Comicbook movie fatigue anyone?

I'm not talking to those of you who have always loathed them. I'd like to hear from people, like myself, who just grew indifferent over time. Are you out there? Was there a movie or time that you can point to?

The last Marvel movie I saw in the theaters was Avengers: Age of Ultron. It was an OK flick but too much nonsense (beyond my suspension of disbelief) that includes the Hulk / Black Widow romance arc. But really I was done with movie theaters and comic movies from then on. BTW, I haven't seen any of the DC films on any platform.

 

The only thing I have fatigue over is bad movies. If it’s a good comic book movie I’ll still see it.

John K.

 

Yep. Been happening for a looooong time. Will never understand the allure.

Still, there's never been as many choices for movie viewers. However, there have never been as *fewer* choices for moviegoers.

Check this schedule out. A new comic book movie every 5 weeks, on average.

Upcoming Marvel and DC Movies: 2018-2022

 

I guess my problem(s) lies in the fact of lack of real, lasting consequences. They are few and far between (if any). Because like in comics, superheroes don't die, or at least don't stay dead. Also CGI baddies take me out of the game.

 

I’m feeling that now. I still like MCU movies and will continue to see them, but the concept is starting to wear thin. Infinity War is the movie that it’s all been building up to, but I’m not even really that excited for it. I have still liked a lot of the Marvel films of the last couple years (Captain America: Civil War, Black Panther, and Thor: Ragnarok were all good), but if they don’t change things up after Infinity War, I’ll probably lose interest.

On the bright side, movies like Logan have shown that superhero franchises can use the great characters they have developed without adhering to the strict formula. Unfortunately, Disney would never do a movie like Logan, but I’m fairly optimistic about the future of the genre.

The things that are starting to kill the concept for me are the high number of releases, and the increasing homogeneity of the style. It seems like now, every superhero movie is a CGI-driven action movie with a heavy dose of quippy, dialogue-based comedy. That style has even started to infect other major franchises, such as the Star Wars and Star Trek reboots.

 

I'm a comic book geek but have never been the type to rush out to these movies (I still haven't seen Panther!). There's just too much of a 'sameness' to them. Big, gaudy, CGI-driven, almost textbook examples of 'if you've seen one, you've seen 'em all'! The youngsters won't remember what a HUGE deal the 1st Superman movies were, largely in part, due to the fact that the market wasn't oversaturated. 'You'll believe a man can fly'....think that could be a selling point today?

 

Selfishly I'm okay with it as long as it means it encourages Marvel to keep pumping out trade paperbacks of old Bronze age comics. Would we have had recent collections of Black Panther, Iron Fist or The Defenders if there wasn't a movie or TV event to promote? Probably not. Let's hope "Moon Knight" gets a movie soon too!

As for the movies themselves, I've seen just a handful of them, and while they seem to be pretty cool and all I just never feel compelled to watch them. Maybe I'm just too old. The first couple "Iron Man" films were good but now the character is starting to annoy me as the (Marvel) universe seems to revolve around the almighty Tony Stark, a character I never gave a rat's ass about on paper.

After seeing it in the theater I couldn't be bothered to watch "The Avengers" a second time at home, even though I didn't dislike it. I bought Avengers Age of Ultron from the used bin and there they sit unwatched. Same with "Civil War". I watched and enjoyed "The Winter Soldier", though. I've seen bits and pieces of the first Cap film on TNT but can't sit still long enough to watch the whole thing. I've always like Cap, as a character. I don't know why he has a beard and no star in the "infinity war" trailer and probably don't want to know (I assume he quit because of the "Civil War" thing, right?).

I read the comics where Ed Brubaker brought Bucky back, and while I was against it as a concept he wrote it so well I forgave him. I kinda wish he hasn't gotten dug up in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, but whatever.

I was underwhelmed by "Ant Man". I'm not looking forward to the sequel. The newest "Spider-Man" was ok but I felt overwhelmed by messages. And the suit tech made him just like "Iron Man" with the head shots and computer speaking to him.

I liked the "Guardians of the Galaxy" films, though #2 was a step down (but inclusion of Kurt Russell made up for it). Never liked Thor, in film or in the funny papers, so I haven't bothered with any of his films (though latest looked like it might be worth a watch).

I liked "Doctor Strange". But then I always liked him in the comics. This is another character who's comic back catalog benefited from his movie release.

I am a fan of Jim Starlin and his "Infinity Gauntlet" story so I might be interested in the new Avengers film, but with so many characters running around at the same time I think there's a good chance this thing collapses under it's own weight. They could have left some of the lesser superheroes (Hawkeye, Falcon, Scarlett Witch, Vision, Quicksilver, Ant-Man) riding the pine.

 

Logan was great. Deadpool as well. Yes, it's not all bad, but the quantity of movies coming at such a break neck pace is crazy.

 

Yes, and I was once a rabid comic book collector many years ago. Marvel's new formula since Disney bought them seems to take old Hollywood genre formulas and then insert superheroes into the movie. It's only a matter of time before we get a Marvel musical.

 

I'm with @thegage on this one. As long as it's a good comic book movie that interests me I'm in.

 

Star Wars fatigue >>> than Marvel movie fatigue, at least for me.

 

I prefer DC's characters, because they're the ones I grew up with. But I'm not going to waste my time and money on something that is reportedly a stinker. So, I saw Wonder Woman but not Justice League nor Suicide Squad.

To the extent these movies are serials, that really gets me out of the game, because if I missed the first installment, then I'm certainly not going to go see #3.

 

The soundtracks to Guardians of the Galaxy get kinda close.

 

Do what I do when I get tired of something - don't watch them.

 

Augmented by the number of Marvel-based series sucking up all the oxygen on the tube, from Netflix' "Hells Kitchen" shows to any number of mutants of various stripes, franchises and legally-isolated storylines on ABC, FX, Hulu, Fox, and I have no doubt sooner or later we'll see Senator Kelly or Generals Ross or Wolfram on C-SPAN, or Storm showing up on The Weather Channel ("Howard The Duck? Animal Planet calling on Line 2...").

This bandwagon is getting increasingly overloaded. And heck, all DC has is the CW...but they've still managed to stuff one helluva lot of heroes onto one prime-time schedule that doesn't have all that many slots to fill...

Still, I'm adamant (no, NOT "Adam Ant", Ant-man...!) that, a good superhero story is good drama, and good drama beats RealHouseBatchelorsBigBrother any day of the week. We've put up with decades-worth of bad dramas we don't pay anything for except for exercising our right to zap commercial breaks, and if Dick Wolf had a nickel for every time an NBC show has said, "dunt-dunt!", he'd - oh, wait, that's how he could got to leverage every show named "Chicago whatever" on the same network...

So, as long as it entertains without making me feel stupid, I don't give a rat's avacodo if the general public has less of a taste of comic-based plots than I do. I've earned my tolerance for becoming engaged in superheroics the old-fashioned way..by reading the funnybooks ever since Sugar & Spike was on newstands in the Rexall (ooh, THERE's a comic-based franchise just ripe for TLC!). I've got pulpy ink-stains on my fingers, and a museum full of Kirby splash-pages with stapes down the middle. So bring 'em on, and somebody tell TV Guide IT'S CLOBBERIN' TIME!

(and ya know, for all those Lifetime movies they crank out up in Vancouver faster than Sharknado sequels...you'd THINK JUST ONCE, Captain Canuk would step in to rescue some of them poor stalkered ex-girlfriends now n' then...?)

 

The same thing happened with the comic books themselves.

Once they stopped writing standalone stories (during the 1980s), I pretty much lost interest.

However, what finally pushed me out of the hobby for good was amalgam of all this:

– no single-issue stories
– multi-title crossover storylines
– so-called "variant" covers
– ending and restarting long-running series so they could sell yet another new #1 issue

 

I kept getting further and further behind on my reading, and accumulating piles of books. I first started collecting around the time of the Crisis on Infinite Earths. I bought about two years worth of "New 52" titles (just the ones I'd previously followed) without reading a single one, said, "this is ridiculous" and sold them all back (at a great loss) at the end of last year. I'll probably eventually get rid of all my unread books.

Some titles I was much better at keeping up with than others. I always like Robin's standalone book. And I read Hellblazer until I finally decided it had stopped being a supernatural title and was just going for the grossout factor. I think the bestiality porn storyline was where I jumped off.

 

After the origin stories (movies), they're just crimefighters.

jerol

 

It's not like they come out every weekend. I see a comic book movie once every couple of months, which is perfectly fine.

 

Its wearing thin because we arent 7-14 yrs old.

I would have loved these when I was that age.

Stop scratchin your heads

 

Can't get tired of what you hardly ever bother with.

 

When we were that age, the market was not inundated with them.

 

I enjoy them myself.
Some are better than others.
If they entertain the more the merrier.

 

I actually think the MCU has done a fairly good job of including consequences. We've only had one permanent death of a major player so far (Quicksilver, and he wasn't that major) but I think at least two people are going to die in Infinity War.

But there have been other, different kinds of consequences. Tony Stark has PTSD in Iron Man 3 after the events of The Avengers and he has to deal with that. The massive death tolls and destruction of property in Age of Ultron and Civil War lead to the government creating the Sokovia Accords requiring government oversight of the Avengers- which spurs the events of Civil War. All of the alien technology left behind after the Battle of New York is taken in by the criminal underworld and used to manufacture weapons using alien tech and creating a massive black market (Spider-Man: Homecoming). Things that happen in this world do have consequences and impact future films.

I wouldn't say I have fatigue. I'm mostly invested for the characters at this point. I'm not sure I'll keep watching after Avengers 4, when I think the series is going to get a pretty major reboot and many of the original characters will be retired, but I'll wait and see.