How long will super-hero movies be hot?

[DanMad1977]

There was already a decline with Avengers Age of Ultron, it made less at the box office than Avengers. After that came Civil War, technically an Avengers movie and so packed with characters, even Spideys "return" and it made less than Age of Ultron at the box office. That says something.

I believe the biggest mistake Marvel can do is trying to change the actors and pretend its the same character. If Downey jr. is out, Tony Stark should be gone too and replaced for Riri Williams (though i dont believe that will be the better idea).

The longer i think about it the more i believe Marvel will take a hit when

A) Actors change
B) Characters will be replaced
C) Reboot

Well, its a lose lose situation

[Wandering_Wand]

I believe the general audience will eventually tire of them. Some already have.
Although, comics are enjoying some growth right now overall and they are spanning different demographics, etc. and a full collapse is unlikely at this time. As I get older, I become more interested in my beloved DC characters, not sure why. So, I can tell you I'm not going anywhere just yet...

However, I've long thought Disney will be the catalyst for over-saturation. I am already tired of the Star Wars property and find myself re-watching the original trilogy 10 times over before I even think about watching VII, Rogue One, or even TLJ now. I have zero interest in the Solo movie as well.
So, my larger point here ties into the MCU. Personally, I've tired of the MCU and am very picky of which MCU movies I see in theaters now. The rest are wait-for-tv or rentable. Disney buying everything is not good, IMO, for many reasons that I won't get into as it'll probably just start arguments. They've started an assembly line of movie properties and I don't necessarily think that's a good thing.

I guess I'm becoming more picky with my DC preference, but overall CBMs are definitely either nearing or at their peak right now. That's not to say the peak will soon be over, either.

But hot dam is it a good time to be a DC Comics fan, movies aside (even though Aquaman and Shazam are likely to be fantastic). The comics, animated works, and other related work is really re-surging. My suggestion to anyone is ride this wave while it's here, because it's gonna be a fun ride. DC just announced their Black Label imprint, the New Age of Heroes, etc. It's such a fun time right now.

[Colossus1980]

I always like to follow the box office, especially the superhero movies. After Infinity War and Deadpool 2, the rest of the CBM seems a bit lackluster. Ant-Man and the Wasp should do okay, not crazy. But how will Venom do? Dark Phoenix? Aquaman? Is it possible those movies can taint the general audience view of superhero movies?

Will studios like Sony and Fox(I know Disney will eventually acquire the studio) hurt the genre by trying to making everything superhero related into a franchise?

[Colossus1980]

As for Star Wars, are these trio of new characters of Rey, Finn, and Kylo Ren strong enough to pull audiences to them after all the original cast no longer appears in the movies? Is Poe popular enough of getting his own franchise? How far will fans deviate from what they know of source material and be willing to watch any movie stamped with the name Star Wars?

[The Dying Detective]

As for Star Wars, are these trio of new characters of Rey, Finn, and Kylo Ren strong enough to pull audiences to them after all the original cast no longer appears in the movies? Is Poe popular enough of getting his own franchise? How far will fans deviate from what they know of source material and be willing to watch any movie stamped with the name Star Wars?

With how the arguments over the Star Wars being tainted by social justice are going I don't predict a good future for any of them plus they killed Snoke too early.

[DanMad1977]

How will New Mutants be received? I dont know anyone who isnt a comic fan that can tell me something about New Mutants, but everyone can tell me when Infinty War starts at the cinema.

[Rincewind]

Yes, and Wonder Woman too. They should make money for a while. The thing is, DC and Marvel don't seem to have another breakout female or black character.

On another board, I asked why people thought the sales of the collections were declining, and a guy gave a good answer. He said all the classic stories have been issued and re-issued. The same might be true of the classic comics characters. There are only so many of them.

Both Wonder Woman and Black Panther only had solo movies in the past 12 months. It's kind of hard to predict the decline of superhero movies when there are 2 new and fresh takes in the past year.

And remember, there was a widespread belief that a big budget action movie could not be successful with a woman or black man as the lead. Both movies proved these beliefs wrong.

People have been talking about the end of the superhero movie genre for years now. But in the past few years we've gotten an incredible slate of movies that audiences and critics enjoy. Guardians of the Galaxy, Logan, Wonder Woman, Deadpool. The third Thor movie did better BO than the first two Thor movies. The most recent Spider-Man movie was a financial and critical success despite being the 3rd iteration in 10 years.

Even if Robert Downey Jr., Chris Evans, and the other actors don't return after Avengers 4, the MCU would give us an Agents of Atlas or Elsa Bloodstone movie. It's not like they are going to run out of characters. And it's not like lesser known characters won't be successful. Black Panther is pretty good proof of that.

[Rincewind]

As for Star Wars, are these trio of new characters of Rey, Finn, and Kylo Ren strong enough to pull audiences to them after all the original cast no longer appears in the movies? Is Poe popular enough of getting his own franchise? How far will fans deviate from what they know of source material and be willing to watch any movie stamped with the name Star Wars?

Well the new Star Wars movies are more successful at the box office than the original trilogy or the prequels. So I'm guessing Rey, Finn, and Ren have at least a few fans.

[Iconic]

Exactly. This ain't the comic books. Cap, Tony & Thor aren't needed to make successful movies. Nostalgia doesn't rule here. There are so many amazing concepts held by lesser known characters that could blow people away.

[WebLurker]

Willam Goldman once said that Hollywood was a place where no one knows anything (e.g., you can't predict what movies will be hits and what won't). With that in mind, I don't think that we can know if and when the superhero movie bubble will burst, but there's nothing to suggest that it's going to go away anytime soon and every reason to believe that it'll continue for now.

Something I just thought of -- the Star Wars movies may have already passed their peak.

Way too early to tell, esp. since of the last three movies Force Awakens and Rogue One were hits and even Last Jedi, for all it's critics, was still a success. Even if Solo is a failure, Disney still has a "most impressive" track record with the franchise right now.

Yes, and Wonder Woman too. They should make money for a while. The thing is, DC and Marvel don't seem to have another breakout female or black character.

On another board, I asked why people thought the sales of the collections were declining, and a guy gave a good answer. He said all the classic stories have been issued and re-issued. The same might be true of the classic comics characters. There are only so many of them.

On the other hand, the movies have been able to take D-list characters and make them superstars, so I'm not sure if running out of "classic" characters is a problem (as far as the movies go, at least). (I've also noticed that some new comic characters seem to find an audience as well. Maybe not as big as a movie, but, by all accounts, comics are not the big sellers they once were.)

With how the arguments over the Star Wars being tainted by social justice are going I don't predict a good future for any of them plus they killed Snoke too early.

Star Wars is not a SJW thing (if we assume that that actually means anything); I follow the movies and tie-ins, so I am speaking as an eyewitness here.

Snoke was never a major character in the movies, much less the main antagonist.

[The Dying Detective]

Star Wars is not a SJW thing (if we assume that that actually means anything); I follow the movies and tie-ins, so I am speaking as an eyewitness here.

Snoke was never a major character in the movies, much less the main antagonist.

People are complaining of social justice in Star Wars because of Rey having near perfect mastery of the Force. I know Snoke was not a big deal but based on how he was presented in the first film I wanted to see him become one.

[Soubhagya]

I think there is a superhero movie fatigue even now. That is bad superhero movie fatigue. I think as long as they make films which are good enough and entertaining enough the genre can flourish. Studios make superhero films because people go to watch it. And people go to watch them because they enjoy them.

I don't think RDJ and others stepping away will affect the MCU. There's Spider-man, Black Panther and Guardians who are newer. Each have seen great success. Then there are success stories which aren't earth shattering but are success stories. More people went to see Doctor Strange then Justice League.

It may not remain as successful as now. But as long as most films are good to watch for audience in general they are staying the most dominant genre.

[Kaijudo]

I think we need to separate the idea of a "superhero movie" from the idea of a "Marvel movie." In Marvel's case, they're diversifying enough of their characters that they continue to feel somewhat fresh. Guardians, Dr. Strange, Black Panther, Ant-Man...all of these have a different vibe to them, a different feel, that keeps them tied to the overall universe but also makes them somewhat unique. If Marvel continues to do "Marvel movies" with characters who aren't necessarily easy fits into a superhero genre, or variations of it that haven't been touched on...the monster/horror of a Blade or Ghost Rider or Werewolf by Night or Elsa Bloodstone, the parallel universes of a Captain Britain movie, the lost-world adventure of a Ka-Zar, the "it's for kids!" of a Power Pack or Moon Girl & Devil Dinosaur, the gritty fractured psyche of a Moon Knight...they can feed into the MCU without being redundant (admittedly, with the right talent attached) and have the potential to stand alone as their own movies as well as part of a greater universe.

As for the rest? Fox is currently eating it's own tail with the X-films and FF, with only Deadpool the sole remaining standout (and, again, that is something unique to other superhero films). Sony's attempts to milk the Spider-verse dry without actually having much of a Spider-presence probably won't end well. I can't speak for any independent or original superhero properties being developed. And DC? It's suffering from trying to reverse-engineer Marvel's success with the wrong people at the helm. We'll see if they can course-correct enough to make their basic superhero films work. If they can, then they can start trying to diversify as well. Honestly, the most unique elements I've heard rumored from DC at this point are Lobo, Deathstroke, and Booster Gold; everything else seems to be trying to feed into the Justice League and/or Batman family, neither of which is in the best of health right now.

[WillieMorgan]

It's certainly true that you can push something a such a degree that people just get sick to death of it.

Superhero movie fatigue? I'm sure it'll happen at some stage. Not for the foreseeable future though maybe.

[NeathBlue]

When Star Wars first came out, it led to an explosion in popularity of sci-fi films... The popularity of sci-fi films did drop after a while but never disappeared and every 10 years or so, another blockbuster would come along and their popularity would rise again.
That’s what’s likely to happen with comic book movies, though I don’t see them ever dropping off to badly.
It’ll be interesting to see what happens in the MCU when the original actors do finish, but for all the criticism that the DCEU has taken lately, DC films have shown in the past that a change of actor for a character doesn’t necessarily hurt it.
The long and short of it is, if the films are good, comic book films will continue to be popular regardless of who the actors are.