Robert Kirkman Offers INVINCIBLE Movie Update and Shares Thoughts on Superhero Fatigue: "There's No Sense of Newness"
Robert Kirkman is currently in the process of getting Invincible Season 2 ready for its release on Prime Video, but he’s also been developing a live-action film adaptation of Invincible over the past several years. Well, during a recent interview with Variety, he offered an update on that movie, and they are still in the script development process. He said:
“Still in the script development stage. I think once we get the script to where it needs to be, I think we’ll be in a good place, and can move fairly quickly after that. But all of the factors that I just discussed are things that we’re thinking about: How does this feel new? How does this feel different? How is this going to feel like something that’s special? Those are very tall orders. We also need to find a way to play off the animated series, but also differentiate ourselves and give the movie a reason for existing. There’s a lot of work that needs to be done. But we’re hopeful.”
The thing that he discussed before the film was brought up was superhero fatigue. Anyone who’s involved with comic book film adaptations is being asked about superhero fatigue these days because we are seeing it affect the box office. So what’s Kirkman’s take on it? He explains:
“From my perspective — which I admit, probably wrong! — is that I don’t get that sense of newness anymore from these movies. For the first 10 years, it was like, Oh my gosh, we’re getting everything we loved about action movies, but instead of watching Bruce Willis climb through ventilation duct, we’re watching a guy punch a planet. It was taking the magic of superhero comics that had existed for decades, and authentically translating it into film in a way that had never really been achieved before. Now that we’re, you know, 100 movies deep, it’s hard to tell an audience, ‘You’re going to get a new experience out of this.’”
He makes some good points there. While these studios are trying to make their superhero films bigger an bigger, the quality of storytelling and filmmaking is being lost. It shouldn’t be about making bigger films than the last, it should be about telling an engaging story with great characters. Not every superhero movie has to be about saving an entire city, or the world, or the universe. It’s okay to just tell smaller great character-driven stories. When asked about how superhero may affect his Invincible series, he said:
“Hopefully, it’s arriving at the exact right time. Invincible came around in comics when superhero-literate people knew exactly how superhero stories go. Invincible’s main goal was to say, ‘You think you know what superheroes do?’ And the comic became very popular because of that. And so Invincible [the show] is coming at a time when the general audience is extremely superhero literate. So hopefully [we can re-create] the same thing that happened in comics, where people who had been reading Marvel and DC comics for years were like, ‘Wait, ‘Invincible’ makes me feel like when I first started reading comics.’”
As far as the movie goes, it’s being written and directed by Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg. I can’t help but think they will deliver a strong movie. At least, I hope they do!
Invincible is described as a suspenseful, action-filled, emotion-packed story that builds upon poignant and heartwarming moments of love, friendship, and humanity. The story revolves around 17-year-old Mark Grayson, who’s just like every other guy his age — except his father is the most powerful superhero on the planet, Omni-Man. But as Mark develops powers of his own, he discovers his father’s legacy may not be as heroic as it seems.
What are your thoughts on Kirkman’s comments here?