We have not seen a year without superhero movies since 2001. Since then, we have seen nearly every superhero have a franchise of their own, and several have had multiple franchises. And as of 2013, there is no end in sight. The end (at least for the time being) must be on the horizon. Film is suffering, audiences are suffering, and studios are setting themselves up for suffering- they might just not know it yet.
The films themselves are weakening substantially. After The Avengers pioneered a sort of superhero extravaganza, which was incredibly entertaining, yet felt cheap, almost worthy of a two-hour special on ABC with all of the "special guest stars" and cheap narrative tricks, there is no new ground for superhero movies to develop. There are only so many ways to explore the consequences of a "great responsibility," and every angle has been explored multiple times in just the past five years. Good or evil, action or inaction, showmanship or humility, and countless more have been completed milked dry.
Additionally, the films essentially are in two camps- the Marvel films, generally created for "cheap" action but packed with thrills and laughs (the Iron Man model), and the DC films, meant to serve "adults as well as children," lacking the humor of comic books and attempted to dwell on deeper themes (the Dark Knight model). Man of Steel, released nationwide today, appears to conform to the latter model, but since I have not seen it yet, I can't comment on it. However, both models have serious downfalls.
Marvel films are certainly more child-geared, which in itself isn't a bad thing, especially for the studios. They make boats of money, which more adult films cannot do. As a result, more adult-oriented films fail to receive studio backing, with the exception of those with Scorsese-like names attached. The Marvel films are the lesser problem. The Dark Knight model films deceive audiences, tricking adults into thinking that they are seeing a deep, thought-provoking film, when in reality they are seeing an action movie with "deep" themes tacked on top so clumsily, you can see the teeth marks made when the tape was ripped off the roll.
Most adult audiences want both entertainment and stimulation, and the Dark Knight model films claim to offer both. But ultimately, the line between Iron Man model and Dark Knight model films is so vague, the same film is produced again and again. Last year's disastrous Amazing Spider-Man is the prime example. Not only has every theme explored in the film a carbon copy of Sam Rami's original work, it attempts to mesh the popcorn, neon-lit action of Iron Man with the foggy morals of Dark Knight, resulting in a total mess of a production. The film received a good share of praise, creating fear for the future of superhero movies. If meshing the two tones works, shouldn't that be the new norm- candy-coating action and brooding in one product?
We are moving towards an atonal superhero movie, and the eventual crash of the genre. Perhaps the film most likely to crash and burn is Justice League, with its needed massive budget, its handling of two "deeper" franchises- Man of Steel and the Dark Knight- and its promise of a mess of characters. If the genre does not fail, the films will certainly become less unique, and degrade to a cookie cutter formula. Already, there is very little new ground to explore in the genre. Over time, new areas will be created by the changing world, and superheros will be needed again, but the genre will soon be in a sad state.
But will anyone notice the films are stale when they truly become the same thing over and over again, or will people flock to see a new version popular hero, even though the story and delivery is nearly identical to the last one? If the studios don't soon learn with the box office, they may never. We could be facing a grim few years cinematically, with studios willing to support originality less and less, relying on the safe, boring profits of the heros.
Edit: Just to clarify, I am speaking on adaptations of traditional superhero comic books. A History of Violence, Road to Perdition, and Ghost World are based on comics, but are able to really become their own, while I don't think Iron Man or Batman ever does. I'm sure there's a good amount of people who have no idea History of Violence is based on a comic, while even more obscure superhero comics can never break from their source material and become their own product.
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