by The topic of superhero weariness among moviegoers was addressed by Marvel Studios President Kevin Feige in a podcast interview.
It would be an understatement to suggest that superhero media is prevalent. There are many opportunities for individuals who want to see heroes to do so.
Since then, more than a dozen live-action superhero films and television series have been released globally, and the trend doesn’t appear to be slowing down any time soon.
Numerous confirmed and speculated Marvel Studios projects are now in production, and an end is not in sight. Then there is the impending DCU slate from James Gunn and Peter Safran, which will certainly inspire several projects to be released under its own label.
Many people are now of the opinion that superhero weariness will only become worse. In fact, a recent Fandom research found that more than one-third of Marvel fans are becoming weary of the MCU.
What, then, does Marvel Studios’ president have to say about it all?
Superhero and Marvel Fatigue
Kevin Feige, the head of Marvel Studios, appeared as a guest on The Movie Business Podcast to discuss how the Hollywood behemoth approaches developing the MCU’s many Phases and how he feels about superhero weariness.
Feige responded immediately when asked how Marvel Studios chooses what its Phases would be, citing “the 80 plus years of Marvel comic history as [their] guide:”
“Each of our sagas are broken into phases and we now find ourselves on the precipice of Phase 2 of the Multiverse Saga. And there are two ways to do it. One, we look at an overarching narrative, always using the comics and the 80-plus years of Marvel comic history as our guide of what general, long-term story we want to do. But really, it comes down to each individual film or series, and what type of genre we want to do.”
Superhero weariness is a topic that “people were asking… [since his] 2nd year at Marvel:“
“I’ve been at Marvel Studios for 22 years now, over 22 years, and most of us here at Marvel Studios have been around a decade or longer together. And from probably my 2nd year at Marvel people were asking, ‘Well, how long is this going to last? Is this fad of comic book movies going to end? And I didn’t really understand the question. Because to me it was akin to saying after ‘Gone With The Wind’, ‘Well how many more movies can be made off of novels? Do you think the audience will sour on movies being adapted from books?'”
Feige emphasised that his firm had “80 years of the most interesting, emotional, groundbreaking stories that have been told in the Marvel comics” to explore and bring to life in his analogy to adapting books:
“Well you would never ask that because there is an inherent understanding among most people that a book can be anything. A novel can have any type of story whatsoever, so it all depends on what story you’re translating. None comic readers don’t understand it’s the same thing in comics. There’re 80 years of the most interesting, emotional, groundbreaking stories that have been told in the Marvel comics and it is our great privilege to be able to take what we and adapt them.”
He continued by pointing out that “adapting [these stories] into different genres” is another essential strategy for keeping the material interesting and preventing boredom:
“But another way to do that is adapting them into different genres and what types of movies we want to make. And I, from sitting at USC, probably Semester 2 before your screenwriting class, Jason, and sitting in Cinema 101 and being exposed to so many different types of film that I said, ‘I want to make all of these. I don’t want to just make one kind of movie, I want to make all kinds of movies.’ And I found that if we tell the story right, and we adapt them in a way that the audience still, knock on wood so far, is falling us along 22-plus years later with, that we can tell any types of movies that share two things. The Marvel Studios logo above the title and a seed of an idea from our publishing history.”
Presenting new superhero stories
The superhero genre stands out in part because the story may be placed in virtually any kind of narrative environment that the magic-working creators choose. Horror, humour, political thrillers, and massive blockbuster spectacles are all possibilities.
Despite all having superhero themes, Captain America: The Winter Soldier, Werewolf by Night, Ant-Man, and Avengers: Endgame all provide quite distinct experiences.
That is probably a major factor in the continued popularity of these kinds of films and television programmes today.
The fact that the genre has endured and thrived after Endgame, despite some hard reviews here and there, is evidence that these tales and characters were successfully developed. However, it’s difficult to imagine what, if anything, might finally put a stop to them at this point.
Undoubtedly, there is still plenty to look forward to.
Ant-Man and The Wasp: Quantumania, the upcoming film from Marvel Studios, hits theatres on February 17 in every country.
