Everyone loves superheroes, or at least they used to. The once beloved characters of the 2010s are now met with eye-rolls by general audiences. The attitude seems to be, “Really, another superhero movie?” How did we get here? Are things finally changing? And where will DC and Marvel take us in the future?
The rise of the MCU
Although Marvel was a huge part of pop culture in the 2010s, it wasn’t always that way. Interest in superheroes started to wane in the 90s, and Marvel was forced to license off some of their characters. This led to a series of pre-MCU movies developed by 20th Century Fox and Sony.
Although popular in their own right, these movies were never part of any larger cinematic universe. They were iconic, but not directly responsible for the massive surge of popularity in this genre of filmmaking. Even the movies Marvel Studios, their film division, tried to make with their remaining IP’s didn’t do very well. For example: 1986’s Howard the Duck.
Then, everything changed in 2007 when Kevin Feige took over as President of Production of Marvel Studios. With one central figurehead, Marvel was able to see out a coherent vision for an entire connected universe. Fast forward to 2018, and Marvel had 22 successful movies under their belt. Time for a massive two-part movie event! Both Avengers: Infinity War and Avengers: Endgame were extremely successful, landing in the top-ten grossing films of all time. The Infinity Saga (the overarching name of the first 22 films) had officially ended on a bang.
The fall of the MCU
Everyone loved Endgame! Marvel was on top of the world! And then… they fumbled it. A few things could have been the culprit. COVID hit only two years after Endgame‘s release, disrupting multiple projects. Marvel also decided to focus on longer TV shows, which are harder to keep up with due to sheer length.
Another problem was a change in vision. The Big Bad Evil Guy who was aimed to replace Thanos, Kang the Conqueror, was played by Jonathan Majors. Unfortunately, he was completely written out of the overarching story after Majors was convicted of assaulting his girlfriend. Rather than recast, Marvel decided to bring in a new character, Doctor Doom, instead.
The answer might also simply be oversaturation. Superheroes had been so popular for so long that it got harder and harder to tell original stories, and at a point, maybe Marvel wasn’t even trying to. Between dwindling quality and sheer quantity, it isn’t a big surprise that many people just stopped caring.
The rise of the DCEU
As the other member of the Big Two, it isn’t a shock that DC thought they should just copy Marvel and boom: successful franchise. They couldn’t have been more wrong.
After the conclusion of the Dark Knight films in 2012, DC and their parent company Warner Bros decided it was time to give a chance to a connected universe. They unveiled their new shared DCEU (DC Extended Universe) with Man of Steel, a 2013 Superman film directed by Zack Snyder. With Iron Man as the obvious choice to compare it to, DC was placing a lot on this film. It needed to be successful enough to launch an entire franchise.
And Man of Steel did… decently! It made about triple its budget and earned generally favorable audience reviews, but wasn’t much success critically. Many people disliked the direction Snyder took with the character. This Superman killed people, failed to save civilians, and didn’t seem particularly bothered by that fact. Although it did well in many aspects, following up on this movie would take the DCEU in a very different direction than the MCU, for better or worse.
The ‘fall’ of the DCEU
It was pretty much all downhill from that point. After only one movie DC completely failed to keep up with Marvel. Their next attempt was a whopping three years later (a rare moment of drought in the Superhero market), with Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice (bad name). Again directed by Zack Snyder (seemingly their answer to Kevin Feige), this movie fared even worse than Man of Steel.
After a few more stinkers (and a shocking hit with Wonder Woman), they had their team-up movie: Justice League. Wait, their fifth movie? And only three of the league members had even been seen prior to this point? And one of them was killed off in the second movie? What happened?
Unsurprisingly, Justice League was a flop. Changing directors halfway through in an unofficial capacity, Joss Whedon amplified the tonal whiplash seen in the previous films.
And yet they just kept trying. Money was tied up in projects and contracts, and so the films kept releasing. There was the occasional success, like Shazam! (my personal favorite DCEU movie), but with every success there was an equally awful follow-up.
One of their only successes, spearheaded by former Marvel director James Gunn, was The Suicide Squad (not to be confused with Suicide Squad). Later, after failing to reboot the franchise with The Flash, DC finally threw in the towel on the DCEU. They had never even come close to the highs of the MCU, and the lows were much, much lower.
Superman (2025): never give up
Although the DCEU universe died (poor Henry Cavill), that didn’t mean DC was done with the idea of an extended universe. Given that one of their only successes was spawned from James Gunn, they signed him on to start the whole thing over. And that began… with an animated show I think barely anyone has heard of called Creature Commandos (apparently quite good). Where it really began, at least in the public zeitgeist, was with this summer’s Superman!
This movie course-corrected in every way to great success. The movie has done very well critically and even better amongst audiences, with Rotten Tomatoes audience scores surpassing any DCEU movie. A decade of failed projects and Gunn managed to surpass it on his first try!
Why the new Superman works
So, what happened? The key difference is the vision and tone. Gunn wasn’t just brought on for this film; he was brought on to create an entire franchise. Only time will tell if this will be a success, but Gunn brings his fun and whimsical characters, as seen in the Guardians of the Galaxy films, to the brand new DC Universe (DCU).
Unlike Man of Steel, Superman goes out of its way to be a fun movie. The breath of fresh air compared to the high stakes and often low quality of Marvel or the gritty atmosphere of the DCEU is potent. This Superman wants to help everyone, and loves his family, his girlfriend, and humanity. The movie isn’t afraid to be silly, the color palette is bright, and David Corenswet as Superman exudes a naturally fun and enjoyable presence as the character.
After decades of brooding depictions of Superman and similar parodies (such as The Boys’ Homelander and Invincible’s Omni-Man), it was simply refreshing to have a project that isn’t afraid to have a strong alien be kind and good-hearted. With Supergirl as one of the DCU’s upcoming projects, already being teased as a party-loving traditional take on the character, time will tell if Superman is just lightning in a bottle. But, given Gunn’s track record, I think it’s safe to say the future of the DCU might be as bright as its first outing.
For a more in-depth review of Superman, check out Trill’s review.
Fantastic Four (2025): back to basics
Not enough time has passed for Marvel to “answer” Superman, but it seems like they don’t have to. Marvel’s last two films, both from the last few months, have been some of their most successful in years. Thunderbolts and Fantastic Four: First Steps are both scoring in the high 80s-low 90s amongst audiences and critics on Rotten Tomatoes.
Unfortunately, as great of a movie as Thunderbolts* is, people just didn’t really see it. The movie is really fun and has a classic team-up feel that’s been missing since the early Avengers movies. However, it made the classic MCU mistake of relying on people having knowledge of previous shows and movies that were of low quality and involved characters people had little interest in. This includes Black Widow, Falcon and the Winter Soldier, and Ant-Man and the Wasp, some of Marvel’s most “meh” projects of the last 8 years.
Why the new Fantastic Four works
Off the back of Superman, it was a great time to have another feel-good movie with Fantastic Four: First Steps. Thunderbolts* is great, but it’s one of Marvel’s darkest movies in years, focusing on mental illness as a major theme. In contrast, Fantastic Four has a retro-future 50s aesthetic, and a team of lovable characters that feel like a true family. The movie is very unafraid to be silly, with the opening focusing on the dread MOLE MAN (egads!) and his underground city called Subterranea. Although the stakes definitely progress throughout the film, beyond even where Superman goes, it is a classic, fun Marvel movie at a time in the world where people need that most.
Additionally, unlike Thunderbolts*, Fantastic Four is very self-contained. Set outside of the main MCU universe (Earth-616), the Fantastic Four seem to be their world’s (Earth-818’s) only defenders. No prior knowledge of other Marvel properties is required. Anyone can go in and enjoy this film without thinking, “Wow I should have watched these four shows and these two movies so I can really appreciate these characters.”
Finally, there’s name recognition. For the first time in a while, thanks to the acquisition of Fox, Marvel is pulling in one of their big characters/teams. The Fantastic Four is one of their earliest properties, and their earliest group of fighters. With the well-timed success of the game Marvel Rivals, people are itching to see more of these heroes and finally have the chance to. There are great Avengers movies and a plethora of pretty good Fox-created X-Men films, but Fantastic Four movies have had three historical flops before this. It was about time someone did it right.
The future of superhero movies
Where does this leave the genre? The genre that dominated the 2010s, leading to around a quarter of the 50 most financially successful films of all time. I think DC should have a pretty easy time following up on Superman. They have a litany of extremely popular characters that have been historically shafted and ham-fisted into mid-at-best movies. They also don’t have a huge history to follow up on, and can spin the characters in any way they choose, although Superman shows it might be best to just stick to the vibe of the comics.
Marvel has it a bit tougher. They seem to be very quickly attempting to set up their big Multiverse-Saga-ending plot in Avengers: Doomsday. If you somehow missed it, they’re bringing back Robert Downey Jr. for obvious nostalgia bait as the titular Doctor Doom. But, unlike Thanos, who had been teased for the better part of a decade before his main movie, Marvel seems to be rushing to fit Doom into their multiverse with no existing backstory.
With Spider-Man: Brand New Day coming out next year, they have only one more movie to try to properly set up Doomsday. Even with their recent successes, this is a tall order, and only time will tell if they can succeed or if the new, shinier DCU might finally overtake them. Given Marvel’s schedule is so set in stone, there isn’t much they can do to “save” these upcoming Avengers films except, hopefully, write a great movie. But if Fantastic Four is anything to go by, a soft reboot or more solo, disconnected movies might be what Marvel needs to stay relevant in the future, especially with the DCU showing up as unexpected, yet fierce, competition.
