Superhero Movies: The Fire Rises...And Burns Out

With the failure of most superhero movies in 2023, "superhero fatigue" has become a favorite term.  One person on Facebook wrote it all off as a "fad" expiring.  I don't really think you can call something that's been so successful for 15 years a "fad" but whatever.

When you think about it, the history of superhero movies has been like a fire that burns hot for a time, dwindles to ashes, and then reignites.

The Fire Ignites 1978-1982

Before 1978, "superhero movies" were mostly the old serials from the 40s featuring Superman, Batman, Captain Marvel (aka Shazam), and some others.  There was also the Adam West Batman movie in the 60s that didn't really do much.  Mostly superheroes were on TV in live action and animation.

Then along came Richard Donner's Superman with Christopher Reeve as the titular hero and the awesome John Williams theme song.  People believed a man could fly!  Though I thought it was pretty cheesy but whatever.  The movie made a lot of money and had a successful sequel (that was mostly filmed at the same time) in 1981.

But it didn't spawn a 15-year "fad."  No one really developed any other hit superhero franchises, just the disappointing Supergirl spinoff and MST3K/Rifftrax fodder like Pumaman and Supersonic Man.  And so in a few years the fire had burned down.

The Fire Rises:  1989-1995

By 1989 superhero movies were over again.  Superman had been retired after the lame fourth movie and not much else had really happened.  Then came Tim Burton's Batman, which brought its neo-Gothic style, Michael Keaton in black rubber, and Jack Nicholson as a scene-chewing Joker.

The sequel came out in 1992 and wasn't as good but still performed decently.  Another 3 years later came the cheesy Joel Schumacher sequel that was the biggest movie of 1995--in America.  Apparently it was #6 in the world.  

Unlike in 1978, this time there were a couple of lame attempts to capitalize.  Marvel had crappy Captain America and Punisher movies--and almost a Fantastic Four movie from Roger Corman and a Dr. Strange movie from Full Moon Entertainment that was released as Dr. Mordred.  And a couple of parodies like Blankman and Meteor Man.  And there was Sam Raimi's Darkman, which I love but the public did not.  But Raimi would have the last laugh.

But in 1997 Batman & Robin and Spawn flopped pretty hard and so the superhero movie fire burned out for a few years except for Blade which was really more about vampires anyway.

The First Modern Era:  2000-2005

After mostly an absence for a few years, superhero movies returned in a big way in 2000 with Bryan Singer's X-Men.  Gone was the cheesiness of Joel Schumacher's Batman movies and none of the neo-Gothic look of Tim Burton.  Instead there was more of a realistic look and attitude.  Sam Raimi's Spider-Man came along in 2002 to amazing success.  Sequels to both franchises were well-received.  

There were also the failures like Hulk and Daredevil.  And in 2004-2005 a couple of moderate successes in Hellboy, Batman Begins and Fantastic Four.  All of those would have sequels though only one would be successful.

The fire had already reached its top temperature and started to burn out again.  In 2006 there were disappointments in X-Men: The Last Stand and Superman Returns.  It only got worse in 2007 with the lame Spider-Man 3, Ghost Rider, and Fastastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer.

Really 2007 should have been the year that killed superhero movies forever, but the best was yet to come!

The MCU Era:  2008-Present

Superhero movies seemed to be on the ropes...and then Iron Man happened.  It wasn't exactly a billion-dollar hit like later Marvel movies but it laid the foundation with Robert Downey Jr.'s smart-ass performance as Tony Stark and a cameo by Samuel L Jackson as Nick Fury at the end.  There was a little hiccup with The Incredible Hulk a month or so later that didn't really slow the MCU.

In July came Christopher Nolan's The Dark Knight with Christian Bale returning as Batman and Heath Ledger's Oscar-winning turn as the Joker.

The next couple of years the fire maybe was burning a little lower--especially for DC--as Watchmen wasn't a big hit in 2009 and Jonah Hex was a pretty big flop in 2010.  Fox didn't do so well either with X-Men Origins: Wolverine.  Iron Man 2 did well and brought in more elements to the MCU.

Then the heat turned up in 2011 with Thor and Captain America: The First Avenger.  It really ignited in 2012 with the billion-dollar-breaking Avengers movie.  A few months later The Dark Knight Rises did pretty well too.

From there it was on for the MCU with Iron Man 3, Thor 2, and Captain America 2 in 2013-2014.  Avengers 2 and Ant-Man followed in 2015.  Meanwhile DC had a decent success with Man of Steel.

DC tried to turn up the heat with Batman v Superman in 2016, but it didn't really pan out.  Fox had a surprise hit with Deadpool while its revived X-Men movies did decently.  Its Fantastic Four revival though was a pretty big flop.  While DC and other comic book companies would try to match the success of Marvel, they never really did.  There were a couple of successes like Wonder Woman and Aquaman but the MCU was large and in charge, culminating with the mega-success of Avengers Endgame in 2019.

But now we're seeing the fire burning out again.  The pandemic delaying MCU movies for nearly 2 years didn't help.  Disney buying Fox took out some of the competition too.  And DC's natural inability to manage anything successful for very long.

Like 2007, 2023 was a year that seems like it should be the death of superhero movies--for now.  Most of the new movies were pretty disappointing and performed from bad to mediocre at the box office.

If the fire burns out again, how long will it last this time?  A year?  A few years?  Probably not forever.  As I said, since 1978 it's come and gone pretty steadily.  The IPs have in some cases have lasted more than 80 years so clearly there's something to them.

It'll be hard to test "superhero fatigue" this year as Marvel has pushed back all of its movies except Deadpool 3 to next year and beyond because of the strikes last year.  The new and unlikely improved DCU won't have its first movie until at least 2025 either.  So maybe the fire will roar back to life then or maybe it'll get snuffed out.

And when you think about it, there's one major thing to each time the fire burns out and comes back:  quality.  After Superman/Superman II you have two mediocre sequels.  Then Batman comes along years later, followed by weaker sequels.  Then X-Men/Spider-Man come along and each has a decent sequel but the third parts and most of the other franchise movies are pretty weak.  Then Iron Man/The Dark Knight come around to start a pretty epic run.

But for years now viewers have been faced with mostly weak sequels and original entries, though there are still occasional good ones like Shang-Chi or The Batman.  But most of the movies are pretty weak and you can't blame the public for having less interest.  When studios make better movies again, people will come back, as they pretty much have my entire life.