Almost one year ago, Marvel Studios, DC Studios, and all of the millions of superhero film fans were optimistic. Sure, 2022 wasn’t the best year on record for the film/TV superhero genre, but there was plenty to give hope, especially after the pandemic really threw a wrench in things. What a difference a year makes, right? Now, with 2024 upon us, let’s look back at what was, without a doubt, the darkest year in superhero films and TV since the genre was revitalized 20 years ago, and try to figure out where everything went wrong.
Before we get to 2023, we have to quickly go over where the two major superhero film studios were at the end of 2022.
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Marvel was riding high, thanks to three films that performed well—“Doctor Strange and the Multiverse of Madness” did nearly $1 billion, “Black Panther: Wakanda Forever” ended the year strong, critically and commercially, and though “Thor: Love & Thunder” wasn’t a massive hit with critics, the film still earned over $760 million worldwide. Then, over on Disney+, “Moon Knight” was well-regarded and had its fans, “Ms. Marvel” gave us Iman Vellani, a real fan-favorite, and “She-Hulk: Attorney at Law” might have eventually polarized viewers with is fourth-wall-breaking suspension of disbelief problems (a few steps too far), but it started strong, the character was great, was beloved amongst critics and seemed to show the possibility of superhero sitcoms.
Over at DC Studios… well, things were different, but excitement was at an all-time high. With the news that James Gunn and Peter Safran were taking over and the promise of a big announcement at the beginning of 2023 (and boy, they delivered!), superhero film fans felt better about the future of DC films than they have in years. Of course, 2023 was going to have several films released that didn’t tie-in to what Gunn/Safran had planned, but that was okay. Hey, let’s not forget about “The Flash”. That was going to be a massive film featuring the multiverse and new versions of beloved characters, as well as the return of Micheal Keaton as Batman. Also, “Aquaman 2” is the sequel to a billion-dollar film. There’s no way that’s going to bomb.
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As mentioned, the beginning of 2023 saw DC Studios unveil the massive slate of upcoming films and TV series. A new ‘Superman’ film led the way, as did the promise of a new ‘Batman’ franchise, and a variety of exciting TV shows. There was a lot to be jazzed about. Unfortunately, by making this announcement, Gunn, Safran, and the folks at Warner Bros. Discovery all but killed the last bit of excitement that existed for the four feature films that were scheduled to arrive throughout 2023. In effect, the goodwill earned by the introduction of the Gunn/Safran DC Studios vision came with the side-effect that “Shazam! Fury of the Gods,” “The Flash,” “Blue Beetle,” and “Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom” all became lame duck movies.
It didn’t do the superhero genre any favors by making four major film releases all effectively DOA, not to mention the simple fact that all four of them earned mediocre-at-best reviews (“Blue Beetle” being the highlight with 78% on Rotten Tomatoes). So, the worst-case scenario feared by many film fans became a reality—one by one, these DC films were released, and one by one, they were all massive bombs. In fact, “The Flash” was one of the biggest bombs in the history of WB. As of this writing, “Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom” has only been released for a few weekends and the results are… very lackluster, to say the least.
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But what about Marvel Studios? Surely, the biggest franchise in the history of cinema would have a perfectly fine 2023. Right? Right? Wrong. The year was expected to start off with a massive film, “Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania.” The film was going to serve as the third in the (admittedly only moderately) successful franchise, but most notably would have been the triumphant debut of Jonathan Majors as Kang the Conqueror (only briefly seen as He Who Remains in Season 1 of “Loki”). Majors was poised to be absolutely massive in 2023, with a major Sundance debut (“Magazine Dreams”), ‘Ant-Man 3,’ and “Creed III.” Unfortunately, ‘Quantumania’ wasn’t as beloved as Marvel hoped, earning middling reviews (some of the worst in the history of the studio) and becoming the center of a controversy regarding VFX workers being mistreated. Later in the year, Majors would find his career on the verge of collapse when he was arrested for domestic violence, but more on that in a bit.
‘Quantumania’ showed Marvel Studios was actually mortal and could experience, at the very least, moderate failure, but that was just the beginning. After a massively successful “Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3,” which shouldn’t be understated, as it was the lone major win for Marvel in 2023, the studio would experience some major setbacks. “Secret Invasion,” expected to be a massive TV event when it was first announced, forever altering the trajectory of the MCU, ended up being the worst TV series the studio had ever produced, with terrible reviews and some terrible storytelling, even by lackluster Marvel Studios TV standards.
This was followed by a long stretch (at least it felt incredibly long), where the news surrounding Marvel Studios grew increasingly negative. In addition to the VFX workers coming out with their allegations, as well as the Majors news airing the actor’s incredibly dirty laundry, there was news that Victoria Alonso, one of Kevin Feige’s right-hand execs was leaving the studio. Reports differ about what exactly led to her leaving—for once in Marvel Studios’ reign, there was actual behind-the-scenes controversy regarding the management. This was followed by a number of reports of trouble on upcoming productions, such as “Captain America: Brave New World,” “Blade,” and “Daredevil.” The latter of which was just the beginning of a whole different discussion regarding reports of Marvel Studios fumbling the ball on the TV side of things, needing to fully rethink its approach to the medium.
By September, it felt as if each bit of news coming out about Marvel Studios was going to be worse than the last. But then “Loki” Season 2 arrived and, well, it was fine. People loved the finale, but the series seemed overshadowed by the general vibe that Marvel Studios was struggling and everything that was being released was subpar.
Everything came to a head in November with the release of “The Marvels,” which serves as an encapsulation of everything bad at Marvel Studios in 2023. The film earned decent enough reviews but had the lowest opening weekend of any Marvel Studios film in history. Of course, it’s worth noting, the film arrived after a prolonged SAG strike, which meant the promotion of the film couldn’t include any of the actors. But honestly, it’s hard to imagine some Brie Larson and Iman Vellani interviews would have saved the box office prospects.
With “The Marvels,” Marvel Studios officially had its first major bomb. A big, stinky turd of a release. As of this writing, the film has earned just over $205 million worldwide—an absolutely abysmal number, especially by MCU standards. In addition to the box office performance, we started to see Disney throw people under the bus. CEO Bob Iger came out and basically blamed director Nia DaCosta for the film underperforming. Hell, there was a trade report that attempted to blame paint the picture of DaCosta bailing on the film by not showing up to a release party. Thankfully, that bit of reporting was disputed when DaCosta’s PR team said she wasn’t even invited. “The Marvels” wasn’t just a box office bomb, but it showed the actions of a studio flailing, even throwing its own creators to the wolves to save face.
This was followed in December by the news where Jonathan Majors was found guilty in his domestic violence trial. A verdict which could (but probably won’t) result in jail time. As you might expect, just hours after the news of the conviction, Disney announced Majors would no longer be part of the MCU moving forward, casting the entirety of Marvel Studios’ Multiverse Saga into doubt. We still don’t know what the resolution will be with that.
So, what the hell went wrong? How did we go from everything being okay and optimistic to the industry predicting the end of the superhero genre in the span of 12 months? Honestly, the blame falls on everyone involved.
DC Studios shot itself in the foot, dooming four films on its calendar, basically ensuring each would bomb. And these didn’t bomb in a vacuum. When Marvel Studios is trying to salvage its own box office, the studio was fighting the battle alone, as DC effectively threw up its hands and accepted defeat. They say that high tides raise all ships, right? Well, low tide does the opposite. When you have DC releasing four bombs in a row, that paints the picture of a failing genre, which is only then further compounded by Marvel Studios having a lackluster year.
Basically, by throwing away its 2023 offerings, DC Studios dug a hole. A hole deep enough to make the Marvel missteps feel much, much worse. Of course, that isn’t to discount Marvel’s failings. It took a while, but years worth of subpar offerings (basically, since 2019’s “Avengers: Endgame”) finally caught up to Kevin Feige and Co. And with DC giving up, Marvel’s flaws became more pronounced.
And let’s talk about public perception, for a second. When you have superhero films bombing on an epic scale, tons of reports of behind-the-scenes issues, and auteur directors talking about the superhero genre as if it’s a cancer on the whole industry, film fans are going to grow weary of the whole situation. 2023 was just a perfect storm of awful for superhero films.
Now, in 2024, the forecast is grim. Marvel Studios only has one film on offer for next year, “Deadpool 3” arriving in July. That film is expected to be a big hit, if for no other reason than the fact that Ryan Reynolds will no doubt show up on everyone’s doorstep with a ticket in hand to make it a hit. The man is that committed to the character. Plus, it’s going to have cameos galore and should (unless it’s absolutely dreadful) be plenty to (temporarily) make fans excited. On the TV side of things, we have “Echo,” which is going to likely be a big nothingburger for the studio, as Marvel is dumping all of the episodes at once this month. But hey, “Agatha: Coven of Chaos” is coming and is the sequel series to “WandaVision,” so that could be good.
DC Studios, on the other hand, is in a very different situation. Sure, we’re expecting “Joker 2” to be fairly popular, but the only Gunn/Safran project we’re getting is the animated “Creature Commandos,” which doesn’t seem like it’s going to move the needle all that much. Everyone basically considers “Superman: Legacy” to be the true barometer of how accepting people are of this new DCU, so “Creature Commandos” feels like a one-off, patented “James Gunn loves mifits and weirdos” team-up project. (Kinda like, “Guardians of the Galaxy,” “The Suicide Squad,” “Peacemaker,” and even “Super.” Gunn clearly knows his wheelhouse.)
The real question remains whether or not the hole DC dug itself in 2023 will have a lasting effect. We have spent a full year watching DC films bomb, and in spectacularly horrific ways. That sort of record lingers in the mind of consumers. The “stink” on the DC brand is real. When “Superman: Legacy” arrives in 2025, will people even bother to give it a chance if they’ve been trained to ignore DC films? It really seems as if Gunn and Safran, as well as the folks at WBD, are convinced everything will be fine. But it’s difficult to imagine a way fan interest will rebound before 2025, especially after a completely quiet year in 2024.
Now, it’s easy to think about all that happened in 2023 and believe the end is nigh for superhero films. And honestly, those halcyon years of 2008 to 2019 are never coming back. But as much as people might be wishing Marvel and DC just fade away into obscurity, that’s just not going to happen. These characters are more popular than every before. They’re American mythology, at this point. And an entire generation of moviegoers has been raised on superhero films being a consistent genre.
That said, things need to (and surely will) change. Marvel Studios is on the ropes, but Feige is a worldclass producer and will likely figure out how to get back to some sort of financial equilibrium. Does that include a reduced slate, featuring smaller budgets, and more care being put into the crafting of the projects? That feels like a safe assumption. And over at DC Studios, the real question for 2024 is whether or not a full year (again, “Creature Commandos” is really only for diehards) away from the general public is a good idea or will further lead the brand into this notion of irrelevancy. We shall see.
One thing is for sure—everyone will be watching what happens next.