It's no secret that projects inspired by comic books continue to be a powerful force in the entertainment industry. But with various cinematic universes competing with each other, there have been some concerns over superhero fatigue, especially as certain MCU projects like The Marvels bombed at the box office. The Russo Brothers are responsible for some of the best Marvel movies, recently sharing their thoughts about superhero fatigue. And I think they brought up a great point.
Those of us who have spent years watching the Marvel movies in order have seen as the franchise has ebbed and flowed. The Russo Brothers' movies (which can be streamed with a Disney+ subscription) were critically and financially successful, so they know the genre well. But after some recent missteps, some moviegoers are worried about the upcoming Marvel movies. The Russo Brothers addressed superhero fatigue while speaking with our sister site GamesRadar, with Joe Russo offering:
I think it’s fatigue in general. The superhero fatigue question was around long before the work we were doing. So, it's sort of an eternal complaint, like we always used to cite this back in our early days with superhero work. People used to complain about westerns in the same way but they lasted for decades and decades and decades. They were continually reinvented and brought to new heights as they went on.
Points were made. While there are some naysayers who are worried about superhero projects, Joe Russo explained that this trend of disinterest has been around for years, and affected a number of different genres. So it's not unique to projects ripped from comic book pages and adapted for film and TV.
Russo's comments help to offer some more context to exactly why certain MCU projects have bombed recently-- a first for the cinematic universe. After every single installment of Phase Three was a success, there have been recent missteps including Eternals, Ant-Man 3, and The Marvels.
Of course, there have also been exceptions to this trend. Both Spider-Man: No Way Home and Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 made great money at the box office, so it's not all MCU projects. But it also seems like moviegoing audiences aren't blindly seeing every new chapter of the shared universe like they used to.
So exactly how does one combat the growing fatigue in the superhero genre, even after getting context from the Russo Brothers? I guess it all depends on each individual project. Additionally, if the MCU embraces more serialized storytelling and if those infamous post-credit scenes. After all, we've gotten a ton of teases that have gone nowhere recently.
The next MCU movie hitting theaters is Deadpool & Wolverine, which will arrive in theaters on July 26th. And smart money says the highly anticipated threequel is going to do just fine in theaters. In the meantime, check the 2024 movie release dates.
