time, surpassing James Cameron's Avatar, for over two years, before the latter retook its place.

By contrast, the June X-Men film, Dark Phoenix performed poorly critically and financially upon release.[61] In addition, it was observed that there was noticeable fan indifference for a concluding film series of a property that would be put in the complete control of Marvel Studios producer, Kevin Feige, along with the Fantastic Four, for integration into the Marvel Cinematic Universe franchise in due time considering Disney's acquisition of 20th Century Fox.[62] In July 2019, Phase 3 of the Marvel Cinematic Universe was concluded with the Sony film, Spider-Man: Far From Home which was released to critical and commercial success.

In August 2019, Joko Anwar's Gundala was released in Indonesia.[63] It was screened at the Toronto International Film Festival later in September and is set to be the first entry in the Bumilangit Cinematic Universe (BCU) film series based on characters of comic books published by Bumilangit.[64] The second and third films in the series, Sri Asih and Patriot Taruna: Virgo and the Sparklings, were announced for a 2020 release but were pushed back to 2021 as production was significantly delayed by the COVID-19 pandemic.[65] The production company's strategy of announcing films in volumes with a team-up film as the climax has led to the media dubbing it the "Indonesian equivalent to the MCU and DCEU".[66]

The Suicide Squad was released in August but was a box office disappointment despite receiving positive reviews. The underperformance was blamed on the continued disruption of cinema during the pandemic (particularly the delta variant) and confusion from the general audience on whether the film was a sequel, reboot, or remake.[67][68] Meanwhile, Marvel's Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings broke Labor Day records,[69] while similar successes were seen in the Sony's Spider-Man Universe (SSU) film Venom: Let There Be Carnage.[70] Despite middling reviews and the first rotten rating[71] for a Marvel Cinematic Universe film on Rotten Tomatoes, Eternals opened to a moderate success at the box office.[72]

Spider-Man: No Way Home released on December 17, 2021, and became the highest-grossing film of 2021,[73] the sixth highest-grossing film of all time,[74] the third-highest-grossing film in the United States and Canada,[75] the highest grossing Spider-Man film, and the highest-grossing film produced by Sony.[76] It also became the first film to gross over $1 billion since Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker largely due to the COVID-19 pandemic,[77] as well as the highest-grossing film not to be released in China (one of the world's biggest box office markets).[78]

In 2022, Warner Bros released The Batman, a reboot for the Batman film series, and unconnected to the DC Extended Universe. It was a critical and commercial hit, with particular praise for the film being a 'grounded detective story,[79]' due to Matt Reeves' direction and Robert Pattinson's performance as the titular hero.[80] It went on to become the second biggest pandemic debut, after Spider-Man: No Way Home.[81] Morbius, starring Jared Leto and based on the Spider-Man villain of the same name debuted that April as another chapter in Sony's Spider-Man Universe. The film was critically panned and a box-office bomb.[82] Variety reported that whilst the initial opening was hopeful for Morbius, "The character is not nearly as recognizable to general audiences as Spider-Man, Batman or Venom, nor is the film clearly connected to a larger story like Eternals or Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings. Thus, Morbius wasn't expected to match the receipts for recent comic book tentpoles based on those characters."[83] Scott Mendelson further stated that Sony seemed to rely on the film's connection to the Spider-Man universe, the success of Venom and a misguided assumption that audiences were interested in villain movies.[84]

In May, Sam Raimi returned to the superhero genre with Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness. The film was met with mixed-to-positive reviews and earned $187 million on its opening weekend, becoming the eleventh-best domestic debut of all time, the best summer debut for a Disney release during the pandemic, and Raimi's best opening.[85] In its second weekend, the film earned $61 million, becoming one of the MCU's biggest second-weekend box office drops. The 67% decline was attributed by Deadline Hollywood to the "bad word of mouth" on the film and its CinemaScore grade, while Intelligence saw more than 17% downsize of available seats for the film, resulting in a lessen showtimes which also led to the decline.[86] In its third weekend, the film earned $31.6 million, contributing to the 800-million-dollar mark at the box office to become Hollywood's second-highest-grossing film released during the pandemic behind No Way Home.[87] The film earned $16.4 million in its fourth weekend, contributing to the total box office that helped it to become the highest-grossing film of 2022 previously held by The Batman.[88] As of June 2022, the film stands as the 11th highest-grossing of the MCU worldwide.[89]

In 2023 a majority of the superhero films released, such as Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania, Shazam! Fury of the Gods, The Flash, Blue Beetle, The Marvels, and Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom, were critical or commercial failures. Only two superhero films released that year, Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 and Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse, managed to do well at the box office, grossing $845 million and $690 million respectively, turning a profit alongside positive reviews from audiences and critics.[90]

In 2024, Sony released it's fourth film in the Spider-Man Universe (SSU), Madame Web (film), in February. The film was panned by critics and underperformed at the box office. [91] In July, the MCU's first film of the year, Deadpool & Wolverine, also happened to be its first R-Rated film. It was Hugh Jackman's first X-Men film since 2017's Logan and Ryan Reynolds' Deadpool's MCU debut. So far, the film has been highly acclaimed and has grossed over $1.28 billion world world-wide making it the 23rd-highest-grossing film of all time, the highest-grossing R-rated film of all time, and the 2nd-highest-grossing film of 2024 to date. [92] [93] The sequel to the hit 2019 film, Joker, Warner Bros.' Joker: Folie a Deux (not connected to the DCEU), was released on October 4, 2024. Joaquin Phoenix reprised his role as The Joker and Lady Gaga made her superhero film debut as Harley Quinn. Joker: Folie a Deux is followed by Sony Spiderman Universe (SSU) films Venom: The Last Dance on November 8, 2024, and Kraven the Hunter on December 13, 2024.[94]

Economic importance

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As of 2022, superhero films have become essential for the entertainment industry. According to The Hollywood Reporter, "With rare exception, even A+ stars aren't making what they used to" making it "one of the last ways for an actor to earn a major payday". The article quotes, "If you want to get paid, you have to put on a cape." The article also states that characters like Spider-Man and Batman are more important than the actors themselves.[95]

Animated

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Outside of live-action, animated superhero films have also achieved critical and financial success.[96][97] Nearly all animated superhero films are direct-to-video, though there are a countless number of these films creating different events in them from their live-action counterparts. Batman: Mask of the Phantasm was released theatrically and was a critical success (though a box-office failure).[98] In 1968, VIP my Brother Superman was released, directed by Italian animator Bruno Bozzetto; it is a parody of superheroes[99] and enjoyed great success.[100] In 2004, Pixar released The Incredibles, about a retired superhero couple and their children, which did extremely well both critically and financially and went on to win the Academy Award for Best Animated Feature. In 2010 DreamWorks Animation released Megamind to middling success.[101] In 2014, Walt Disney Animation Studios released an adaptation of the Marvel Comics superhero team Big Hero 6. The same year, Warner Bros. released The Lego Movie, which had Batman and other DC Comics superheroes in major and supporting roles. A significant box-office success, it was followed in 2017 by The Lego Batman Movie, as well as DreamWorks Animation's Captain Underpants: The First Epic Movie.

In 2018, three theatrical animated superhero films were released to considerable critical and commercial success: Pixar's Incredibles 2, Warner Bros.'s Teen Titans Go! To the Movies, and Sony Pictures Animation's Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse. Furthermore, the latter of the three swept that year's major film awards for animated features, including the Academy Award.[102] A sequel to Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse came out in 2023 titled Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse also to much critical acclaim. Another Spider-Verse sequel, Spider-Man: Beyond The Spider-Verse is currently in production and set to release in the near future.

Criticism

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As superhero film production increased during the latter end of the 2010s, the genre's contribution to cinema was questioned. Martin Scorsese, in an interview with Empire magazine, commented that "the closest I can think of them, as well made as they are, with actors doing the best they can under the circumstances, is theme parks. It isn't the cinema of human beings trying to convey emotional, psychological experiences to another human being." He stated that the Marvel films were not "cinema".[103] He later added that he was worried about studios' overreliance on the format because in "many places around this country and the world, franchise films are now your primary choice if you want to see something on the big screen. It's a perilous time in film exhibition, and there are fewer independent theaters than ever."[104] In that New York Times essay, he also credited the work of people who make these films, writing "Many franchise films are made by people of considerable talent and artistry. You can see it on the screen. The fact that the films themselves don't interest me is a matter of personal taste and temperament. I know that if I were younger, if I'd come of age at a later time, I might have been excited by these pictures and maybe even wanted to make one myself," he wrote, adding "but I grew up when I did and I developed a sense of movies — of what they were and what they could be — that was as far from the Marvel universe as we on Earth are from Alpha Centauri."[104]

Criticism of Marvel Studios' films continued with Jennifer Aniston stating that Marvel movies are "diminishing" and believed that there should be a "resurgence" of "the era of Meg Ryan." "Let's get the Terms of Endearment back out there. You know, Heaven Can Wait, Young Frankenstein, Blazing Saddles, Goodbye Girl."[105] Denis Villeneuve dismissed "too many Marvel films" being "a cut and paste of others"[106] and Roland Emmerich stated that large blockbuster films such as the MCU and Star Wars films were "ruining our industry a little" since "nobody does anything original anymore".[107] However, in March 2022, Nicolas Cage stated that "Marvel has done a really excellent job of entertaining the whole family. They put a lot of thought into it. I mean, it's definitely had a big progression from when I was doing the first two 'Ghost Rider' movies. Kevin Feige, or whoever is behind that machine, has found a masterful way of weaving the stories together and interconnecting all the characters. What could be wrong with wholesome entertainment that is appealing to the parents and the children, and gives people something to look forward to?" Cage asked. "I just, I don't see what the issue is."[108]

Some media commentators have attributed to the increasingly popular superhero franchises in the new millennium to the social and political climate in Western society since the September 11 attacks,[109] although others have argued advances in special effects technology have played a more significant role.[110] Others have postulated that its box office dominance is in part due to its flexibility, a shared trait from its original publishing origins. Namely, the editorial realities of comic book publishing, which can have series running for decades, encouraged writers to resort to a variety of story situations so diverse from the fantastic to the relatively realistic, for so long and so often that it has become an expected element of the genre to have such adaptability.[111] For example, with the common element being that they all feature heroes with extraordinary abilities and typically in a distinctive costume, many successful superhero films have used a plethora of genres such as horror (Blade), psychological thriller (Unbreakable), period drama (Captain America: The First Avenger), space opera (Guardians of the Galaxy), family film (The Incredibles), teen film (Spider-Man: Homecoming), exploitation (Deadpool), heist film (Ant-Man), fantasy (Doctor Strange), neo-noir (The Dark Knight), political thriller (Captain America: The Winter Soldier),Romance(Scott Pilgrim vs. the World) and Western (Logan).[112]

However, there is additional questioning as to how broad or vague the superhero genre is – and whether it could be legitimately classified as a film genre at all – when the basic definition is that of a benevolent hero or antihero with superhuman abilities, in which case many other films not traditionally associated as superhero plots would fall under the description.[113]

Writer Alan Moore, a veteran of the comics industry known for his work on Watchmen, V for Vendetta, Batman: The Killing Joke, and From Hell, amongst many more, has expressed criticism of modern superhero movies in general, which he once called a "blight" to cinema and "also to culture to a degree." He said in an October 2022 interview with The Guardian that the popularization of the genre on the part of adults is an "infantilization" that can act as "a precursor to fascism." Lamenting at how deeply such films became part of the culture, Moore commented:[114][115]

"I will always love and adore the comics medium, but the comics industry and all of the stuff attached to it just became unbearable...Hundreds of thousands of adults [are] lining up to see characters and situations that had been created to entertain the 12-year-old boys – and it was always boys – of 50 years ago. I didn't think that superheroes were adult fare. I think that this was a misunderstanding born of what happened in the 1980s – to which I must put my hand up to a considerable share of the blame, though it was not intentional – when things like Watchmen were first appearing. There were an awful lot of headlines saying, 'Comics Have Grown Up'. I tend to think that, no, comics hadn't grown up. There were a few titles that were more adult than people were used to. But the majority of comics titles were pretty much the same as they'd ever been. It wasn't comics growing up. I think it was more comics meeting the emotional age of the audience coming the other way."[114][115]

In the course of a September 2023 interview with The Telegraph, Moore reiterated this view, saying that what had appealed to him most about output from comics publishers was "no more", saying, "Now they're called 'graphic novels', which sounds sophisticated, and you can charge a lot more for them. These innocent and inventive and imaginative superhero characters from the '40s, '50s and '60s are being recycled to a modern audience as if they were adult fare." During that same interview, journalist Jake Kerridge asked Moore if it was true that he divided the money he had received from onscreen adaptations of his work among the writers and other staff persons of those productions. Moore replied, "I no longer wish it to even be shared with them. I don't feel, with the recent films, that they have stood by what I assumed were their original principles. So, I asked for DC Comics to send all of the money from any future TV series or films to Black Lives Matter."[116][115]

By the 2020s, the term superhero fatigue had emerged to describe audiences' increasing exhaustion of overly homogeneous superhero films, as evidenced by diminishing box-office returns and poor critical reception. In particular, the Marvel Cinematic Universe has been criticized for over-saturating the market with its expansion to streaming beginning with Phase Four, prompting Marvel Studios to begin rethinking its annual output.[117][118][119]

Parody

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  • Andrzej Kondratiuk's 1970 film Hydrozagadka is a parody of the American ideals glorified in superhero films.[120]
  • Kinka Usher's 1999 film Mystery Men features a group of inept amateur superheroes.
  • Another comedic play on superheroes is The Specials, a 2000 film in which the title team is more concerned with their public image than actually being superheroes.
  • Kevin Smith's 2001 film Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back, parodies film companies' seemingly compulsive purchase of comic book film rights with "Bluntman and Chronic". In the film, the character Brodie Bruce (played by Jason Lee) describes the process: "After X-Men hit at the box office, the movie companies started buying out every comic property they could get their dirty little hands-on".
  • Mark Hamill's 2004 parody film Comic Book: The Movie, was about a comic book fan and a film adaptation of his favorite character, and was released direct-to-video and achieved mild success,[121] garnering a cult following among comic book readers.
  • Craig Mazin directed the more direct parody Superhero Movie, released in 2008.
  • 2008's Hancock saw a subversion of the genre by having the title character become a reluctant superhero. The movie grossed more than $629 million at the box office.
  • Matthew Vaughn directed the 2010 film Kick-Ass which saw a normal teenager turn to crime fighting. A sequel, Kick-Ass 2 was released in 2013.
  • James Gunn directed and wrote the 2010 film Super starring Rainn Wilson.
  • Alejandro González Iñárritu's Oscar-winning 2014 film Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance) satirizes Hollywood's reliance on superhero and blockbuster films. In the film, Michael Keaton portrays Riggan Thomson, a washed-up Hollywood actor famous for playing the superhero Birdman in blockbuster movies decades earlier. He is tormented by the voice of Birdman, which mocks and criticizes him, and he sees himself performing feats of levitation and telekinesis.[122]
  • The 2016 movie Deadpool and its 2018 sequel Deadpool 2 were box-office juggernauts, making $782.6 million and $785.8 million respectively. Deadpool & Wolverine, which was released in 2024, has grossed approximately $1.3 billion and currently sits on the list of highest-grossing superhero films.
  • Philippe Lacheau's 2021 French movie Super-héros malgré lui or Super Who? in English follows an actor who landed the role of a superhero named "Badman", but suffers an accident that caused him amnesia, and so he starts believing to be an actual superhero. The movie references DC and Marvel while making fun of the superhero film genre.[123]
  • Quentin Dupieux’s 2022 French film Fumer Fait Touser (Smoking Causes Coughing) follows a team of five superheroes who called the Tobacco Force, following a battle against a diabolical giant turtle that goes wrong, go on compulsory retreat in order to strengthen cohesion within their group until an enemy named Lézardin interrupts the retreat to destroy the planet Earth.

Box-office reception

[edit]
Main article: List of highest-grossing superhero films

See also

[edit]

Bibliography

[edit]
  • Lichtenfeld, Eric (2007). Action Speaks Louder: Violence, Spectacle, and the American Action. Wesleyan University Press. ISBN 978-0-8195-6801-4.
  • The Staff and Friends of Scarecrow (2003). The Scarecrow Video Movie Guide. Sasquatch Books. ISBN 1-57061-415-6.
  • Graeber, David (2012). Super Position (Essay). The New Inquiry.*Graeber, David (October 8, 2012). "Super Position". The New Inquiry. Retrieved January 26, 2023.

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