James Gunn Weighs In on the Whispers of "Superhero Fatigue" in Movie Fans

Ever since the 2008 film Iron Man hit theaters, the Marvel train has moved forward full steam ahead, making movies that integrated into a bigger picture, and fans have been thrilled to consume each chapter. DC didn’t have such an easy time making hit films, but they’ve also pulled out several fun and exciting movies, and the future of superhero movies at DC is bright with filmmaker James Gunn leading the charge at the studio. But are fans still as hungry for superhero films as we’ve been in the past?

In a recent interview with Rolling Stone, James Gunn chatted about the decline in box-office numbers in recent blockbuster superhero films, stating:

“I think there is such a thing as superhero fatigue. I think it doesn’t have anything to do with superheroes. It has to do with the kind of stories that get to be told, and if you lose your eye on the ball, which is character. We love Superman. We love Batman. We love Iron Man. Because they’re these incredible characters that we have in our hearts. And if it becomes just a bunch of nonsense onscreen, it gets really boring. But I get fatigued by most spectacle films, by the grind of not having an emotionally grounded story. It doesn’t have anything to do with whether they’re superhero movies or not. If you don’t have a story at the base of it, just watching things bash each other, no matter how clever those bashing moments are, no matter how clever the designs and the VFX are, it just gets fatiguing, and I think that’s very, very real.”

I think that’s very true. The best films are the ones with stories you’ve never heard told before, with plot twists, with humanity and heart. Without a solid story to tell, no one cares about the virtual effects. Gunn has done a great job across both DC and Marvel in telling great stories all about the human (or alien, or superhuman) condition. I look forward to more like that.