Why was superhero movies expected to decline?

Today, more than ever, what is often summed up by the catchphrase: “superhero fatigue” is being questioned. This term, which we saw flourish in the early 2010s (even before the release of the first Avengers) was then used by critics of the genre to express their deep fatigue.

After 25 years of superhero cinema (starting with Blade in 1998), 78 DC and Marvel superhero movies have hit theaters*, an average of three per year, and we’re not even talking about the boom in comic book adaptations. , which we listed here, and despite the suspension of the account in 2019, our article already had more than 80 entries!

But in 2023, the superhero genre has suffered several setbacks: if Guardians of the Galaxy 3 achieved a score almost equivalent to its previous opus at the box office, Shazam 2, Blue Beetle, The Flash and Ant-Man 3 are complete plants. A concern that had already been experienced by another flagship film genre that had also experienced a golden age and a huge decline: the Western.

When we read that the Western genre is dead, we always think of recent counterexamples, be it Enemies, Les 8 Salopards, The Revenant or Les Frères Sisters, etc. But the fact is that the western is now a genre that is not in the theaters, only occasionally rising from the grave with a strong theme and one or more stars to attract the public to the theaters. But what happened to the Western that can also happen—or has already happened—to superheroes?

Western Fortune (Pony) Express

The Western is a genre almost as old as cinema, because the everyday life depicted in Westerns in the early 19th century really exists in “real life” and Frank James – brother of the famous Jesse – like Wyatt Earp. Still alive! The genre’s first boom came in the late 1920s with the advent of the talkie, which made it possible to hear gunshots and sing cowboys!

We will stay here on the American Western, where the genre is divided into “A” films (big budget films), “B series” (low budget films) and series (stories divided into 13 episodes, which are broadcast every Saturday at one speed. morning). But with the onset of the Great Depression, the public loses interest in these positive and heroic films, far from its opinions and everyday life.

It was John Ford who brought the genre back into the limelight in 1939 with The Fantastic Ride, which, in addition to bringing John Wayne out of a nine-year penniless purgatory of making Westerns, became a huge success that sparked interest. Due to the need for patriotic films during World War II, the Western exploded again, offering two decades of very good films, drowned in a colossal mass of production (54 Westerns were released in 1958, or 28% of American films for the year).

The genre gradually disappeared with the advent of television, which replaced soap operas, and the number of films decreased in the late 1950s, only to explode on the small screen with Bonanza, Au nom de la loi, Rawhide, Le Virginian, Gunsmoke, Maverick, etc. From the 1960s, the western became one of the genres chosen for very expensive event films (The Cheyenne, The Conquest of the West) and former stars of the genre who still tried adventure, such as Kirk Douglas or John Wayne.

From the 70s to today, the genre is limited to prestige films or direct to DVD/streaming.

Western and superheroes, the same fight?

According to us, 25 years of the genre can be divided as follows:

• Golden Age: Before the Avengers (2012)

Be it the first X-Men trilogy and even The Beginning, the first MCU films that ended with the Avengers bringing together many heroes, or even Sam Raimi’s Spider-man trilogy: viewers are amazed and measure what can now be achieved with special effects. Fans finally get to see their heroes on screen in (relatively) respect.

Of course, not everything is good (Catwoman, Blade III or even two fantastic four), but the public follows enthusiastically.

This period can be compared to the first years of the Western: the one where the society revisits its history and the heroes settle the score with the villains without stains, even if they are from other planets! A way of persuading post-9/11 America and, in the case of the West, post-World War I America.

• After the Avengers: The quality drops, but there are saviors! (2013 – 2019)

Fatigue begins in the mid-2010s. We have to remember that when Iron Man 2 came out, it had already been ten years since superhero movies made a big comeback with the Sammy-Man, Spider-Man, and X-Men trilogies. – men. Spin-offs are starting to proliferate, and Kevin Feige, head of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, says he’s planning at least a decade of movies if the success there continues.

The series begins to multiply on television, soon gaining momentum with streaming platforms that all want their share of the pie. Marvel and DC are thriving: the genre is everywhere, and with it, audiences are drowning in unwatchable performances.

Like John Ford in the Western, the superhero genre has three providential figures: first, James Gunn, who returns oxygen to the audience with his Guardians of the Galaxy, when the movies start to slide (Avengers 2, Ant). Man, Thor 2), but especially the Rousseau brothers. By signing on Captain America: The Winter Soldier, they became Marvel’s star directors and the public’s favorite Avengers 3 and 4, which went on to become critical successes.

At DC, meanwhile, the failure to release Justice League is a disaster from which the brand’s cinematic universe will never really recover, despite big box office successes like Aquaman or Wonder Woman.

• Restart slowly: all for all from DC; A failure of the MCU? (2020 – present)

With the proliferation of content and always more – offering Marvel series on Disney+, which you must follow to fully enjoy the MCU experience and without reducing the quality to more average or even lackluster products or connections to the world of cinema, the public. moved away. Movies have generally been shunned by a society that has grown up and no longer has the same demands or the same wonder of ten years ago.

In turn, James Gunn, who became the big boss of DC on the screens, is going to release 5 new movies and 5 DC series, starting the universe from scratch. A bold attempt in today’s context of falling box office for feature films in this category.

Gone are the days of innocence and discovery, and the superhero genre may be entering a “prestige” phase. With movies becoming more and more expensive to produce and Marvel slowly returning to the two-film-a-year pace of its early days, the one-shot may have become a time of scarcity.

The genre is already starting to lean on nostalgia in an attempt to rekindle its fire. We’re already reminiscing about past glories through the multiverse concept: Patrick Stewart returning as Professor X in Doctor Strange 2, Hugh Jackman clawing back Wolverine for Deadpool 3… as in an Italian Western or a pairing. Django and Sartana needed to boost their records.

• Future: Let’s play guessing games!

Zack Snyder advocates rebooting the genre every ten years to save it from exhaustion. James Gunn seemed to understand the parallels that exist between superheroes and cowboys. When he says superhero fatigue is here on the podcast inside themAdding that now is the time for stories rooted in the reality of the characters and their emotions.

This fits perfectly with the story of the Western, which was “psychologicalized” in the 1950s with titles such as The Train will wistless three times or The Human Target, which offered complex and tortured characters to bring freshness to the genre. A delirious amount of marked and cleaned production.

However, the studios had to be careful, because if it drew the public back into the genre by creating a new curiosity, it would inevitably lead to a loss of interest, because if he gave his masterpieces to the Western, the genre continued. to refuse because it was simply not in time.

The superhero genre must deconstruct and self-analyze itself if it does not want to die. Otherwise, we risk entering a more or less long-term phase of the Western Western we know so well, with a film every 5 years when a star has the strength to try his hand at it. genre or what the director thinks he has something to say**.

Maybe Logan, the last solo installment of Wolverine’s adventures, has already said it all? Despite the hero’s on-screen invincibility, there comes a time when it’s time for him to die no matter what… better to be reborn from the ashes one day, because in Hollywood more than anywhere else, history is just an eternal reset.

* Counting animated films adapted from this license, such as “LEGO Batman” or “Spider-Man: New Generation”, but excluding for example “Hancock”.

** Several series such as 1883, Godless or The English have attempted the adventure recently, but are often overlooked.