The Death of the Superhero Blockbuster!

Paul Sinclair • Jun 23, 2011 • Comments ()

For some, (maybe including your girlfriend) this couldn't come any sooner. It will mean the death of red and blue spandex, and unfortunately for those fetishists among you this also means all that sexy black leather goes into the trash can.

Alex Crumb outlines the rise and dominance of the superhero blockbuster, and argues for its demise:

The Dark Knight Rises, set to release in July of 2012 and close Chris Nolan's Batman trilogy, will be the end of it all. It will, don't fight it. And assuming Joss Whedon (Serenity, and all that is good on earth (except Dollhouse)) can get Robert Downey Jr., Thor, and Scarlett Johansson to read lines in front of a green screen, then The Avengers will be the last gasp for Marvel, no matter how hard they try to flog the Iron Man, Thor, and Captain America for sequels. Audience fatigue is at an all-time high, and the 3D cash-cow lasted only three years, thank God. We'll give Nolan and Whedon their collective / respective artist and fanboy benefits of the doubt next summer, and maybe even give Zack Snyder one last chance to repeat his Dawn of the Dead "yee-haw" attitude and 300 slow-mo bravado with Superman's re-reboot (de-boot?) in Man of Steel come December 2012.

Maybe. But don't mourn the passing of the superhero genre, and it is indeed a genre. The same way David Lynch killed sci-fi in the 80′s with Dune, and the way Kingdom of Heaven killed that brief "epic" fad Braveheart started up in the mid-90′s, it's time to take the superheroes out behind the barn and remind ourselves that Travis gets another dog after plugging Old Yeller with that fateful fist-full of buckshot. We had the good, (Spider-Man), the bad (Iron Man 2), and the worst (Daredevil). It's time to get a new puppy.

[Source: The Faster Times, via EvaEvaStar]