The Only ‘Superhero Fatigue’ I’m Getting Is From Having This Conversation

Every time the conversation about “superhero fatigue” comes up, I side-eye. Mainly because I am a millennial and so I have had superhero movies coming out my entire life. But too often, it also feels like a bad-faith debate from either people who haven’t ever liked superheroes or people who just don’t want to see superhero movies anymore. It’s not complicated and while I do respect those who don’t like them or don’t want to watch them and just state as much, I don’t love the people who make hating a superhero movie their entire personality.

And so yet again, the conversation is making the rounds online, thanks to the president of Marvel Studios, Kevin Feige. Talking about his time with Marvel, he brought up the question of fatigue and longevity, which he says was already being asked of him back when he first started.

“I’ve been at Marvel Studios for over 22 years, and most of us here at Marvel Studios have been around a decade or longer together,” Feige said on The Movie Business Podcast to host Jason E. Squire. “From probably my second year at Marvel, people were asking, ‘Well, how long is this going to last? Is this fad of comic book movies going to end?’”

“I didn’t really understand the question,” Feige said. “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?’ You would never ask that because there’s 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. Non-comic readers don’t understand that it’s the same thing in comics.”

And he’s right! Even when people are saying things like they don’t care, these movies are still making a ton of money because people continue to be interested.

It really is telling.

Look, there are people who are tired of the genre. And they have that right! We’ve had a lot of it and the genre doesn’t show signs of stopping. So I get it, I do. But it is telling to me that this conversation happens now. Now that the genre is less centered on white male characters and is more of a diverse playground. It’s not perfect, and there is still growth that the genre needs to make, but what we know of James Gunn and Peter Safran’s plan for the DCU and the upcoming slate of the Marvel Cinematic Universe is not just white guys.

So constantly seeing the superhero fatigue conversation pop up the minute that we’re not getting an a reboot of the same white male heroes is where my problem lies. If you don’t want to watch the genre? That’s fine. But making your personality talking about how tired you are of superhero movies when we’re finally seeing new characters get their time is just frustrating.

(featured image: Marvel Entertainment)