It’s quite difficult to go to the movies these days and avoid seeing the fifth installment of a superhero movie splashed on the marquee.
In a great EW piece about how superhero films aren’t particularly original or, often, even good, lies the center of the problem: they are simple and predictable.
The good (looking) white guy always wins. The difference between the EW piece and this one is that EW continues to critique superhero as a genre, whereas this piece is all about why the market is oversaturated with superhero stories.It basically comes down to the idea that Hollywood is running out of superhero ideas, yet people keep flocking to theaters to see these movies. It’s why Marvel has films planned for the next four years.
People like watching a two-hour film of good versus evil with some killer CGI effects. There’s really nothing wrong with this at all. There’s nothing saying superhero movies can’t be amazing. The very first Guardians of the Galaxy was. It felt fresh and original. However, by the time the fifth installment comes out, will the same thing be said?
Now, every movie is starting to seem the same. All it takes is one look at the next Spider-Man reboot casting to know not much changes. It’s not that we’re flooded with bad superhero movies; we are just bombarded with the same superhero movie. How many young, white male protagonists will it take for studios to realize how dull they are?
The problem is, there are tons of stories to explore with so much potential. Instead of giving viewers ten Iron Man and Captain America films, would it kill them to do Black Widow? The audience is clearly there. The same can be said about TV shows. Arrow, The Flash and Daredevil are the first three that come to mind instantly, although there are a slew more, like Agent Carter, Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. and Supergirl.
So perhaps this oversaturation in superheroes is just a phase of entertainment. Like vampires, gangsters, westerns or any other broad type of genre. All we have to do is bide our time and wait until the next trend comes along. Hopefully by then the superhero genre will have produced a few more gems before it too fades away.
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