The Reality of Marvel Fatigue
How a constant stream of a genre is burning audiences out
Fans on the internet have turned this topic into a strange battle ground. Some fans argue that superhero or more specifically Marvel fatigue isn’t a thing. It’s just made by contrarians, bigots, and wannabe critics. People arguing for fatigue are constantly saying that it’s going to really set in any day now and that each movie is a predictor of it. Both according to my guesses are somewhat true.
Saturation and Fatigue
Iron Man was released in 2008 and Avengers in 2012. We have been dealing with the same story and almost the same characters for over ten years at this point. Every year 4 superhero movies are released.
Anti-Fatigue will claim that it’s being blown out of proportion. It’s just four movies, but the hype and marketing cycles drag and expand them out into the whole year. Some people may feel as if their surrounded all the time by Marvel content. Of course now you have to add in the tv shows to that cycle.
The reason the Western genre is often used as a comparison is that the genre also experienced exceptional highs before audiences got tired and moved on to other things. Blazing Saddles and Tombstone may be wildly different films, but they draw on similar style, similar, themes, and similar characters.
Marvel has been with the same universe and same characters for 10 years. Italy isn’t going to come out and create spaghetti superhero shows, and the DCU, DCEU? Is such a trash fire it’s not even comparable.
It’s no secret and not even debatable at this point that Marvel movies are stylized, scripted and produced very similarly. The humor is notoriously similar throughout each movie (something that could be called the Geico effect, Guardians of the Galaxy tried to be funny so every movie after Had to be funny)
People opposed to this argument will always bring up the earlier films like Thor 2 and Thor 3, ignoring of course all the recent movies. Every hero has become quippy and full of jokes. So not only are audiences getting bombarded with movies, but their getting bombarded with sameness. Same bright colors and tone, and same narrative structure.
Fast, Looks Cheap, isn’t Good
The quality of the recent Marvel movies have been slipping. I just brought up the writing, but the visuals are also dropping like a stone. I’m certain with only a little effort you can find threads and compilations of shots in Marvel movies that just look awful.
Video games as a medium have known for years at this point that frequent releases are made at the cost of quality. The popular franchise Call of Duty gets around this by using a rotating roster of studios.
Ubisoft, the developers behind Assassins Creed didn’t get this memo and tried the yearly release schedule. Those games were torn to shreds by critics and fans for their lack of quality and bugs. I will admit ignorance of how Marvel/Disney handle VFX. However, if Disney is releasing big budget stuff Four times a year, quality has most assuredly been cast aside.
Where the Infinity Saga is a culmination of 10 years of stories the Multiverse saga is trying to do the same thing in half the time. My working theory is that Disney is at least somewhat aware of the fatigue and is work to pump out another Endgame before the fatigue really sets in. Cash in another saga end before audiences get tired and move onto the next big genre.
Adopting Comics Problems
Disney has long since shoved its massive gold plated leg into the pool that is online streaming. Marvel has had tv shows before, Daredevil is excellent. (although I think Daredevil was lightning in a bottle, and Jessica Jones is coming no where near modern day Marvel)
There is another problem carried over from comics. Did you really think you could watch Dr. Strange one, then two? No silly you need to see Wanda vision to get the full context.
Just not interested in a movie? You’re going to be missing vital context and story beats for the next movie. That is most definitely going to put viewers who can’t see every marvel thing at a disadvantage and force them to play catch up and guess what movie and post credit scene will be vitally important.
Another problem that DC is running into is rebooting. Video games and comics fans are familiar with reboots and artists trying their own take on a hero, but what about general audiences? People are bound to be confused by, “yeah these are also DC movies but they have nothing to do with the precious DC movies.”
How many times will DC and eventually Marvel have to reboot their franchises before fans get really sick of it?
Creative Glutton
Finally a personal gripe. Disney is a creative glutton sucking up all the talent. Directors, VFX, big actors, writers, and other movie makers are being absorbed and used to write these kinds of movies rather than something different. Instead of making movies like Jojo Rabbit, Taika Watiti is making Thor 4 a movie I doubt he likes or wanted to make. Creative talent is being hogged to make a lifeless corporate product.
My Personal Thoughts
Marvel Fatigue is starting to set in. You can make the argument that news fans are coming in all the time. The younger audiences will keep Marvel alive after all the adults have left. But that was also true for westerns and it still fell from top dog.
I doubt Marvel will fully burnout in 2023 or 2024. My personal theory is that the multiverse saga is the end. Marvel movies and DC movies will still be made, westerns are still made, but at a much, much slower pace. Eventually and sadly I think Marvel movies will be the thing bored kids sit through with excited parents. A movie parents love and kids might see the appeal but they’ve moved on to different things.
Hi my name is Michael Vincent Hawthorne. I write for the Midnight Variety Hour. I have plenty of more articles on my page for you to check out.