Superhero movies have dominated the cinematic landscape for the better part of two decades now and consistently generate some of the most popular franchises. They are so dominant and historically commercially successful that filmmakers like Martin Scorsese claim they are destroying cinema and preventing artists from taking risks.
But nowadays superhero movies are increasingly struggling. Just look at Sony Pictures’ recently released “Madame Web,” which is shaping up to be one of the biggest flops of the superhero genre. It is a prime example of all the reasons why superhero movies no longer resonate with audiences.
“Madame Web” follows a woman named Cassie Webb, who suddenly develops superpowers that give her visions of the future, as she tries to save three teenage girls from a man seeking to kill them.
Storytelling Has Lost Touch With Reality
Superhero movies have gone from being about the real world to being about superhero movies. This genre became popular back when mainstream moviegoers didn’t particularly care about superheroes. Earlier comic-book adaptations posed themselves as giving real answers to the audience’s real-life questions.
Previously, most superhero movies showed a world where ordinary people struggled against poverty and crime (“Spider-Man,” “Batman Begins”) terrorism and politics (“The Dark Knight,” “Iron Man”), and bigotry (“X-Men”).
These earlier superhero movies took the ordinary world and people’s questions about how to respond to injustice and showed how an otherwise normal person would respond to it. These messages inspired and resonated with audiences around the world, just like lifelong New Yorkers
