Everybody has a shot at the superhero movie genre - most recently, it was acclaimed director Steven Spielberg, who said that the genre will fade away like many others before, and Emma Thompson, who said that there is no real suspense in these kinds of movies.
But I've talked about that and I've tried to bring some arguments against what these two have said. Now, Zack Snyder and Chris Evans have commented on this issue. So what do they have to say about the so called superhero movie fatigue?
Zack Snyder doesn't contradict Steven Spielberg
When asked to comment what Spielberg said about the superhero movies, Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice director didn't exactely contradict his fellow director. However, he did approach the issues from a different perspective.
As I said, these aren't necessarily just superhero flicks, but rather a mix of genres, sprinkled with some superhero stuff. Here's what Zack Snyder said: “To me, the one thing I love working in the DC universe is that Superman and Batman and Wonder Woman are American mythology. It's not about making a superhero, it's a mythological universe that we live in. That I hope stands the test of time. They stood the test of time. That's hopefully the sort of magic bullet. But who knows what audiences will want in the future. To me it's about the drama, the humanity of it. Those are like Shakespearean characters, Bruce Wayne and Clark Kent, they have inherent drama built into their makeup.” (via Comic Book Movie)
So, in a way, ultimately, this isn't any longer about a particular genre, but about the expectations of the audiences - who may or may not be met.
And they won't be met if duds such as 2015's Fantastic Four continue to happen - and this is the most recent example.
But another issues that has plagued many superhero flicks was the one being too overburdened with characters (and the Spider-Man franchises are the best example to be given). Head up to the next page for more about this from Zack Snyder!
Too many heroes - what to do?
Many superhero flicks, even solo ones, have been plagued with too many characters. As said, Sam Raimi's Spider-Man 3 and 2014's The Amazing Spider-Man 2 are the best examples, as far as solo adventures are concerned. Some might say that Avengers: Age of Ultron suffered from the same issue, even if it was supposed to be from the start an ensemble movie, with already established characters.
So what can we say about Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, which will bring together DC's Holy Trinity and then some? Isn't this a bit too much for the second movie in a Cinematic Universe? Well, according to Zack Snyder, there is no need to worry, because he has found the key.
In this way, the director said that, “I try and stay central. There's something really fun about bringing the other characters in, but it's really about staying central to the real core mythology is what I think the audience enjoys most.” And this is pretty basic, we might say - we don't get multiple main characters, but we get multiple secondary characters. Which sounds just fine.
However, this leads to another complication, which can be resumed to just one single word: Batman. Head on to the next page!
Is Batman once again the central character? Isn't this some type of overload?
As Zack Snyder said, he is trying to stay as close as possible to the main characters' mythologies. However, the most recent rumors concern the first 2 superhero's of DC's Trinity: Batman and Superman.
As it goes, the first rumor says that the Man of Steel sequel has been indefinitely put on hold - which, basically, means that the studio won't do it anytime soon, at least not in this current phase of the DC Extended Universe. Actually, we might have guessed that for quite a while ago, since Henry Cavill said that a universe needs to be established, with really powerful potential threats, for Superman to have another solo flick.
The second rumor, and the most recent one, says that Warner Bros was actually very impressed of Ben Affleck's take on the Caped Crusader. And that is why they want to beef Batman's role in Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice as much as possible. Of course, at the expense of Superman.
And this is yet another kind of overload, about which Emma Thompson talked. Sure enough, she referred to the Spider-Man franchise, who is already at the third main actor in 15 years. But this can be applied to Batman as well.
Everybody loves this superhero - but maybe he should move a bit into the background and let others in the spotlight. And why is this an overload? Simply because it shows that DC and Warner Bros are lacking any ideas, so they are taking refuge in what they knows to work: movies centered on Batman.
Do you think too that this is some kind of overload?
Well, let's check out on the next page what Chris Evans has to say about the so called superhero movie fatigue!
Chris Evans has high hopes for the superhero genre
To put it bluntly, Chris Evans doesn't believe that the superhero genre will fade away - he puts all his trust in the most recent advances of technology: “I certainly think that given the fact that technology has finally advanced, they're always going to be looking for other films to match their technological accomplishments. Any film that can incorporate these larger-than-life characters and fantastical locations and plots, the technology wants to prove they can do it so whether it's superhero film or fantasy in general, that's going to surge for a while.” (via Comic Book)
So, in a way, the actor says that as long as there is a means the end will be justified. But is it so? I don't buy this for one bit. This isn't about what the technology (and the guys using it, such as the directors) and what it can do at this moment - this is about what the audiences want to see. There is no point in doing a flick filled with top-notch FX if nobody will see it.
The counterexample would be James Cameron's Avatar, who is still the highest grossing movie of all time, a flick which is, basically, one giant green screen. Now that was indeed a jump forward of the technology. But these jumps are rare enough, though. And if they don't happen, then a movie using FX may lose fans - after all, how many explosions can I endure?
However, Chris Evans did say something else too. Check out the next page!
Superheroes - what are they, after all?
In my argument, and as I reminded in here, there are no pure-blood superhero flicks - instead, they are a mix of genres, one of the genres being accidentally the superhero one. Chris Evans says about the same thing when actually comparing Jason Bourne to a comic book hero.
But what he adds is even more interesting: “You could take any superhero movie and if you ground it enough, if you make it real enough"”that's what I think [Captain America: The Winter Soldier directors Joe and Anthony Russo] do really well. Certain superhero movies feel like superhero movies. Russo movies almost feel like human stories with a little bit of superhero sprinkled in. So you might get exhausted of the larger-than-life powers I suppose, but as long as the filmmakers keep on reinventing the flavor and the approach and the tone, audiences are going to still go.”
So, in a way, he says that the technology can advance as far as replacing human actors completely - however, without a human element to them (that is what grounding a superhero flick means, I presume), the genre will be doomed.
What do you think? Is Evans right? What about Snyder?
