Marisa Carpico – Arrow Columnist, Regular Contributor
1. Are superheroes facing over-saturation in today’s media?
I don’t know about everyone else, but I am already tired of hearing about these movies. Don’t get me wrong, I love a good comic book character. I buy a half-dozen comic issues a month, I’ve seen every Marvel movie and I’ve at least sampled every comic book adaptation currently on television (life isn’t long enough to watch Gotham and Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. every week), but even I’m sick of seeing them.
Maybe it’s because it feels like a whole lot of hype for a bunch of movies that–if history is any indication–will be mediocre at best. Ever since the Twilight movies fundamentally changed the way movies are marketed (that was the first series I remember that had the audacity to release a teaser trailer for a full trailer), it feels like we as a movie-going culture have been caught in an endless hype machine that we are all unwilling or unable to stop.
I guess it wouldn’t be so bad if these announcements felt like they had any concern for my enjoyment as a viewer rather than just being blatant attempts by Marvel and DC to one-up each other. DC says they’re going to release a female-led movie with Wonder Woman, Marvel responds with a Captain Marvel (really? Was Scarlett Johannsen asking too much for Black Widow?) DC announces a superhero movie led by a black actor with Cyborg (I know he’s in the New 52 Justice League, but my God) and Marvel responds with a Black Panther (better). It’s all such a tiresome display of power, like I’m the terrified little civilian at the bottom corner of a splash page. Ostensibly, I’m the thing the two clashing titans in the center are trying to protect, but I’m really just an accessory in a battle of egos.
2. How can superhero content stay fresh over the next few years?
I honestly don’t think they can keep the genre fresh. There’s already a lot of crossover and similarities going on. Justice League is just the DC version of the Avengers. Green Arrow is DC’s Hawkeye, The Atom (likely to appear on Arrow soon considering Brandon Routh is playing his alter-ego) is Ant-man and let’s not forget that by the time Ezra Miller finally hits theaters as The Flash, the very successful Flash TV show will be in its fourth season. At some point, audiences are bound to get tired of seeing different versions of essentially the same characters
Still, I’d say the only thing that might stop that from happening is that Marvel and DC have set such different tones for their comic book movie/TV empires. DC is all tortured heroes and bleached color palates while Marvel is all goofy sense of humor and over-saturated color. I think, after the heavy-handed allegory for post-9/11 America that was the Dark Knight trilogy, the Marvel style is going to be more appealing to audiences, but DC will probably be doing more interesting character work.
3. What will we be saying about the superhero genre in five years?
Much as I would like to believe that movie-goers will revolt against caped crusaders monopolizing their screens by the time Green Lantern finally hits theaters in 2020, it’s more likely we’ll all be too excited about Shazam 2 or the first Loki standalone or whatever to remember what a big deal it was that two studios announced films in some cases six years in advance of their release—many of them featuring unknown characters played by unknown actors. Announcements like this won’t even seem that shocking by then, just something that happens on occasion. Though I do suspect there might be one way to stop this maddening world of interconnected characters: the actors playing them.
At some point, the Marvel Phase 1 actors are either going to get bored of playing the same characters over and over (Chris Evans has already expressed a desire to transition from acting to directing once his Marvel obligations are over) or their asking prices will become too high (see all those rumors that Robert Downey Jr. was done with the MCU around the time Iron Man 3 came out). If/when that happens, the studios will have two choices: recast the characters as has been done so many times with the likes of Spider-man and Batman or take the characters out of the universes they’ve helped build. I doubt either seems particularly enticing. On the one hand, the Spider-man and Superman franchises have struggled to find an audience after their initial outings and only Batman can be said to have any real success. On the other, phasing out characters wouldn’t be too hard but are there really enough interesting, major characters for either company? Is anyone really going to see a Moon Knight movie?
4. Out of all the movies that have been announced, what will be the best overall film?
While I’d much rather live in a world where my time wasn’t a casualty of DC and Marvel’s pissing contest, I am cautiously optimistic about a lot of these movies. Ben Affleck as Bruce Wayne is essentially the combination of all my sexual fantasies prior to age 19. News that Wonder Woman’s origin story will follow the setup of Brian Azzarello and Cliff Chiang’s brilliant New 52 run in the comics almost erases any of my lingering disappointment over the casting of Gal Gadot in the role. Some effects studio is probably doing preliminary work on an army of sea creatures for Aquaman as we speak. And, hell, I’ll watch Chadwick Boseman do anything. Still, my bet for the best movie in the upcoming slates for both companies is Captain America: Civil War. The Captain America films have been the best entries in recent comic book movies (yes, I’m including Guardians of the Galaxy) and I think that will continue. Steve Rogers and Tony Stark’s antagonism has been a staple since the first Avengers film and it’ll be exciting to finally see it play out in a way that I hope won’t only focus on the acquiring of an Infinity Gem.
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