Superheroes and Hollywood are a match that is only natural and obvious, but with so many films being released in such little time, the Marvel and DC superhero machine is no longer making films with any substance.
Think of what you do every time you watch a superhero movie in theatres; you stay to see if something happens after the credits. Then, studios slip in a sneak peek at what will happen next; a sequel. Great, right? Not anymore. Now, fans flood theatres to watch what they think is a movie, but are really just watching a two or three hour long commercial, promoting the next one, again and again. Now, less people care about how good these films are, and only focus on what potential sequels will be made; quantity over quality.
It all started seventeen years ago with the first wave; “X-Men” was released, and to the fans, it was an exciting and new look into the world of Marvel superheroes through the eyes of Hollywood. Movie studios saw it differently, “X-Men” would become the foundation for a number of sequels and spinoffs, not to mention the merchandising, and why not? It was still fresh, and the hard part; casting and artwork, had already been done. The films release would act as the activation of the modern hollywood superhero machine. Now, 17 years later, and the X-Men franchise finally wrapped up with its masterpiece, “Logan,” or at least it should.
Since the year 2000, with only Marvel and DC characters alone, over 59 films have been made, according to IMDB. This shotgun approach to superhero cinema has left fans like myself feeling burnt out with so many sequels, prequels, spin-offs, and reboots. To be fair, some movies were brilliant, like “Deadpool,” “Logan,” and “The Dark Knight.” However, in the case of Batman, rebooting the franchise with Ben Affleck happened way too soon, and instead of taking the time to pick up the pieces and figure out what went wrong, studios ran with it and cashed in, and according to The Hollywood Reporter, Affleck earned a three picture deal as the bat.
Some films leave me puzzled as to how they got so big; like when a raccoon and a tree with only a three word vocabulary became all the rage? It’s as if the movies have become parodies of themselves. Superhero films once acted as an escape from reality, but with Hollywood shoving so many down people’s throats, it’s the movies themselves that we can’t escape from.
There might still be hope, with the success of the R-rated “Deadpool” and “Logan,” Sony has decided to greenlight their own with “Venom,” a villain from the Spiderman universe, who, according to IMDB, will battle Carnage, an even more intense and sinister villain. This could be well for two reasons; one- “Spiderman 3” was terrible and handled Venom and Carnage poorly, two- it’s time to start making less superhero movies just for kids.
