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Edited by Mrph1 on Jul 29th 2024 at 3:09:00 PM
Actually, I'm kind of hoping that in the future, the superhero genre gradually moves from movies to TV over time. I've honestly enjoyed the MCU's TV shows as a whole, because I think they can properly simulate reading issues of a comic book more than a big-budget action movie can. The movies are still great for great big ensemble films, but I can't deny that it's more fun and cheaper to follow the Disney and Netflix shows.
Edited by MatthewWayne on Apr 6th 2022 at 7:04:45 AM
"I'm Mr. Blue, woah-woah-ooh..."![]()
There’s one tweet in the lead-up to Cruella that’s burned in my brain:
That aside, it would be nice for culture talk to not be dominated by Big Existing IP and I think that’s something the MCU has at least accelerated if not directly contributed to.
True. I mean, big franchise films have existed for a while, from Star Wars to James Bond, but I can't deny the MCU definitely has taken its place as the Big IP.
Sometimes, I do wonder where the world would be right now if Iron Man flopped at the box office.
"I'm Mr. Blue, woah-woah-ooh..."Much like games, it is hard to find new IP's in both film and gaming because more often than not ideas tend to gel with each other. People compared BOTW with Horizon and Nier Automata for example despite them both having different styles of gameplay and story.
The DCEU would be having its shit together for one. Hell just before Iron Man 1 Justice League Mortal nearly beat Marvel to the punch.
Edited by Mizerous on Apr 6th 2022 at 10:30:13 AM
Just Makima.And for that matter, just when everyone thought that covid was going to kill movie theaters, it were superhero movies that brought people back. 6 of the top 10 highest grossing films -including the top 4- of 2021 were superhero movies.
Edited by Akirakan on Apr 6th 2022 at 9:48:53 AM
For the record, Justice League Mortal would not have beat Iron Man to the theaters in all likelihood. The movie was scheduled to film in 2008 (while Iron Man was filmed in 2007 and released in 2008). Discounting the possibility of the movie ending up a utter and total shitshow (as it happens so often), I think the most likely outcome of JL Mortal being made and released to success (and assuming Iron Man turns out the same) would just be DC and Marvel dueling in parity rather than Marvel getting a near decade-long headstart.
As for my two cents in the age of superheroes (as Syncrhonicity brought it up), I'm inclined to agree the "IP machines" are a troublesome trend but I've always felt that superhero films aren't really the cause so much as a correlated side-effect. The problem is that studios like Warner and Disney have been allowed to grow unchecked and no one has the actual teeth to push them back.
Of course I don't think the superhero boom can last forever, but the sallivating expectation people have about superhero films just crashing and fading away is unrealistic. Aside people having no sense of scale with the western comparison (western movies had a monumental impact in cinema for nearly 50 years, superheroes have at best had 2/5ths of that if you're generous and start counting from X-men), I think the crucial difference many don't realize is that "superhero" is what uruguayan critic Nelson Carro could call "a parasitic genre". Unlike westerns, superhero is a extremely malleable and elastic definition, as superhero comics have made their bones on cannibalizing and absorbing other genres (from sci-fi, fantasy, horror, noir, comedy, melodrama, e.t.c) that happen to be popular to revitalize themselves. It's how superhero comics lasted this long (e.g. Man-Thing] and Captain Carrot are technically both grouped under "superhero").
In cinema part of the frustration is that for all superhero films we've had the mainstream genre still really barely scratches the surface, with the MCU in particular being famous for trying to make their heroes stick to a pattern that's bound to be exhausted. I think the MCU itself is dimly aware of this going by overtures towards different approaches (like Feige showing partial nods towards r-rated movies with Deadpool 3 or the tv shows making bolder creative choices), but even if it wasn't I doubt killing off the MCU out of formula exhaustion would kill superhero movies. Superheroes would just adapt and reform for a newer age, like they have done in the comics for decades.
"All you Fascists bound to lose."Man-Thing is hard to make into a protagonist even in the comics, being mute and animalistic. In his own comics he's usually a sort of force of nature stumbling in and out of events he barely comprehends (in fact a lot of writers just bypass this by making him talk, but I always felt that misses the point of the character, and I'm probably not alone given that's always reversed in short order). I doubt he gets a movie, but if Marvel goes down the path of supernatural characters as they're going now (allá Moon Knight and Blade) they're bound to run into Man-Thing sooner or later. He's a fairly popular Cult Classic sort of character that never sold that well but has always maintaned a steady presence in comics because people just find him neat (and he did have some historic significance in 1970's Marvel as a precursor to artistic boldness that would come in the 80's).
If I had to guess he'll eventually get a supporting role in one of those (Doctor Strange, Blade, Moon Knight, Ghost Rider, e.t.c) movies/shows and depending on how much of an Ensemble Dark Horse he ends up being, getting his own spin-off at Disney+ or somesuch. Movie seems far off.
"All you Fascists bound to lose."
....
.... are you saying....
<don't do it>
....they climbed inside....
<Stahp! For the love of all that's good, Stahp!>
....THE GIANT-SIZED MAN THING?!!!!
......don't worry folks. I've just reserved myself a seat in hell for that joke. I know it and accept it.
One Strip! One Strip!I'd argue that, if you extend the definition of superhero movies beyond the conventional costume/codename dynamic, the superhero "boom" extends back all the way through the 90's. The Matrix, The Phantom Menace, Blade, Men in Black, Terminator 2: all movies about superpowered heroes fighting bad guys.
Pretty much since CGI effects became workable for big budget movies, the superhero genre has been dominating. Because, really, superhero movies are just action movies where the hero pulls off especially outlandish stunts.
I am reminded of on a manga sales article that someone pointed out for all the people bragging about manga dominating comic book sales, the largest selling manga are primarily battle manga which they called "superhero stories in Japanese paper".
Never fails to bring a chuckle every time I think of it.
Hell Japan has its own long-running superhero franchises as well. Most famously Ultraman, Super Sentai, Kamen Rider, all of which have been running since the 60s-70s at this point. And they make a lot of stuff, every installment of Super Sentai and Kamen Rider comes with boatloads of movies and TV specials alongside the main TV shows.
Even more striking is that both Kamen Rider and Ultraman have reached a decline in the 80s that put them on break for a long while before a new show completely revitalizes the franchises in the 90s where they have been having a new installment every year since.
"I am Alpharius. This is a lie."

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Hey, if Sonic the Hedgehog and Pokemon can have critically acclaimed movies, that idea might not be too farfetched. Though I'm betting money that the superhero deriders will likely start complaining about those films too, and try to lump them in with the superhero genre. Especially if Nintendo tries to make a Smash Bros universe or something...
"I'm Mr. Blue, woah-woah-ooh..."