Written by Dr. Mike Robinson ~ Guest Writer
Deadpool Theatrical release poster
Ignore the clickbait headlines. Negative articles drive page views. That does not change the facts though. Superheroes will survive. The MCU is far from done.
Let’s look at the numbers for the superhero genre from Box Office Mojo. Here is their overall domestic ranking for the year and their worldwide gross.
- #3 Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse, $381.3M ($690.6M worldwide)
- #4 Guardians of the Galaxy 3, $359.0M ($845.5M worldwide)
- #8 Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania, $214.5M ($476.1M worldwide)
- #24 The Flash, $108.1M ($271.3M worldwide)
- #30 The Marvels, $84.5M ($206.1M worldwide)
- #33 Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom, $76.5M ($434.5 worldwide)
- #34 Blue Beetle, $72.5M ($130.8 worldwide)
- #44 Shazam! Fury of the Gods, $57.6M ($134.0M worldwide)
We can agree that last year was not the strongest movie season ever for the superhero genre.
Still, it wasn’t all horrible for Marvel properties. Remember that aching void that fans felt on March 29? That was the realization that Beyond the Spider-Verse, the third film in the Spider-Verse franchise, was supposed to arrive on that date. Instead, we will have to wait a while for another visit with the incomparable and unstoppable Miles Morales. The delay was brought on by the Hollywood strikes. When people complain they cannot wait for the next film, that’s not fatigue, that’s anticipation.
Ultimately, three of the Marvel related films were in the top 10. Sure, The Marvels did not do as well as it could have. Earlier this year I argued that was due to some unusual circumstances again. The strikes impacted promotion. And while enjoyable, The Marvels was not the strongest MCU outing. It did not feel like essential viewing.
It’s the DC side of the genre that is once again hemorrhaging. None of their superhero movies cracked the top 10. Or even the top 20, if that’s a thing. Some personality problems definitely played a role in this. Ezra Miller’s behaviors certainly didn’t encourage people to rush to see The Flash. Also, there was that weird sense that the DCEU had lost what little power it had when James Gunn was announced as DC’s version of Kevin Feige. Why rush to see movies that the new boss says do not count anymore?
That negativity will be enough to sustain the clickbait articles for a while. Or at least until Deadpool and Wolverine drops on July 26.
The Deadpool franchise is wildly successful, especially given its R-rating (theoretically) prevented some younger viewers from seeing the first two films. Deadpool (2016) make $782.8M worldwide. Deadpool 2 (2018) brought in $785.9M globally. While numbers will certainly be down a bit because people just do not go to the movies as much as they once did, there’s no reason to think that this third film will not do well, especially given that Hugh Jackman is returning as Wolverine.
Once that film explodes, the naysayers will have to change tactics. They will try to paint the movie as a fluke, arguing that its success is a vindication of their superhero fatigue thesis. Deadpool and Wolverine, they will argue, is so different from the standard fare that it somehow proves that people do not want Marvel superhero movies. Sure, the trailer has already suggested its choking with the TVA, cross-time and cross-dimensional travel, and guest appearances by other characters. And sure, it will probably bring the 24-year-old X-Men movie franchise one step closer to joining the MCU. But the prophets of doom will still try to find a way to keep on dooming.
And they’ll need the practice because once Deadpool saves the day, they’ll have to argue Beyond the Spider-Verse doesn’t count either.
