Where Does Marvel and DC Go from Here?

 It’s no secret: the superhero movie boom we’ve been in the thick of for so long has started to plateau. While we will not fully know how far the boon has fallen until Deadpool 3 released in June* or when we see how Superman: Legacy turns out is released, but it doesn’t look good. Superhero movies in general (both Marvel and DC) have been underperforming. While there have been high points such as Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 on Marvel and The Suicide Squad on DC (interestingly both directed by filmmaker James Gunn), it seems like modern audiences are not as excited about superhero movies post-Avengers: Endgame and Zack Snyder’s Justice League (box office numbers are the most obviously example, but critical response on Rotten Tomatoes and Metacritic to these post-Endgame movies are all over the place). Ultimately these trends do lead to an interesting - if somewhat arrogant sounding - question: where should Marvel (which is, of course, owned by Walt Disney Pictures) and DC (which is owned by Warner Brothers), two of the biggest juggernauts in cinemas history - go to reclaim some greater financial success?

There are, broadly, multiple things that these corporations can do: one of them is to experiment. For years now, Marvel and DC have played it safe creatively; either making generic but generally effective films with a baseline of quality (in Marvel’s case) or blandly pandering to a rabid existing fan base (in DC’s case). It is tempting to say this is basic business; if people want it, it will continue to be succeed so why fix what isn’t broken? And yet, interesting, one of Marvel’s own movies seem to unconsciously contradict this notion (in Marvel’s first Black Panther movie, the Black Panther’s sister Shuri [who would later take the Black Panther mantle in the sequel after the tragic passing of Chadwick Boseman] says that just because something works fine ‘does not mean it cannot be improved’). The broad point is that the superhero movie genre has absolute room to improve, and the way it’s generally agreed upon to improve is to experiment. There are, of course, a lot of ways to experiment, and not just through new characters; it may be important to give younger filmmakers greater creative freedom in order to add less homogeneity to the brand (provided you don’t hurt the brand too much; its important to experiment within reason, of course. Martin Scorsese famous mentioned that the creative give-and-take between filmmakers and studio executives gave us some of the best movies ever made). 

While experimenting is important, it’s important to balance the experimentation with fan service. This is something the Disney Plus series ‘X-Men 97’ does extremely well merely six episodes in. Challenging fan service is important, but could be construed as an extreme overcorrection, also. X-Men 97 does have fan service combined with challenging material; something that ideally can cause Marvel and DC to weather any storm that may be encountered while doing any necessary experimentation. Point being, a balance between the aforementioned experimentation and healthy fan service can go hand-in-hand to, theoretically, bring Marvel and DC at least close to it’s former glory, even if it’s impossible to put the genie fully back in the bottle. 

One thing that Marvel and DC have done well in their pre- and post-Endgame/Justice League work is that they mine the source material (ie the comic books) and assemble them into a cinematic story. Sometimes its easy to argue that its style over substance, but as not previously mentioned with the experimentation comment earlier, style is important to experimentation provided its complemented with substance. The two greatest examples of this interplay between style and substance are Sam Raimi’s Spider-Man 2 and Christopher Nolan’s The Dark Knight. Both of them are based on comic book characters and have a minor amount of fan service and experimentation: but one thing that caused them to transcend their genre is Sam Raimi (a splatter horror veteran) and Nolan (who needs no introduction but at the time of The Dark Knight was an indie filmmaker with a strong sensory sensibility) used these characters to ask questions and have something to say about the characters or themes. Raimi explored the consequences of the responsibility message from his previous Spider-Man effort, and Nolan’s whole trilogy of Batman films famously explored a lot of weighty issues related to escalation and privacy, among other themes. 

Ultimately, any studio executives reading this opinion essay can take it or leave it. This is all speculation on how these massive companies can get even more massive by giving creative filmmakers room to experiment, to engage in healthy fan service, and say something profound in the way good art has been known to do from time-to-time. If nothing else, this can be food for thought for where these companies to go. But, of course, we’ll only know how this genre when we see the possible success (or lack thereof) of Deadpool 3 and any of the other future movies Marvel and DC have slated for the next decade. If Deadpool 3 tanks, it might be worth taking these ideas under advisement.

* = this article was written before Deadpool and Wolverine’s release at the box office. The movie was solid but made a killing. Take everything in this blog with a grain of salt now.