The end is nigh! Almost 20 years have passed since the original Iron Man film came out in 2008. Proving that, yes, superhero films can be taken seriously, and launching the genre into the public eye. In those 20 years a whole world has been pieced together, film by film and not just by Marvel, but by other comic companies as well. These films have garnered acclaim, becoming celebrated cultural events upon each new release. I myself have participated in the hype, being a fan of superhero films since birth, they hold a very near and dear spot in my heart. But with excitement that has been brewing for Marvel’s “Doomsday” I can’t help but feel untethered to the fandom.
I fear that the age of superheroes may be coming to a dawn, at least for Marvel.
The most obvious sign is the oversaturation that has occurred within the superhero movie industry. Each year, there’s an average of three marvel films released and as mentioned earlier the anticipation for each is comparable to apple release line ups. But since the beginning in 2008, the flood gates have been opened and a pileup of films has started to occur. It’s a marvel film on a marvel film. Now obviously a world isn’t built with one film a year, but you can begin to see the wear and tear of a three film per year schedule. It’s become a struggle to catch up as well. If you miss one, you now have to rush and catch up, otherwise the next film won’t make sense, and in a sea of super hero films it’s terribly difficult to not drown. Especially with the weighted bubbles of TV shows that have begun to pop up.
As mentioned previously, rushed schedules don’t go unseen. There begins with a promise of an ultimate showdown, or some sort of crazy arrival to the cinematic universe, and then in the flurry of putting it onto the big screen, the quality is lost. The most recent Spider-Man film is a great example of what waiting can do. It had been four years since the previous Spider-Man film had been released. Rather than moving to push the timeline along the film acts a story of its own, one independent from the larger universe, and it’s probably why it was given its four year wait time. But because of this, it marvellously excels. There’s an attention to detail, and a spirit to the film that has been lost to the need for film reproduction. The Ant-man and the Wasp: Quantanmania (another bug themed hero) released 5 years after its predecessor, but its goal is to create a link for the new phase of marvel, and because its purpose is in my eyes “impure” to what a super hero movie should be about, it falls flat.
Although this cycle is not new and humanity has always had and will always have heroes, it’s not a bad thing to have, but it’s definitely somewhat saddening (and a bit annoying) to see where things are headed for our beloved avengers. Time is cyclical, and things are rinsed and repeated, and you can recognize it but it doesn’t get any easier when you’ve realized that you’re in the latter half of the cycle.
I’m not a philosopher, but the human condition and the human ability to recognize that the new beginning is nigh, can be quite miserable. Many people take it with humility and many people take it with sadness. But to call it prideful would be quite silly. Time passes, like a conversation picked up on the side of the road. So when your heroes are finally laid to rest, as harrowing as it may be , it does not mean that they’re fully gone. Those words you listened to are still ingrained into your being , so maybe their presence won’t be felt the way it used to, but the act of it changing is inherently heroic. So yes, maybe the time for our avengers is up, but the next page might be pretty neat, and it’s up to you, the reader, to keep on reading.
Contributed photo of Spiderman poster drawing by Drake Landon
