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Comic book movie fatigue is not real

Is it real or no?

  • It's definitely real

    Votes: 59 85.5%
  • It's not real

    Votes: 7 10.1%
  • I dunno

    Votes: 3 4.3%

  • Total voters
    69

DeafTourette

Perpetually Offended
Hey y'all. This might get me ridiculed but I have my logic ...

The best selling comic book movies in the past few months have been Across the Spiderverse and Guardians of the Galaxy 3. By all metrics, they were VERY good movies... Even GREAT!

HOWEVER, The Flash, Shazam, Ant-Man and Black Adam FIZZLED... It's not because 3 of them are DC... It's because they're mediocre (yes I can admit that even though I enjoyed them to varying degrees). Black Adam was the worst of the bunch IMO because the logic of the story made no sense. Shazam was good movie that maybe carried the smell of past movies ... Same with Flash. People haven't forgotten those movies (looking at theatrical Justice League) and it's good that they're rebooting everything that didn't work.

Even Marvel isn't immune. As mentioned, Ant-Man fizzled as well... Didn't even make 400mil. Because it was mediocre.

That's the point... There's mediocre movie fatigue. If people look at reviews of things and too many are saying "this was mid"... Folks aren't going to line up at the box office. If it even SMELLS like it's connected to something that stunk from before, they'll check OUT!

Spiderverse made profit... So did Guardians... Make something with stakes, heart and FUN... Usually people will come.

What say y'all?
 

Doom85

Member
Fun or not, they all follow the same, exact, format.

So does just about any blockbuster genre. People just want to rag on them if it doesn’t specifically appeal to them. Yet somehow prior decades where tons of action movies could be summed up as, “he was a loose cannon on the police force but with his by-the-books partner he’ll prove to his angry chief that he was right all along!”, or “he was the best of the best but he’s retired, but now due to his wife being kidnapped, an old foe remerging, some pushy asshole who’s too lazy to find someone else to do the job, or all the above, he has to come back for ONE LAST JOB!”, or “only one man can stop this terrorist who’s plan is even crazier than it seems!”, apparently THAT was okay.

Like, I’m not saying it’s a bad thing. Tropes are tools. But shitting on comic movies by claiming only they do this is just ignorance.
 
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Puscifer

Member
It's real because it's been going on for 20 years starting with Blade and X-Men, graphic novel adaptations like A History of Violence (amazing movie) but Iron Man started this trend and it was nice for a bit, but I think phase 3 was when it went overboard and I checked out when there was a talking raccoon.

I saw Logan and watched Infinity War and End Game just to say I did. The main thing for me is getting heroes that are interesting to me and I've always liked stuff from Image the best more than Marvel/DC because I feel like that I'm not having to be ultra invested in "the universe" so to speak.
 

Mistake

Member
Most movies do. And yet people still watch them. You just maybe don't like the genre.
So does just about any blockbuster genre. People just want to rag on them if it doesn’t specifically appeal to them. Yet somehow prior decades where tons of action movies could be summed up as, “he was a loose cannon on the police force but with his by-the-books partner he’ll prove to his angry chief that he was right all along!”, or “he was the best of the best but he’s retired, but now due to his wife being kidnapped, an old foe remerging, some pushy asshole who’s too lazy to find someone else to do the job, or all the above, he has to come back for ONE LAST JOB!”, or “only one man can stop this terrorist who’s plan is even crazier than it seems!”, apparently THAT was okay.

Like, I’m not saying it’s a bad thing. Tropes are tools. But shitting on comic movies by claiming only they do this is just ignorance.
No, I liked them initially. Guardians was great, along with some others. But when you can identify character traits that are common across a genre, it really feels like you're watching the same movie over and over again. I feel the same way about anime I watch whenever they do a high school setting with a typical cast
 

DeafTourette

Perpetually Offended
No, I liked them initially. Guardians was great, along with some others. But when you can identify character traits that are common across a genre, it really feels like you're watching the same movie over and over again. I feel the same way about anime I watch whenever they do a high school setting with a typical cast

As Doom said, a lot of movies follow the same tropes and formulas within genre. Horror, RomComs, action, etc. The grizzled unbeatable cop, the whimsical girl falls for the dumb guy with a heart of gold, the plucky yet somewhat depressed underdog who wins the game, etc... It's even present in books! It just depends on the flow of the story, the dialogue and the punchiness of the visuals (whether with SFX or not).
 
Ever heard of Dunbar's number? It's a theory that humans can only maintain a certain number of relationships comfortably. That number has been exceeded for superheroes. There's just too many of them. Folks were willing to put up with it for the sake of the overarching storyline, but that has finished and what's left is shit. So they're cutting away the fat and sticking to what's important.

I firmly believe that's what's happening here.
 

Doom85

Member
I've always liked stuff from Image the best more than Marvel/DC because I feel like that I'm not having to be ultra invested in "the universe" so to speak.

I wish I read more Image and the others like Dark Horse, but it’s time-consuming as it is to keep up with the manga I check out. I did read a good deal of Monstress which was solid (imagine Berserk/Game of Thrones but with a Eastern/steampunk twist), I got the big hardcover with the first 18 issues, I should pick up the second one as I see it came out late last year.
 

Puscifer

Member
I wish I read more Image and the others like Dark Horse, but it’s time-consuming as it is to keep up with the manga I check out. I did read a good deal of Monstress which was solid (imagine Berserk/Game of Thrones but with a Eastern/steampunk twist), I got the big hardcover with the first 18 issues, I should pick up the second one as I see it came out late last year.
My Manga days are behind me, the more invested in my career the less time I have to even game or read. Part of my love of image comics is they are no stranger to omnibuses or trades that collect everyone making it easier on readers to jump on. I love a complete story in the comic world and invincible was an amazing run when you have it all collected, there's cliffhangers that make me so happy I don't have to wait
 
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FunkMiller

Gold Member
It is absolutely real… for bad comic book movies. And we’ve had a lot of them this year. Only Guardians 3 and Spiderverse have been good so far, and they’ve done well at the box office.

Nobody gives a shit about poorly made superhero movies anymore. Thank god.

The whole genre needs to shrink back again.
 
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Wildebeest

Member
Comic books by themselves haven't been culturally relevant for a long time. Even with the crazes over the Disney movies the new product wasn't doing good business. They can't just get away with pretending that all of that stuff is dynamite when people's expectations for spectacle and iconic characters have already been raised.
 

NahaNago

Member
The movies they've been releasing since after end games have been pretty mediocre. They still look amazing at times but I would still like better character interaction/drama, better storytelling, better action, and cg that isn't all over the place. Shang chi was better in the beginning with the regular martial arts, dr. strange didn't go strange enough, the eternals failed to properly use that they lived a ridiculously long time and should have been a mini series or tv show, Thor failed the god butcher, black widow assassin family reunion was like some soft family film, didn't even bother watching Wakanda, and DC is a straight up mess right now.
 

mopspear

Member
I saw all of them up to The Avengers 1, and then said it was enough. Something about getting up to that high point and then having to go back down for some in-between stuff until the next big thing happened just wasn't going to work for me. I'll be fair and say that I really don't like superheroes but those early movies were digestable enough for me to change my mind, at least for awhile.

Part of me says, all the money, effort, and interest in these movies could go to something more unique and different but then I remember what year we're in and it's not really a loss anymore since none of that would happen anyway. They'd be remaking Prince Valiant or something.
 

Fbh

Member
I think it's an MCU fatigue more than a superhero one. Either way I don't know about the larger market but it definitely has for me.

End Game felt like a decent (if disappointing) end point and nothing they've released since has been as exciting. Lots of people I've talked to feel the same but that's obviously just anecdotal.

I'll watch Guardians 3 when it's up for streaming because the first one is still one of my favourites in the MCU (Though after playing the game I've lost some of my love for it as I thought the game was way better than either of the movies).
But other than that I have no interest in upcoming MCU shows and movies. Maybe I will catch some of them on a flight in the future.
 

StueyDuck

Member
The fatigue isn't necessarily real, it's the lack of creativity, forced messaging and market saturation that makes it feel that way.

if there was still one truly great Superhero movie a year people would still flock out the see it.

the fast and furious movies are stupid as all hell and people know it , but there's a big enough gap between the movies that every time one releases it almost feels nostalgic to go see it.

to make a long story short, fatigue itself doesn't exist that I agree with you, but it doesn't mean there aren't issues preventing people from wanting to see thing movies anymore.

to be clear market saturation isn't the same as fatigue in my books, if there was 5 incredible super hero movies on the big screen right now people would still rush out to see them. The Perceived fatigue is coming from a multitude of reasons and simply making a good superhero movie would squash all that fatigue talk.
 
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Dazrael

Member
Comic book movies are going the same way as monthly comic books, there are too many to keep up with to follow the whole story. The MCU up to Endgame had a linear setup and worked just fine for the average moviegoer, however since then it’s splintered off into different media and it’s becoming a chore to keep up with.

Another aspect that I think is relevant is Hollywood playing catch-up with stuff they couldn’t do before technology became good enough. There were always comic book films before CG but they were middling because the tech wasn’t there to do them justice. Hollywood had to fall back on genres that were easier to do, with buddy comedies like Lethal Weapon for example. However once CG came on the scene Hollywood has tried to cram as much of it in as possible, to the point of saturation. It was once the new thing hence the ease of adoption by the cinema going public. That lustre however is seemingly wearing thin as most of these experiences seem to be the same.
 

nush

Member
You can have too much of something. It can be good and you can not enjoy it because you are over saturated.
Capcom 2D fighters in the late 90’s, lots of them all good quality but they came out so fast there wasn’t enough time to get deep into them before the next one came along. Add to that the other 2D fighters you would also be playing from other developers.
 
Right now for me, Phase 4 has been really disappointing even though I did love Loki, Dr Strange 2 and Ms Marvel

Phase 5 had a bad start with Ant-Man Quantumania. I haven't watched Guardians of The Galaxy Vol 3 yet since I'm waiting for it to come out on VOD. I haven't seen a movie in the theater at all this year and I prefer to just wait for the movies to come to VOD.

As for Phase 5 I'm loving Secret Invasion. Excellent all around

On the DC front, I skipped Shazam 2 due to not liking the first. Skipped The Flash. Skipping Blue Beetle since the trailer didn't do anything for me. I'm skipping Aquaman 2 since I hate Amber Turd.

I'm really interested in Superman Legacy.

Jame Gunn is hit or miss for me. But he seems to have an interesting plan for the DC Universe he's creating. Hope he succeed. As much as I'm a Marvel guy, I really enjoy DC and competition is always good

Also The Batman verse is something I'm invested in. Love the first one. I think that Penguin show is coming up this year so can't wait for that

I'm waiting for Across The Spider-Verse to come to VOD and it's looks like I just have to wait 2 to 3 weeks for it come.

I don't have comicbook movie fatigue, it's just I have bad comic book movie fatigue
 
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Drake

Member
I still remember the last MCU movie I watched. It was The first Doctor Strange (around 2015 or 2016). They're not bad, but I just couldn't do it anymore. I've never been that big into super heroes/comics anyways.
 

Mistake

Member
Spiderverse and GOTG 3 absolutely don't share the same format.
The majority of marvel/dc do. Oh no, we have to save the _____ because xyz, cue the sarcastic protagonist and generic bad guy with slightly sappy backstory. Love interest for filler. People die (but not really.) Last minute to wrap everything up, oh wow they just barely made it. Some talking, credits
 
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Spyxos

Gold Member
In my circle of friends, interest has fallen sharply. I've never been a comic fan, but I've seen almost all the movies in the cinema. After Endgame, my interest is significantly lower. Only the Spiderman movies have been really good lately.

Guardians 3 was also pretty good. The rest was quite uninteresting for me and the new Marvel Secret Invasion series has flopped on D+.
 
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Spaceman292

Banned
The majority of marvel/dc do. Oh no, we have to save the _____ because xyz, cue the sarcastic protagonist and generic bad guy with slightly sappy backstory. People die (but not really.) Last minute to wrap everything up, oh wow they just barely made it. Some talking, credits
Oh yeh that's so fuckin boring by now
 

Thaedolus

Gold Member
Super hero movies absolutely put me to sleep, and have for over a decade. In fact the first movie I ever fell asleep at was Iron Man 3. But John Wick is apparently a comic book, and Batman is always fun, so it’s more MCU and DCCU movies that are just mindless boring trash. And the marvel humor infecting everything else, like Star Wars, is tragic.
 
For me, I can safely say I will not be paying to see any superhero movies after sitting through GoTG3. Just not interested anymore.
 

diffusionx

Gold Member
People are not going to be lining up to watch dozens of capeshit movies to follow the overall storyline of a cinematic universe. That shit is OVER. Now, part of the reason why is because Marvel's stuff is mostly horrible these days, and they threw in all these crappy TV shows that make following it seem like much more of a chore than it was when it was 2-3 movies a year, but also because the last Avengers was a satisfying conclusion and people don't want to put themselves through that again.

Now if a movie is good and people feel like going to the movies they'll go watch capeshit, but more as a standalone experience because they like the characters, etc.
 
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Werewolf Jones

Gold Member
They are utter fucking garbage and betray an infantile, stunted generation of overgrown man-babies.

Now, if you’ll excuse me, I’m off to play Pokemon.
Pretty much this yeah. Including the Pokemon part.
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GloveSlap

Member
Its real to a point. They were never going to maintain that cultural zeitgeist that they had, but Disney accelerated their demise by Guitar Hero-ing the shit out of them with garbage releases. Same thing with Star Wars.
 

tkscz

Member
Super hero movies in general? Probably not. But the Marvel formula has definitely lost it's luster for a LOT of people.

It's reached a point where fewer and fewer people care about the next set of 20 characters they are introducing and the multiverse idea is a big turn off for a lot of people.
 

Trogdor1123

Gold Member
I’m not sure, I think it’s more that the quality slipping and the shows being far less focused. They always seem to be pushing what’s next rather than being their own thing. Instead of a compilation of stories that are all distinct and separate, it is a single story where so much is going on you can’t miss anything or you get lost (as to the bigger picture).

The core marvel movies from the first 3 phases are easy to watch over and over. We can’t say that about most of the new stuff at all.
 

DKehoe

Member
I think it’s real. I know I’ve personally been feeling it for a while and I know others who feel the same. That’s not to say that a comic book movie can’t do well. Like you said Guardians 3 did well and that was also one that I personally enjoyed. So I think it’s more that just being part of a superhero cinematic universe isn’t going to carry a film in the way that it did a few years ago.
 
There are a lot of comics out there with various themes and subject matter. The issue is that studios like Marvel keep playing it safe and family friendly(and no, one F-word per movie or a few bullet holes with no blood don’t count).

You would never see something like Superior Spider-Man on the big screen in live action. It’s crazy how we even had a Netflix Punisher show for as little time as we did.
 
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