DC Studios co-CEO and Marvel's Guardians of the Guardian Vol. 3 director James Gunn has weighed in on the superhero fatigue debate, saying it's definitely a thing but also not really a thing.
Speaking to Rolling Stone, Gunn discussed how the concept of superhero fatigue — essentially viewers getting bored of the several superhero movies and TV shows released each year — has affected his approach to reshaping the DC cinematic universe.
"I think there is such a thing as superhero fatigue," Gunn said. "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."
The key is therefore pushing these characters and personal stories to the forefront, Gunn said, instead of just thinking about them as tools to create good action scenes.
"If it becomes just a bunch of nonsense onscreen, it gets really boring," he continued. "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.”
Marvel Studios boss Kevin Feige also recently shared his opinion on the concept of superhero fatigue, saying in January that he doesn't think people will ever get bored of the likes of Marvel and DC movies. "From probably my second year at Marvel [more than 20 years ago], people were asking, ‘Well, how long is this going to last? Is this fad of comic book movies going to end?'"
The conversation flared recently following lacklustre performances at the box office from both comic book titans, with Marvel's Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantimania and DC's Shazam: Fury of the Gods yielding underwhelming results.
Image Credit: Daniel Knighton / Contributor at Getty Images
Ryan Dinsdale is an IGN freelancer and acting UK news editor. He'll talk about The Witcher all day.
source https://www.ign.com/articles/james-gunn-says-superhero-fatigue-isnt-about-superheroes-but-watching-things-bash-each-other-with-no-story