You’re Wrong, Steven Spielberg, The Superhero Movie Isn’t Going Anywhere

In a 2013 interview, renowned director Steven Spielberg warned of what he called a coming “implosion” regarding summer blockbuster films. Due to Hollywood’s over-reliance on the summer box office, Spielberg believed that blockbusters constrained in this time frame would undergo drastic price changes to set them on top. In an interview, he stated that at some point “you’re gonna have to pay $25 for the next Iron Man, you’re probably only going to have to pay $7 to see Lincoln.” Recently, in an interview with AP, he repeated his concerns. To his credit, studios are much less willing to fund grounded movie ideas as opposed to big flashy ones like comic book movies. After all, Lincoln was nearly made as an HBO film. Because of the impending doom that comic book movies could possibly face, he related comic book films’ life-cycle to that of the Western.

Continuing in his interview he said: “We were around when the Western died and there will be a time when the superhero movie goes the way of the Western. It doesn’t mean there won’t be another occasion where the Western comes back and the superhero movie someday returns. Of course, right now the superhero movie is alive and thriving. I’m only saying that these cycles have a finite time in popular culture. There will come a day when the mythological stories are supplanted by some other genre that possibly some young filmmaker is just thinking about discovering for all of us.”

Why is he so worried?

Concerning his comments on the Western, he is right. The genre had an exponential growth, evolving from radio broadcasts to full on John Wayne kicking ass for the world to see. But as to his comments relating the comic book industry, I have only one thing to say to this world famous and incredibly talented individual: shut up. Comic book films are on a staggeringly high pedestal that will be nigh impossible to keep up forever, it’s true, but saying that they will fall into complete obscurity like the Western until some new age revival comes along? Get out of here.

Comic books themselves have been around for just as long as the Western, and while some characters come in and out of popularity, the idea of the superhero never falls out of style. Now that these larger-than-life individuals have hit the big screen there is no way to tell the peak of their potential, let alone their end. But putting my frantic fanboyness aside, let me calmly and methodically explain why I believe Steven Spielberg is full of it.

First off, let me say that I see where Spielberg is coming from. Back in his younger days, Westerns were pumped out like clockwork and the public loved it. The problem? The industry became oversaturated with that one genre and eventually the creative depth of a man of the law fighting in the desert got kind of hard to stretch. When you think about it, it’s amazing that they stayed popular for so long. To be fair, comic book films initially (and occasionally still do), have the same complaint, that they follow too similar of a story arc. A hero is initially met with a terrible tragedy, forcing him/her to rethink their life choices and become someone who can make a difference – yada-yada origin story, yada-yada go team Batman.

But while most origin stories may be unremarkable, what comes next…well just look at what Marvel has done with the Avengers and what DC is hopefully going to do with the Justice League in a few years. These characters have grown and evolved to face the modern threats that a hero of today would have to face. And new ones are being introduced every year, giving these story arcs new room to grow and mesh with others. The superhero film genre is more than just that; it’s a shared universe between the fans and the world of the heroes.

Why is he wrong?

Super movies and TV shows have been taking story inspiration from comic issues that date all the way back to the silver age to the more modern of today. And for those that don’t read comics, let me just set the record straight: they are nowhere near running out of creative ideas. Whether it’s the dark brooding pen of The Killing Joke’s Alan Moore or the more zany ridiculousness of Daniel Way with Deadpool, the creativity has not stopped flowing. Of course there have been bad issues, hell, there have been bad comic ages, but they are hardly getting repetitive. And with these insanely vast worlds combined with talented comic and film writers (sometimes being one and the same), the films have no need to be worried about running out of material.

Let me end this on the note of saying that I have the utmost respect for Steven Spielberg and I am a huge fan of his work (except the last Indiana, I mean, come on man). I just think he needs to be a little more optimistic about the industry of film today when it comes to summer blockbusters. Comic book films may be super popular right now but just because they will eventually fall out of extreme popularity doesn’t mean they are automatically going to fall into disinterest for current and future generations of moviegoers. Have a little faith! But that’s just my opinion.

Do you think Spielberg is right in that summer blockbusters like comic book films will eventually die like the Western? Let us know in the comments!

(top image The Avengers – source: Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures)