Despite the strong performances of movies outside the superhero genre as of late – with a few even outpacing James Gunn’s Superman – the idea that the moviegoing public is ready to give up on the once-undisputed box office attraction of capes, strong punches, flying, heat rays, and sky beams is not yet a foregone conclusion.
As much as this is true of the little people, it's also true when it comes to people working within the system. And you can look no further than Peter Safran, one of the heads of DC Studios alongside Gunn, who recently gave his two cents about the dreaded phenomenon that has a colorful and affectionate nickname – “superhero fatigue.”
Criticism of the industry on the whole, aside from just that of the genre, leads many to believe more and more folks are bored with, tired of, and even vexed at the fact that Hollywood hasn't moved on from comic books and tights. Safran is not buying into this logic. Speaking with The Associated Press recently, he scoffed and took the blame off the characters mightier than mortal men.
Instead, he called out the movies themselves for being substandard. "I never felt that there was superhero fatigue. I felt it was mediocre movie fatigue," the producer/exec opined. "You gotta try something new. You have to change the game a little bit. The essential story on which Supergirl is based is something cool and original [that] we haven’t seen before."
It's a bold claim by Safran to certain ears, but not entirely out of left field when considering that Gunn said much the same thing when asked about a similar point in 2023. Safran's partner in crime and filmmaking believes most everyone still loves Marvel and DC's characters (especially Iron Man, Batman, and Superman). However, there is a burnout on the spectacle overtaking the story, Gunn says.
Watching the films of Sony that take a crack at exploring their chaotic live-action Spider-Verse or mid-2000s entries like Mark Steven Johnson’s Daredevil and Ghost Rider, you can see Gunn and Safran's point. Each movie in those litanies plays like a checklist of moments, set pieces, and unearned callbacks with little context. There is a lingering entertainment value, but they lack the soul of an Endgame or Infinity War.
However, (to be fair) Gunn and Safran also want to boost their brand with Supergirl coming out. The DCU is their bread and butter; they want it to continue successfully as if their jobs hinge on it. Moreover, they want to differentiate it from the last wave of DCEU movies, which were successive flops centered around magical or technological MacGuffins.
Superman was enough of a home run to brag about, but Supergirl needs to come in strong. It doesn't have to reinvent the wheel or push the envelope too far, though. The Craig Gillespie film has to be good enough to draw eyes and numbers. The problem is that when its aesthetic already looks too familiar, earning comparisons to Guardians of the Galaxy, there is a sense of an uphill battle.
Add us as a preferred source on Google