Superhero films are movies centered around one or more superheroes. These characters typically possess superhuman abilities. Hero ensembles often feature many distinct character archetypes and personalities. Traditionally, the first film in a series about a superhero character focuses on the hero's origin story and introduces the hero's nemesis. Superhero films typically contain genre elements of action, adventure, fantasy, or science fiction, and often address themes of power, justice, morality, and immortality.[1] [2]
Most superhero films are adaptations of existing works, though some, such RoboCop and The Incredibles, were developed as original projects. Comic books, typically produced by Marvel, DC, and Dark Horse Comics, have frequently provided source material for these types of films, however, many have been based on pre-existing live-action, animation, or radio series.
Superhero stories initially gained popularity through comic books and were later adapted into film serials. Early examples include Mandrake the Magician (1939), The Shadow (1940), Adventures of Captain Marvel (1941), Batman (1943), The Phantom (1943), Captain America (1944), and Superman (1948).[3] [4]
Between 1941 and 1942, Fleischer Studios produced a series of 8 animated cartoons, and 1 additional short based on the Superman comic book.[5] Famous Studios, the successor of Fleischer Studios, created eight more cartoons between 1942 and 1943.
In the following decades, the decline of Saturday matinee showings of serials, along with turmoil in the comic book industry, slowed superhero motion picture production except for Superman and the Mole Men (1951), starring George Reeves, and Batman (1966), a big-screen extension of the Batman television series starring Adam West. Superman and the Mole Men served as a pilot for the TV series Adventures of Superman. Compilations of the series were later released theatrically.[6] [7] [8]
See main article: Tokusatsu. In 1957, Shintoho produced the first film serial featuring the tokusatsu superhero character Super Giant, signaling a shift in Japanese popular culture toward masked superheroes in tokusatsu. Along with Astro Boy, the Super Giant film series heavily influenced later Japanese tokusatsu superhero films.[9] Moonlight Mask had also become popular around that time, with six films retelling the story of the TV series.[10] Another early Japanese superhero film was Ōgon Bat (1966), starring Sonny Chiba, based on the 1931 kamishibai superhero Ōgon Bat.[11]
See main article: Kaiju. Although kaiju movies or movies containing kaiju monsters do not typically fall under the superhero category, the kaiju monster Godzilla, originally a villain, transitioned into a superhero role in subsequent films.[12] He has been described as "the original radioactive superhero" due to his nuclear origin story predating Spider-Man's 1962 debut, although Godzilla did not become a hero until Ghidorah, the Three-Headed Monster (1964).[13] By the 1970s, Godzilla came to be viewed as a superhero, with the magazine King of the Monsters in 1977 describing Godzilla as the "Superhero of the '70s". Donald F. Glut wrote Godzilla was "the most universally popular superhero of 1977."[14]
1966 saw the debut of the Ultra Series with the kaiju TV show Ultra Q. With the release of the original Ultraman, the franchise started focusing on superheroes with the series averaging an audience rating of 36.8% through its first 39 episodes.[15] In 1967, Ultraman started expanding to films. Early films, such as , were compilations or theatrical releases of TV show episodes. The first original Ultraman film was The 6 Ultra Brothers vs. the Monster Army, a co-production with Thailand.[16]
The rise in popularity of television superheroes in Japan led to the Kamen Rider and Super Sentai franchises by manga artist Shotaro Ishinomori in 1971 and 1975, respectively. Similar to Ultraman, many early Kamen Rider and Super Sentai episodes were released as films. Original Kamen Rider films released before 1978 include Kamen Rider vs. Shocker, Kamen Rider vs. Ambassador Hell, Kamen Rider V3 vs. Destron Mutants, and Five Riders vs. King Dark.[17]
Original superhero characters emerged in other, more comedy-oriented films, such as the French political satire film Mr. Freedom (1969), the Polish parody Hydrozagadka (1970), and the American B movies Rat Fink a Boo Boo (1966) and The Wild World of Batwoman (1966).[18] [19]
Following the success of Star Wars, Richard Donner's Superman (1978), the first big-budget DC feature film, was a critical and commercial success.[20] The same year Toei Company's Spider-Man reimagining and the first Super Sentai crossover film, JAKQ Dengekitai vs. Gorenger, were released. Other entries emerged throughout the 1980s including Eight Riders vs. Galaxy King (1980), Kamen Rider Super-1: The Movie (1981), Richard Lester's Superman II (1981), (1981), and Paul Verhoeven's RoboCop (1987). These were followed by Kamen Rider Black: Hurry to Onigashima and , both released in 1988. The success of Tim Burton's Batman (1989) and its direct follow-up, Batman Returns (1992), spawned the DC Animated Universe.[21]
Moving into the 90's, one of the first films was Marvel Comics' Captain America (1991) which did not have a theatrical release. Roger Corman's The Fantastic Four (1994) was produced solely for the legal maintenance of the film rights to the property.[22] It was not released theatrically or on home video.[23]
Alex Proyas' The Crow (1994) became the first independent comic superhero franchise film. The film introduced a new level of violence to a younger audience, bridging the gap between the superhero film and the modern action film.[24] The success of The Crow may have influenced the release of a film version of Spawn (1997), Image Comics's leading character. After Marvel bought Malibu Comics (the company which owned The Men in Black comic series), Marvel and Columbia Pictures released Men in Black in 1997.[25] This film was the first Marvel property to win an Academy Award and, at the time, was the highest-grossing comic book adaptation.[26] While commercially successful, Joel Schumacher's Batman & Robin (1997) was critically panned for its campiness[27] and deviation from the darker style of the series' first two films directed by Tim Burton.[28] Some have cited it as a factor in the temporary decline of the superhero film sub-genre.[29] [30]
In Japan in the 1990s, original Ultraman films became more common. In 1996, Tsuburaya released Ultraman Zearth, which parodied the original TV series and later instalments.[31] The following year, the sequel titled Ultraman Zearth 2: Superhuman Big Battle - Light and Shadow premiered.
In 1998, Marvel released Blade, a darker superhero film blended with traditional action elements. The title character featured the powers of a vampire and an arsenal of weaponry. The success of Blade is considered the beginning of Marvel's film success and a catalyst for further comic book film adaptations.[32] [33] The popularity of the Ultraman Tiga TV series led to several films based on it and later installments, including (1998), (1999) and (2000). Adam Sternbergh of Vulture has stated The Matrix (1999) was influenced by comic books, cyberpunk fiction, Japanese anime, and Hong Kong action films, and reinvented the superhero film, setting the template for modern superhero blockbusters and inspiring the superhero renaissance in the early 21st century.[34]
John Kenneth Muir, in The Encyclopedia of Superheroes on Film and Television, describes The Matrix as a re-imagination of movie visuals, paving the way for the visuals of later superhero films. He credits it with helping to "make comic-book superheroes hip". He notes the bullet-time effect successfully demonstrates the concept of "faster than a speeding bullet" onscreen.[35] Inspector Gadget and Mystery Men would then follow to close out the decade for the sub-genre.
On the Japanese front, following the success of the Kamen Rider Kuuga television series, a new era of the Kamen Rider franchise began. This led to the production of annual Kamen Rider movies, starting with in 2001.
The release of Iron Man in 2008 began the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU). A few months later, The Dark Knight was released to widespread critical acclaim and became the first superhero movie to make over $1 billion at the worldwide box office.[36] 2009 saw the release of Watchmen and . The 2010s saw continued success for superhero films both culturally and economically,[37] taking the sub-genres success and ubiquity to new heights.[38] Matthew Vaughn's adaptation of Kick-Ass was released in 2010, followed by Iron Man 2 a month later. 2011 releases included The Green Hornet,[39] Green Lantern, and . After referencing the "Avengers Initiative" in the Iron Man films and The Incredible Hulk, Marvel released Thor in May 2011,[40] followed by in July 2011.
While (2012) had little audience interest,[41] superhero films dominated the 2012 summer film market, with three films occupying the top three positions of the box office chart.[42] These were Marvel's The Avengers (May 2012), which broke box office records, becoming the highest-grossing superhero film at the time,[43] The Dark Knight Rises (July 2012), and The Amazing Spider-Man (July 2012).
A Superman Returns sequel was planned for 2009 but was delayed and later scrapped in favor of reboot, Man of Steel (2013).[44]
At the 2012 San Diego Comic-Con, Marvel confirmed an Ant-Man film was in development, as well as a film based on the 2008 comic book series Guardians of the Galaxy, which was released in August 2014. Iron Man 3 was released in May 2013, in November 2013, and in April 2014. The Amazing Spider-Man 2, the sequel to the 2012 reboot, was released in May 2014. In 2013, a sequel to the 2009 film X-Men Origins: Wolverine, titled The Wolverine was released. In 2014, was released; the film became the highest-grossing film in the X-Men series at the time.
In 2014, Italian filmmaker Gabriele Salvatores directed a superhero-fantasy film titled Il Ragazzo Invisible (The Invisible Boy) which won the Young Audience Award at the 2015 European Film Awards.[45]
An Avengers sequel, titled , was released in May 2015. Following the success of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, rival DC Comics also planned to make and produce their own shared film universe called the DC Extended Universe (DCEU), which began with the release of Man of Steel in 2013. A sequel titled was scheduled for release in May 2016. However, it was later moved up to March 2016. Nickelodeon's 2015 film, , features the main characters transforming into superheroes. 20th Century Fox rebooted the Fantastic Four series and released Fantastic Four in August 2015.[46]
On March 9, 2015, publishing house Valiant Comics made a nine-figure deal with Chinese company DMG Entertainment to produce their series of superhero movies set in their cinematic universe.[47] The series was co-produced by Sony Pictures and started with a movie adaptation of Bloodshot for a 2020 release, which will be followed by Harbinger, both movies receiving a sequel and ending in a crossover movie based on the Harbinger Wars arc from the comic books.[48]
In 2015, Italian filmmaker Gabrielle Mainetti directed superhero film They Call Me Jeeg starring Claudio Santamaria.[49] It's original title is Lo Chiamavano Jeeg Robot, from the Italian name of the anime and manga series Steel Jeeg. It was released in Italy on February 25, 2016.[50]
The eighth installment in the X-Men series, Deadpool, was released in February 2016. It later went on to become the highest-grossing R-rated film of all time (when adjusted for inflation) and the highest-grossing film of the series. The ninth installment, , was released in May. Warner Bros. released , the first film to feature both Batman and Superman, in March 2016. Suicide Squad, released in August, featured a team of antihero/supervillains. Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice and Suicide Squad are in the DCEU.
The first Finnish superhero film, Rendel: Dark Vengeance, was released in September 2017 and it won the Best Action Movie award at the Erratum Film Festival in Mexico.[52] Power Rangers, a movie reboot of the TV series, was released in March, with Lionsgate planning a seven-film franchise. The film Logan, which was Hugh Jackman and Patrick Stewart's last appearances as their characters in the X-Men film series before Disney acquired 20th Century Fox, was the first ever canon X-Men movie to be rated R and the first superhero movie to receive an Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay. In the summer movie season, Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2, Wonder Woman, and confirmed the superhero film dominance of the mainstream movie market.[53] That dominance continued into the fall with the success of . Due to this dominance, Warner Bros. attempted it's own endeavor to have a shared universe media franchise, the DCEU, with Justice League, though this was a critical and financial disappointment.[54] [55]
In February 2018, Marvel Studios released Black Panther, featuring the solo film adaptation of the first mainstream Black superhero, the Black Panther, which was a commercial and critical success in the MCU franchise. It became the first superhero film to be nominated for the Academy Award for Best Picture.[56]
This MCU project was soon followed up by , released in April 2018, which earned both critical acclaim[57] and worldwide financial success, earning an excess of $2 billion.[58] Soon after, 20th Century Fox released Deadpool 2 in May 2018.[59] In addition, Incredibles 2 had it's wide release in June 2018, and was met with considerable critical acclaim[60] and earned $182.68 million during it's premiere weekend.[61] The next superhero film in the MCU, Ant-Man and the Wasp was released on July 6th, with competing studios declining to release major films on American Independence Day in the face of the reliably known film franchise.
The antihero film Venom, based on the comic book character, was released in October 2018 to poor reviews but box-office success. In December 2018, Warner Bros. released Aquaman, a film about the DC Comics superhero of the same name, which became the DCEU's most successful film at the box office, grossing $1.148 billion worldwide.
Marvel's Captain Marvel was released in March, 2019 and faced online hostility, stemming in part from star Brie Larson's comments about the lack of diversity in the film and film criticism industries.[62] Despite the controversy, it earned over $1 billion worldwide[63] and received largely positive reviews.[64] Later in April, the DCEU's Shazam!, featuring the lead character who was previously known as Captain Marvel, had decent box office success for a relatively low budget,[65] which has been seen as further evidence of the revitalization of the Warner Bros. media franchise. That same month, ended the Infinity Saga to widespread acclaim, broke numerous box office records, and became the fastest film to exceed $1 billion worldwide, doing so in just five days. Avengers: Endgame became the highest-grossing film of all time, surpassing James Cameron's Avatar for over two years, before the latter retook its place.
By contrast, the X-Men film Dark Phoenix performed poorly critically and financially upon release in June.[66] This would be the last film in 20th Century Fox's X-Men series. Afterward, X-Men and the Fantastic Four both entered the MCU with Disney's acquisition of 20th Century Fox (however, neither franchise would receive a standalone film in the MCU until 2024's Deadpool & Wolverine; the first Fantastic Four standalone film, , is planned for release in 2025).[67] In July 2019, Phase 3 of the MCU was concluded with the Marvel and Sony co-produced film , which was released to critical and commercial success.
In August 2019, Joko Anwar's Gundala was released in Indonesia. It was screened at the Toronto International Film Festival in September and was the first entry in the Bumilangit Cinematic Universe (BCU) film series based on characters of comic books published by Bumilangit.[68] The second and third films in the series, Sri Asih and Patriot Taruna: Virgo and the Sparklings, were announced for a 2020 release but were pushed back to 2021 as production was significantly delayed by the COVID-19 pandemic.[69] The production company's strategy of announcing films in volumes with a team-up film as the climax has led to the media dubbing it the "Indonesian equivalent to the MCU and DCEU".[70]
The Suicide Squad was released in August but was a box office disappointment despite receiving positive reviews. The poor performance was attributed to the disruption of cinema during the COVID-19 pandemic (particularly the Delta variant) and confusion from the general audience on whether the film was a sequel, reboot, or remake.[71] [72] Meanwhile, Marvel's Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings broke Labor Day records,[73] while similar successes were seen in the Sony's Spider-Man Universe (SSU) film .[74] Despite middling reviews and the first rotten rating[75] for a MCU film on Rotten Tomatoes, Eternals opened to moderate success at the box office.[76]
was released in December 2021, and became the highest-grossing film of 2021,[77] the sixth highest-grossing film of all time,[78] the third-highest-grossing film in the United States and Canada,[79] the highest-grossing Spider-Man film, and the highest-grossing film produced by Sony.[80] It also became the first film to gross over $1 billion since largely due to the COVID-19 pandemic,[81] as well as the highest-grossing film not to be released in China (one of the world's biggest box office markets).[82]
In 2022, Warner Bros. released The Batman, a reboot of the Batman film series, and unconnected to the DC Extended Universe. It was a critical and commercial hit, with particular praise for the film being a grounded detective story,[83] due to Matt Reeves' direction and Robert Pattinson's performance as the titular hero.[84] It went on to become the second biggest pandemic debut, after .[85] Morbius, starring Jared Leto and based on the Spider-Man villain of the same name debuted that April as another chapter in Sony's Spider-Man Universe. The film was critically panned and a box-office bomb.[86] Variety reported whilst the initial opening was hopeful for Morbius, "the character is not nearly as recognizable to general audiences as Spider-Man, Batman or Venom, nor is the film clearly connected to a larger story like Eternals or Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings. Thus, Morbius wasn't expected to match the receipts for recent comic book tent-poles based on those characters."[87] Scott Mendelson further stated Sony seemed to rely on the film's connection to the Spider-Man universe, the success of Venom and a misguided assumption that audiences were interested in villain movies.[88]
In May, 2022, Sam Raimi returned to the superhero genre with Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness. The film was met with mixed-to-positive reviews and earned $187million on it's opening weekend, becoming the eleventh-best domestic debut of all time, the best summer debut for a Disney release during the pandemic, and Raimi's best opening.[89] In it's second weekend, the film earned $61 million, becoming one of the MCU's most significant second-weekend box office drops. The 67% decline was attributed by Deadline Hollywood to the "bad word of mouth" on the film and it's CinemaScore grade. At the same time, Intelligence saw more than 17% downsize of available seats for the film, resulting in fewer showtimes, which also led to the decline.[90] In it's third weekend, the film earned $31.6million, contributing to the 800-million-dollar mark at the box office to become Hollywood's second-highest-grossing film released during the pandemic behind No Way Home.[91] The film earned $16.4million in it's fourth weekend, contributing to the total box office that helped it to become the highest-grossing film of 2022 previously held by The Batman.[92] As of June 2022, the film stands as the 11th highest-grossing of the MCU worldwide.[93]
In 2023, a majority of the superhero films released, such as , Shazam! Fury of the Gods, The Flash, Blue Beetle, The Marvels, and Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom, were critical or commercial failures. Only two superhero films released that year, Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 and , managed to do well at the box office, grossing $845 million and $690 million, respectively, turning a profit alongside positive reviews from audiences and critics.[94]
In February, 2024, Sony released it's fourth film in the Spider-Man Universe, Madame Web. The film was panned by critics and underperformed at the box office. [95] In July, the MCU's first film of the year, Deadpool & Wolverine, also happened to be it's first R-rated film. It was Hugh Jackman's first X-Men film since 2017's Logan and Ryan Reynolds' Deadpool's MCU debut. So far, the film has been highly acclaimed and has grossed over $1.28 billion worldwide, making it the 23rd-highest-grossing film of all time, the highest-grossing R-rated film of all time, and the second-highest-grossing film of 2024 to date. [96] [97] Warner Bros.' Joker: Folie a Deux (not connected to the DCEU), sequel to the 2019 film, Joker, was released in October 2024. Joaquin Phoenix reprised his role as The Joker and Lady Gaga made her superhero film debut as Harley Quinn. Joker: Folie a Deux was followed by Sony Spider-Man Universe films in November 2024, and Kraven the Hunter in December 2024.[98]
Throughout the 2010s, superhero films played a major role in the film industry. According to The Hollywood Reporter, "With rare exception, even A+ stars aren't making what they used to" making it "one of the last ways for an actor to earn a major payday". The article says, "If you want to get paid, you have to put on a cape." It also states characters like Spider-Man and Batman are more important than the actors themselves.[99]
Since 2022, superhero films (mainly from the MCU) have seen more inconsistent performances. 2023's The Marvels had the worst box-office showing for an MCU film since 2008's The Incredible Hulk amid a broader trend of box office disappointments for superhero films.[100] Joe Russo disputed disappointing box office results suggested cultural fatigue with superhero films; instead, he suggested there may be a "generational divide" in media consumption driving declining box office performance.[101]
Outside of live-action, animated superhero films have also achieved critical and financial success.[102] While animated superhero films are typically direct-to-video, there have been a number released theatrically. , which was released theatrically, was a critical success (though a box-office failure).[103] In 1968, VIP my Brother Superman was released, directed by Italian animator Bruno Bozzetto; it parodied the superhero genre[104] and was a financial success.[105] In 2004, Pixar released The Incredibles, about a retired superhero couple and their children, which did extremely well both critically and financially and went on to win the Academy Award for Best Animated Feature. In 2010 DreamWorks Animation released Megamind to middling success. In 2014, Walt Disney Animation Studios released an adaptation of the Marvel Comics superhero team Big Hero 6. The same year, Warner Bros. released The Lego Movie, which had Batman and other DC Comics superheroes in major and supporting roles. A significant box-office success, it was followed in 2017 by The Lego Batman Movie, as well as DreamWorks Animation's .
In 2018, three theatrical animated superhero films were released to critical and commercial success: Pixar's Incredibles 2, Warner Bros.' Teen Titans Go! To the Movies, and Sony Pictures Animation's . Into the Spider-Verse swept that year's major film awards for animated features, including the Academy Award.[106] A sequel to Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse came out in 2023, titled to further acclaim. Another Spider-Verse sequel, , is currently in production with no set to release.
As the number of superhero films being produced increased during the latter end of the 2010s, the genre's contribution to cinema was questioned. In a 2019 interview with Empire magazine, American filmmaker Martin Scorsese commented, "The closest I can think of them, as well made as they are, with actors doing the best they can under the circumstances, is theme parks. It isn't the cinema of human beings trying to convey emotional, psychological experiences to another human being." He stated the Marvel films were not "cinema".[107] He later added he was worried about studios' dependence on the format because in "many places around this country and the world, franchise films are now your primary choice if you want to see something on the big screen. It's a perilous time in film exhibition, and there are fewer independent theaters than ever."[108] Although, in a New York Times essay, he credited those who work on superhero films, writing:
"Many franchise films are made by people of considerable talent and artistry. You can see it on the screen. The fact that the films themselves don't interest me is a matter of personal taste and temperament. I know that if I were younger, if I'd come of age at a later time, I might have been excited by these pictures and maybe even wanted to make one myself," he wrote, adding, "but I grew up when I did and I developed a sense of movies — of what they were and what they could be — that was as far from the Marvel universe as we on Earth are from Alpha Centauri."Criticism of Marvel Studios' films continued with Jennifer Aniston stating Marvel movies are "diminishing". They believed there should be a "resurgence" of "the era of Meg Ryan." "Let's get the Terms of Endearment back out there. You know, Heaven Can Wait, Young Frankenstein, Blazing Saddles, Goodbye Girl."[109] Denis Villeneuve dismissed "too many Marvel films" as being "a cut and paste of others"[110] and Roland Emmerich stated large blockbuster films such as the MCU and Star Wars films were "ruining our industry a little" since "nobody does anything original anymore".[111] However, in March 2022, Nicolas Cage stated "Marvel has done a really excellent job of entertaining the whole family. They put a lot of thought into it. I mean, it's definitely had a big progression from when I was doing the first two Ghost Rider movies. Kevin Feige, or whoever is behind that machine, has found a masterful way of weaving the stories together and interconnecting all the characters. What could be wrong with wholesome entertainment that is appealing to the parents and the children and gives people something to look forward to?" Cage asked. "I just, I don't see what the issue is."[112]
Some media commentators have attributed the increasingly popular superhero franchises in the new millennium to the social and political climate in Western society since the September 11 attacks,[113] although others have argued advances in special effects technology have played a more significant role.[114] Others have theorized it's box office dominance is in part due to its flexibility, a shared trait from it's original publishing origins. Namely, the editorial realities of comic book publishing, which can have series running for decades, encouraged writers to resort to a variety of story situations so diverse, from the fantastic to the relatively realistic, for so long and so often it has become an expected element of the genre to have such adaptability.[115] For example, with the common element being they all feature heroes with extraordinary abilities and typically in a distinctive costume, many successful superhero films have used a plethora of genres such as:
There is also additional questioning as to how broad or vague the superhero genre is – and whether it could be legitimately classified as a film genre at all – when the basic definition is that of a benevolent hero or antihero with superhuman abilities, in which case many other films not traditionally associated as superhero plots would fall under the description.[117]
Writer Alan Moore, a veteran of the comics industry known for his work on Watchmen, V for Vendetta, Batman: The Killing Joke, and From Hell, has expressed criticism of modern superhero movies in general, which he once called a "blight" to cinema and "also to culture to a degree." He said in an October 2022 interview with The Guardian the popularization of the genre on the part of adults is an "infantilization" that can act as "a precursor to fascism." Lamenting at how deeply such films became part of the culture, Moore commented:[118] [119]
"I will always love and adore the comics medium, but the comics industry and all of the stuff attached to it just became unbearable...Hundreds of thousands of adults [are] lining up to see characters and situations that had been created to entertain the 12-year-old boys – and it was always boys – of 50 years ago. I didn't think that superheroes were adult fare. I think that this was a misunderstanding born of what happened in the 1980s – to which I must put my hand up to a considerable share of the blame, though it was not intentional – when things like Watchmen were first appearing. There were an awful lot of headlines saying, 'Comics Have Grown Up'. I tend to think that, no, comics hadn't grown up. There were a few titles that were more adult than people were used to. But the majority of comics titles were pretty much the same as they'd ever been. It wasn't comics growing up. I think it was more comics meeting the emotional age of the audience coming the other way."In a September 2023 interview with The Telegraph, Moore reiterated this view, saying what had appealed to him most about output from comics publishers was "no more," saying, "Now they're called 'graphic novels', which sounds sophisticated, and you can charge a lot more for them. These innocent and inventive and imaginative superhero characters from the '40s, '50s and '60s are being recycled to a modern audience as if they were adult fare." During that same interview, journalist Jake Kerridge asked Moore if it was true he divided the money he had received from onscreen adaptations of his work among the writers and other staff persons of those productions. Moore replied, "I no longer wish it to even be shared with them. I don't feel, with the recent films, that they have stood by what I assumed were their original principles. So, I asked for DC Comics to send all of the money from any future TV series or films to Black Lives Matter."[120]
By the 2020s, the term had emerged to describe audiences' increasing exhaustion of overly homogeneous superhero films, as evidenced by diminishing box-office returns and poor critical reception. In particular, the Marvel Cinematic Universe has been criticized for over-saturating the market with it's expansion to streaming beginning with Phase Four, prompting Marvel Studios to rethink it's annual output.[121] [122] [123]
See main article: List of highest-grossing superhero films. According to box office income figures from The Numbers, as of December 2024, the ten highest-grossing superhero films are:
The Marvel Cinematic Universe has earned over $31.1 billion.[126] [127] [128] The highest grossing film to date from the Marvel Cinematic Universe is (2019), grossing $2.799 billion worldwide. It briefly held the record for the highest-grossing film of all time[129] before being surpassed by a record-breaking re-release of Avatar (2009) in 2021.[130]