Even James Gunn is admitting that there is a current superhero overkill going on in the movie industry.
The “Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3” director and new boss of DC Studios is saying that after 2019’s “Avengers: Endgame,” there hasn’t really been a path in making quality movies. Gunn told Rolling Stone:
“I really want Marvel to keep making good movies. I think it’s really hard in the wake of the [‘Endgame’] Blip. There’s this worldwide, universe-wide event that happened. And in truth, everybody would be stark raving mad at this point. So it’s hard to write stories in the wake of that. Which is why the ‘Guardians’ movies have been easier, because they’re set outside of that a little bit.”
“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.”
“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 will admit that there were a few good MCU movies from 2008-2019: “Iron Man,” “Captain America: The Winter Soldier,” “Avengers: Endgame”, but ever since 'Endgame' it has indeed been a struggle for Marvel to make a good movie. I don’t think I’ve liked a single one of them.
Gunn has made a career in directing superhero movies such as the ‘Guardians’ flicks and “The Suicide Squad.” He’s also currently set to write and direct the origin story “Superman: Legacy.”
Of course, Gunn is part of the problem, he just doesn’t seem to want to acknowledge it. That’s fine. His films might have more “character” but they still continue the trend of having superhero movies invade the big screen.
The overkill Gunn refers to has to do with the recent subpar performances of “Ant-Man and The Wasp: Quantamania” and, especially, “Shazam! Fury of the Gods.”
Will we be having a realignment in Hollywood when it comes to the dominance of the MCU? Gunn sure hopes not. He has ‘Guardians of the Galaxy 3’ coming up this summer.
Criterion's December lineup has some great additions to the library, but the title that jumped out at me is Werner Herzog's "Grizzly Man," which officially joins the Collection on December 8.