‘Batman’s Paul Dano Believes Superhero Fatigue May ”Breathe New Life’ Into The Genre

“Superhero fatigue” is the buzzword that keeps on giving this week. We’ve seen superhero movies dominate for over a decade, but 2023 saw all studios taking it in the teeth, even the previously unassailable Marvel Studios. Earlier today, Chris Evans weighed in on the subject, seemingly defending Marvel and how difficult it is to make a quality superhero film. Now, Paul Dano is weighing in on a similar topic.

READ MORE: ‘Arkham Asylum’: James Gunn Says Matt Reeves’ Superhero Series Will Exist In The New DCU, Separate From ‘The Batman’

Dano (“Prisoners”), who played a serial killer incarnation of The Riddler in Matt Reeves’ “The Batman,” is promoting his new Netflix sci-fi film “Spaceman” which sees him voicing an arachnid alien opposite Adam Sandler. In an interview with The Independent, Dano spoke out about the current “superhero fatigue” some studios are feeling and has a positive perspective on the matter by suggesting that these studio hiccups could lead to better-quality projects.

“It’s an interesting moment where everybody has to go like, ‘OK – what now?’ Hopefully, from that, somebody either breathes new life into [comic book movies] or something else blossoms that is not superheroes,” Dano recently told The Independent concerning the current state of superhero fatigue that audiences are feeling. “I’m sure there will still be some good ones yet to come, but I think it’s kind of a welcome moment.”

“It’s a larger thing, too. As soon as the word ‘content’ came into what we do—meaning-making movies or TV—it meant quantity over quality, which I think was a big misstep. And I certainly don’t need that as a viewer or as an artist…There are enough comic book movies where you just know what you’re gonna get,” Dano said. “Reading the script for ‘The Batman,’ you knew it was a real film. Every sentence… that’s just Matt Reeves.”

He’s very much on to something here. In the 1990s, there was indeed a heap of “bad” superhero movies based on characters kids barely knew that came off as quick cash-grabs that tried to replicate the success of the Tim Burton “Batman” films. Still, because studios were so open to the idea of taking risks on the genre, we ended up with more mature films like “The Crow” and “Blade,” ushering a darker, more grounded tone than the more flamboyant pictures that helped influence the tones of things like “X-Men” and “The Dark Knight” trilogy. Perhaps these are just growing pains making a comeback, and it’s not like 20th Century Fox and other studios didn’t have similar issues in the 2000s, even before the MCU changed the landscape. Maybe we will see more quality films if there is less oversaturation and stretching out studio resources/manpower to their limits to grind out as many projects as humanly possible.

Speaking of “The Batman,” the follow-up installment is expected to begin shooting by the end of the year, and given that Dano’s Riddler is now housed at Arkham Asylum alongside the Barry Keoghan (“The Banshees of Inisherin”) take on the Joker there are opportunities for him to reprise the role if the creatives decide to take that path. We’re still waiting on confirmations on who the antagonists will be and if we’ll see folks like Dano and Colin Farrell (leading his spinoff series “The Penguin” at Max) return.

“The Batman Part II” has a tentative release date of October 3, 2025. Thankfully, Reeves’ trilogy plans are expected to continue despite the main DCU reset alongside the development of “The Brave & The Bold,” a Batman and Robin (Bruce’s son Damian Wayne is that version) film that has Andy Muschietti (“The Flash”) attached to direct. We’re still waiting for Max to announce they’ll be debuting “The Penguin” as the Gotham-set crime show only recently wrapped film and is coming out later in the year.