Mark Ruffalo stars as The Hulk in the Avengers movies.
Mark Ruffalo stars as The Hulk in the Avengers movies.
Opinion
If you're into caped crusaders, now is a very good time to be a superhero fanboy. But is their popularity getting out of control? Ethan Sills takes a look.
Superheroes are at the top of their game right now. Ever since The Dark Knight and The Avengers dominated the box office, caped crusaders have moved even further into mainstream culture,
You can't turn a corner in the entertainment world right now without stumbling over some super powered, latex-covered property.
The real driving force in all this has been Marvel. Exploding onto the big screen with Iron Man in 2008, the comic book giant managed to grab the few B-list characters they still owned the rights to and forged an empire out of them.
A few weeks ago, the studio announced this year's sleeper hit Ant Man will get a sequel in 2018, becoming the 11th sequel to be released in the next four years. Three more untitled Marvel movies will come out in 2020.
Quite frankly, this is all getting a tad much.
I have been a fan of these movies for years now. I have seen all the movies and TV shows, I'm eagerly awaiting the premiere of Jessica Jones next month, I have even been pushed into picking up the comics and having a go at the source material.
But even I am becoming cautious of all this pre-planning. A further 14 movies seems like a huge commitment and a massive leap of faith in hoping that superheroes will still be on top in a few years. I am intrigued at the possibilities these films and projects present, but at the same time, I don't want to see franchises become shadows of their former selves. Don't keep churning out films just for the sake of it.
A scene from Marvel's Ant-Man starring Paul Rudd.
It doesn't stop with movies: superheroes are developing a stranglehold on television. Last week, Marvel TV confirmed a deal to allow American networks Fox and FX to create two new X-Men-based shows, branching out into properties they don't even own the full rights to.
This comes on top of earlier announcements that ABC will make a half-hour comedy set in the MCU, and there are plans to spin-off Agents of SHIELD despite the fact that show barely gets any viewers (though it has improved since the sub-par first season).
Hugh Jackman and James McAvoy in X-Men: Days of Future Past.
So in the coming years we've got 14 more movies coming, five shows premiering or returning on Netflix, four shows airing on ABC, plus a collaboration between Marvel and 12 Years a Slave writer John Ridley that currently has no set plans.
That's 24 different properties all poised to premiere in the next five years, and who knows how many more sequels they'll add if Doctor Strange and Captain Marvel become hits.
Just how long are they expecting the MCU to last for? Will it keep going until every character has their own movie or TV show? Will we eventually reach a James Bond/Doctor Who situation, with the characters having to be rebooted every few years to avoid paying Robert Downey Jr another US$50 million pay cheque per cameo? Are they really just waiting until they can pressure Fox into handing back the rights to the X-Men, then relaunch the entire franchise with mutants thrown into the mix?
Chris Evans in a scene from Captain America: The Winter Soldier.
Admittedly, some of these comic characters have been around for several decades now - next year will see Captain America turn 75. But it is a lot easier to keep something alive in print than it is on film. Within 10 years the franchise will be completely different to the one that started: will people still be interested in going to see an entirely different Avengers movie without Downey Jr, Mark Ruffalo, Chris' Evans and Chris Hemsworth? I doubt many outside of the most dedicated fans will simply stick around and watch whatever Marvel throws out into the universe.
Really, we just need something new. Marvel has had its time to dominate: it's time to wrap things up and move on before they start thinking The Unbeatable Squirrel Girl needs adapting.
It may be nigh impossible to kill someone off in the superhero world, but that doesn't mean audiences are going to stick around to watch them live forever.
