Last year, you couldn’t go a day online without someone talking about the death of superhero cinema/television. Superhero fatigue, it seemed, was finally, really here. But what a difference a year makes. Spider-Man: Brand New Day is the most successful film at the domestic box office ever. Despite a stumble with Supergirl, DC Studios’ Lanterns has become one of HBO’s biggest hits of all time, averaging peak Game of Thrones viewership. Turns out, reports of the death of superhero media have been somewhat exaggerated. Nevertheless, things are indeed quite different than the comic book movie “peak years,” which we’ll call 2012-2019. And both Marvel Studios’ Kevin Feige and DC Studios’ James Gunn and Peter Safran have to navigate the coming years differently if they’re not only going to survive, but thrive.
The Peak Era: From 2012-2019, Marvel Ruled Superhero Movies, and DC Ruled Superhero TV
2012 was a flashpoint year for live-action superhero movies and television. The massive success of Avengers truly kicked off the interconnected Marvel Cinematic Universe. Meanwhile, on TV, Arrow began its own interconnected DC Universe on the CW. The next several years saw success after success for both, and even DC’s very flawed cinematic universe made money. All a movie needed was to be based on a superhero, and it meant box office gold. Aquaman, somehow, made a billion dollars. And the 2016 Suicide Squad, which was nearly universally reviled, still made a ton of cash in this era.
However, by 2019, the MCU’s Infinity War/Endgame grand finale, as well as the Arrowverse’s Crisis on Infinite Earth mega crossover, both signaled the end of an era. This led to both universes slowly losing relevance. The pandemic the following year didn’t help matters much either. Meanwhile, the old DCEU crashed and burned completely. It didn’t help that their cinematic DC universe was totally separate from its TV Arrowverse, which created big brand confusion. It was a perfect storm designed for a particular era to come to a close.
Superman, Batman, and Wonder Woman Need the Big Screen. But Not All DC Characters Would Thrive There
DC Studios had the success it needed on the big screen with James Gunn’s Superman. Peacemaker, and especially Lanterns, have proven to be big hits on HBO Max. But Supergirl, while being a perfectly OK movie, performed very badly at the box office. All of this should indicate something to Gunn and Safran, about what works on film and what works on television in 2026. Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, the Justice League—these titles need the biggest screens possible. These are the big brands of DC, and always have been. These icons deserve no less than movies. Heck, Batman is big enough to have two different versions of the same character on screen. And this seems to be the plan.
But not every other DC hero has this same privilege in a post-peak superhero era landscape. DC Studios simply hasn’t earned the trust and credibility yet to launch a B-list IP as a $200 million blockbuster like Marvel did with Guardians of the Galaxy in 2014. It feels like that ship has sailed. A Zatanna movie, done with the lower budget of a Clayface? Or maybe the same for characters like Bane, Swamp Thing, or Vixen? Sure, we could see that. But we think the most popular DC heroes, characters like Flash, Nightwing, Catwoman, and Green Arrow, should receive the Lanterns treatment. In other words, the prestige television route. And recent reports suggest DC Studios is making the “Trinity,” Teen Titans, and Swamp Thing high priorities. Which is a smart move.
Lanterns Proved Streaming Is the Perfect Home for DC’s Second Tier Heroes
The success of Lanterns, and even Supergirl on HBO Max, where it’s drawn big viewership, shows that maybe aside from the DC Trinity and a League team-up, DC Studios should look at streaming as its main home. Heck, Supergirl probably would have benefited from being a six-part series adapting Woman of Tomorrow instead of a film. And for the record, we don’t just mean HBO Max when we mention streaming. Warner Bros. makes series for Netflix and other streamers. If HBO passed on Booster Gold or Paradise Lost for not being “prestige TV” enough, simply take it elsewhere. Netflix already has a history of streaming DC-based shows like Sandman and Deadboy Detectives.
Marvel’s Refocus on Feature Films Is Probably the Correct Move
Meanwhile, Marvel Studios should take the opposite approach to DC. Even though canceling shows like Wonder Man after they’ve already been renewed is a crappy move, we understand the reasoning behind focusing on where they’ve had the most success. And undoubtedly, that’s at the movies. And the big screen is where they should pull focus. Even though we’ve loved many of the MCU Disney+ shows, specifically WandaVision, Loki, and Agatha All Along, it’s clear the glut of streaming shows diluted the brand. A Special Presentation once or twice a year is fine, but each new MCU installment needs to be an event again. You can’t do that if you’ve got three movies and three or four six- to eight-episode series running at the same time. The last few years proved that.
DC and Marvel Studios Should Study Their Own Past to Navigate Their Futures
In the peak superhero media era of 2012-2019, Marvel and DC thrived by carving out their own niches. Marvel ruled the movies, and DC found success, albeit smaller, on television. If they are to live long and prosper in the coming years (sorry, wrong franchise), then they have to look at their own past and remember what worked for them and what didn’t. It may never be 2019 again when it comes to comic book movies. But we think both studios can find their footing again and become the reliable brands they once were.
The post How DC and Marvel Must Readjust in a Post-Superhero Fatigue World appeared first on Nerdist.
This articles is written by : Nermeen Nabil Khear Abdelmalak
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