Can Fantastic Four save Marvel – and DC – from superhero movie malaise?

Comic book legends Mark Millar and David Ayer have suggested the genre may have run out of road – will the 2025 return of the classic comic characters to the big screen change that?

Once upon a time, circa 2012, there were nothing but vibes surrounding the nascent comic book movie genre. Billion-dollar superhero flicks were 10 a penny, Marvel had miraculously fallen upon a formula to cross-pollinate costumed titans in standalone movies and ensemble combo efforts that mirrored the wonders of the print media from which they had literally sprung. DC had just embarked upon its ambitious “extended universe” project with a plan to bring back Superman and have him battle Batman, just as he did in the legendary graphic novel The Dark Knight Returns. What could possibly go wrong?

A decade on and there’s a marked sense of malaise out there. Despite the Marvel movies having clocked up nearly £30bn in worldwide box office returns, as well as more critical hits than an entire Legends of Zelda campaign, and despite the news that James Gunn is taking over as DC head honcho and they have finally got rid of Batfleck, a sense of doom is all around us. Comics legend Mark Millar has spoken about 2019’s Avengers: Endgame being the last great Marvel movie –what about Spider-Man: No Way Home or Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness? – while David Ayer went on record to discuss how having 2016’s Suicide Squad taken away from him by Warner Bros almost broke the up and coming film-maker, while ruining his relationship with Hollywood.

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