Superhero Fatigue

I have it, you have it and everyone's mother has it. 

Superhero fatigue is real and it's here. 

I guess no one (that I know) could've seen it coming when Marvel decided to create their first superhero blockbuster that this was going to be a thing. And a pretty huge one at that. But it did. And with Marvel expanding universe with re-boots and sequels, DC polished their shoes and made the choice to join the race as well. The impact of which we feel to this day.

Which is what I wanted to talk about. Today. The now of it all. The consequences of those desicisons that the big-wigs at Marvel and DC made. Because of that we've gotten (uptil 2019) three clunky, but otherwise heartfelt messes out of Marvel with a two-part ending that was historic in it's on right and from DC, a solid batman trilogy and other stuff not so memorable. But they made comic books, something that was considered a 'weird-kid' activity into a cool thing. And as they got more and more success with their work...they started turning the heads of the bigger folks in the industry.

Enter the soul-sucking demon mouse. One thing about Disney? They love them some profits. And they also love accquiring smaller companies that are either in need of funding or the ones that make a lot of money. Anything to make the Disney monopoly bigger than it was before. They're greedy, cash-grabs and box office-loving suits. 

So, it comes as to no surprise that when Disney bought Marvel, there were concerns. But Marvel was quick to reassure people. They rolled out the dates of their new projects or Phase 4. It seemed intresting, fresh and ready to tell new stories about other characters previously seen in the franchise. What could go wrong?

Apparently, a lot. I'm gonna save the Marvel hating because others have done that and even I'm exhausted hearing more news about the next flop. But basically, Phase 4, all together was a mess. With a new notable stand-outs but thematically and story-wise? Lazy, bad writing, no plot elements, bad jokes and no life. It's almost as if Disney sucked their uniqueness with the shows and movies. It was not good. But again, Disney does this with every cash grab they've done from their own sequels to the projects they've acquired like Star Wars. Oof, that's a whole nother bag of worms. 

DC, on the other hand was just doing random stuff. Creating the weirdest no set-up Justice league. Releasing another cut (which was not a masterpiece, just really long) all just to re-boot the whole universe again. So, at least they were a consistent mess. 

And now, even though Marvel keeps using the same weird formulaic, cgi mess-fest, they haven't learnt their lesson. 

After torturing us with bad superhero content, they decided to explore the multiverse. And weirdly, so did everyone else. The amount of multiverse content we've gotten in the past two years is insane. I can objectively say that out of all of them, only two actually explored those themes in an intresting way. Across the Spiderverse and Everything, Everywhere All At Once. A technically Sony film and an A24 film. That's so sad and funny. 

How do you screw an idea as vague and complex as a multiverse? Bad writing. 

I swear there was a point while watching Phase 4 where I was sure that the writer's room was just throwing shit at the wall. Then again, if I was barely getting paid and forced to write to help a multi-billion company, I'd probably try to destroy them through bad writing too. Hopefully the SAG-AFTRA and Writer's Guild strike being over means we see more creative freedom and good writing again. We can hope that the writer's room is fully people who only have to worry about writing a good script and not getting an income or a place to live. 

No but actually the multiverse, as a concept, is so tired out right now because everyone either is doing that or has done that. And making your entire future plans on that is just...bad timing. 

My main issues, at the core of this is that, I like superhero movies. They are fun. So imagine how disappointing it is to watch a barely thought-plot fot two hours. It's a waste of my time, the actor's and crew's talent and just a shitty thing to do to an otherwise loyal audience. 

So yeah, until they get they're collect shit together, I'm not watching a superhero movie any time soon. Which, as someone who grew up on them, is a sad sentence to have to type out. Until they actually sit down and make a cohesive plan, nothing's going to change. 

As Hilary Duff once said, 'Waiting for you is like waiting for rain in this drought, useless and disappointing.' 

🐄