„Superhero fatigue“ is actually just the MCU releasing 20 godawful movies in a row and making them required viewing material if you want to stay in the loop.
this post was submitted on 28 Jul 2026
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But that's not what happened. Most films are either new stand-alone films with some connective bits at the end, or they're direct sequel films that assume you've see the previous films within that franchise, but also fill you in.
The two biggest films were actually the most interconnected. Spider-Man No Way Home is full of Spider-Man references not just in the MCU, but to the previous Spider-Man films. Deadpool & Wolverine is full of X-Men and Marvel films pre-MCU references. Both of these films are highly rated and made a shit ton of money.
But are there a number of mid tier films released? Absolutely. But it has nothing to do with required viewing.
The competing hypothesis is that it's just superhero fatigue, no?
Ok maybe I didn't express myself too clearly. I meant required viewing as in "you need to see this movie to get the full picture when Doomsday rolls around". If you skip the bad movies, you're gonna go into Doomsday and not recognize anyone. Yeah the movies thus far have been pretty standalone since there really hasn't been much if any connective tissue thus far. Like for example Shang Chi popped up once and has been AWOL for 5 years now.
I don't think if you skipped films you'll go into Doomsday confused.
Look at the opening of Infinity War. Thor and Hulk are in space. When Bruce returns to Earth everyone is surprised to see him. Bruce is surprised to learn that Tony and Cap are fighting.
In theory you could say that you have to have seen Thor Ragnarok to understand why Thor and Hulk are in space. You have to have seen Age of Ultron to understand why Hulk was missing. You have to have seen Captain America Civil War to understand why Tony and Cap are on bad terms.
But when you watch the film you're not confused.
Let's say you skipped the Doctor Strange films, he gets a whole introduction when they explain the Infinity Stones, plus a fight sequence to see more. If you skipped Age of Ultron you don't know who Wanda and Vision are, but they get a whole character moment intro and then again a fight scene to show off who they are.
Obviously if Doomsday is a bad film, then yeah it will be confusing, that's what will make it a bad film. But if it's a good film you can just have a passing knowledge of the MCU, the last film you could have seen could be Endgame, and it'll still work.
Man I want to have your optimism. But uh I think we've gotten too far away from the original point of superhero fatigue. Obviously if the last movie you've seen was Endgame and then you go into Doomsday you're not gonna have fatigue. Doesn't change the fact that phases 4 thru 6 only had 4 good movies out of 14. Lets set aside my (poorly worded) point about being required watching. If you're just keeping up with the movies you'll have to sit thru 10 bad ones and shit gets tiring.
And that's the point that I really want to make. The pile of bad movies don't drag down the good movies. No matter how much trash Disney pumps out, people won't get tired of superheroes altogether.
Way harder to sell ensemble casts to a larger demographic where the climax is tons of energy or magic beams filling the screen than one hero shooting some webs (or batarangs)
Doubt. I'm pretty sure the fatigue extends to Spiderman. And if it doesn't, and somehow the new movie is a success, the franchise will soon fall into the same boat as the rest of them as the ghouls running the studios jump onto the only successful IP and beat it like a dead horse.
Superhero movies have been around forever. The fatigue is from reviewers being forced to take some of them seriously. Certain people take a special delight in stomping on comic book movies, because it drives engagement. Case in point, here's what appears to be an objectively good movie coming out in a year with only one other superhero movie this year so far, and the headline includes a potshot about superhero fatigue. I haven't seen Supergirl yet, but from the reviews I gather that is was a little slow and misogyny is alive and well. That's it.
We will get Clayface in September, an R-rated bodyhorror film which isn't really about superheroes, and Avengers Doomsday, which is admittedly a massive Superhero crossover film with dozens of characters from various films.
Four major comic book movies this year from two studios, only three of which feature superheroes, but we're talking about fatigue. Is superhero-fatigue-fatigue a thing?
Well said. There is so much negativity online by bots and adverse parties against anything and everything remotely enjoyable or giving positive vibes right now. Not only superheroes, but anything that gives hope for the future or fun in life—Star Trek for example—that it’s meant to ruin and bring despair, to break our spirits.
No wonder we were made addicted to our handhelds and social media—it’s the absolute perfect distribution device for controlling the masses. This is where the true "fatigue" comes from, and it’s absolutely revolting.
I don’t think it’s sh fatigue either. It’s the shitty, formulaic or soulless stuff people don’t like. They'll still go see stuff if it's one of those but it can’t be two and it has to be fun.
I could still watch Legion over again because it was fucking fascinating and artsy, and took risks by being interesting.
I can watch X Men '97 because it's super well done animation and is well written and isn't predictable like the movies are.
Then you watch something like Captain America: Brave New World and it somehow bores the fuck out of everyone just by seeming like formulaic garbage trying to sell The Marvel Brand.
The problem is that the ducks in suits own Marvel: The Brand and they want to sell The Brand toys, and that's all they fucking care about. They don't give a fuck about telling a fun story, or making art. They want to sell The Brand.
As soon as creators take over and want to make art, it works. Comic books were always just art. When suits take over and want to sell The Brand, it doesn't. It's as predictable as their cape slop.
Edit: fucks in suits, not ducks, but I like that image more
Lol I thought it was a disney/Donald duck reference, like the way people call it the mouse.
LOL I guess it still works. Scrooge McDuck wants his marvel bucks
Disney learning what Marvel learned in the 90s: people fuck with Spider-man. they enjoy the storytelling of a man who doesn't view a cataclysmic galactic event or a shooting in his neighborhood as fundamentally different, but both as fundamental threats to people like his ability to live, thrive, and enjoy the spaces they exist.
"Popular superheroes are popular" isn't a deep revelation. People will still flock to see the next Batman movie, too. Deadpool & Wolverine did gangbusters. So did GOTG3. If Tony Stark hadn't died, an Iron Man 4 right about now would do insane business. And I suspect that if Marvel had successfully rebooted Blade, that movie would do insane business too.
The main thing I'm surprised by is how Marvel has never attempted to make an MCU Daredevil movie, as it seems to me that it'd be an easy sell. He's their most currently popular character that they've never done a movie for (in the MCU at least).
The deep revelation is "relatively unknown superheroes can be popular if done well." Most of us had never heard of Iron Man or GotG before the MCU. Seems they've gotten scared to invest in similarly obscure properties.