They bring in the big bucks¹, provide multiple spinoffs and sequels and offset² the general decline in cinema audiences in the US, but is Hollywood overdoing³ it when it comes to superheroes?

 

Over the next five years a remarkable⁴ 30 superhero movies are expected to be released by Disney, Warner Bros., Fox and Sony Pictures in a crush of fantasy power play. And when, last week, Kevin Feige, president of Marvel⁵ Studios, took to the stage at the historic El Capitan theatre on Hollywood Boulevard to discuss the studio's slate⁶ of superhero films to 2019, he said there would be many more, "if there are years after 2019".

 

The ambitious list includes The Black Panther and Captain Marvel, the first superhero films starring black and female leads respectively. They will join the Marvel "universe" of characters such as Iron Man, Captain America and Thor.

 

It's hard to question the confidence of Marvel. Since it was bought in 2008 by Walt Disney for $4bn, it has generated $7bn by mining a catalogue of superhero characters developed over decades of comic book publishing. With each film introducing new characters with interconnecting plots, Feige reinforces his reputation as one of the shrewdest studio heads of his generation.

 

It was Feige who resurrected the career of Robert Downey Jr by casting him as Iron Man. He hired TV director Joss Whedon to make The Avengers, the third highest grossing film in history. He approved Thor and Guardians⁷ of the Galaxy⁸ and it is Feige who will probably sign off on Benedict Cumberbatch to play Dr Strange.

 

But Marvel is far from alone. Warner Bros., owner of the rights to DC Comics, has unveiled its own 10-movie slate of superhero films, including Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice next year,Suicide Squad⁹ and Flash. Rupert Murdoch's Fox has The Wolverine, the X-Men series and theFantastic Four. For the Hollywood studios, faced with declining theatre revenue, the superhero genre¹⁰ is considered a winning strategy.

 

Jeff Ayres, manager at New York's famous Forbidden Planet comic bookstore, says it's no mystery why Marvel's film slate is dominant¹¹: it is derived¹² from a generation of superheroes with complicated inner lives.

 

"They're from the minds of Jack¹³ Kirby, Steve Ditko and Stan Lee – that's why those characters are so durable¹⁴. Marvel characters stand the test of time because they're based on real human foibles. Unless they're sent down from heaven like Thor, they always have one foot in reality."

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