Superman and Fantastic Four Couldn’t Save the Superhero Genre

For a long time, Hollywood had been convinced that the superhero genre was unbeatable. Occasionally, Marvel or DC might trip up, but whenever there were problems, a big-budget revamp of a popular franchise would step in and rebuild audience trust. That’s what everyone anticipated for 2025, with James Gunn’s fresh take on Superman and Marvel’s The Fantastic Four: Early Beginnings making grand entrances amidst much industry excitement.

As a movie enthusiast, I was eagerly anticipating these films, believing they would be the ones to stanch the decline in viewership, bring people together, and rekindle the magic at the box office.

Contrarily, they demonstrated that the very giants of comic book lore fail to revive a genre which is seeing its audience dwindle.