Chris Evans Shares His Thoughts on the Future of Superhero Films
Last week, Steven Spielberg talked about the future of superhero films, and he feels that they are going to go the way of the western and eventually die. He explained that it's a cycle that movies go through, and that one day audiences will tire of it. Captain America star Chris Evans does not seem to agree with Spielberg's vision. He thinks that there will always be an audience for these films as long as the filmmakers keep "reinventing the flavor and the approach and the tone."
During an interview with Collider, Spielberg's comments about the superhero genre were brought up and Evans started off by talking about technological advances that have been made and how they are the driving force behind the genre:
"I certainly think that given the fact that technology has finally advanced, they’re always going to be looking for other films to match their technological accomplishments. Any film that can incorporate these larger-than-life characters and fantastical locations and plots, the technology wants to prove they can do it so whether it’s superhero film or fantasy in general, that’s going to surge for a while."
As far as superhero movies go, he explained,
"In terms of superhero in general, existing properties that we know and love, it’s going to be a matter of the tone they strike. You could look at Jason Bourne as a superhero. You could take any superhero movie and if you ground it enough, if you make it real enough—that’s what I think [Captain America: The Winter Soldier directors Joe and Anthony Russo] do really well. Certain superhero movies feel like 'superhero movies.' Russo movies almost feel like human stories with a little bit of superhero sprinkled in. So you might get exhausted of the larger-than-life powers I suppose, but as long as the filmmakers keep on reinventing the flavor and the approach and the tone, audiences are going to still go."
I think he makes some good point here. It has been the same with comic books after all these years. The writers and artists have been reinventing the flavor, the approach, and the tone of them for all these years, and there's still an audience for them. Regardless, it's going to be very interesting to see what is happening with superhero movie 15 to 20 years from now.
What do you think of Evans' comments? Do you think he has a better understanding of the genre and its audience than Spielberg does?