Jon Favreau Thinks Superhero Movies Will Be Around for a Long Time

While every year for the last… five or so, there have been inevitable think-pieces and op/eds about whether or not superhero movies have “reached their peak” or “the glut of comicbook movies,” actual data says those are dead wrong. With two more Marvel Studios films, an X-Men film from Fox, another DC film, plus TMNT: Out of the Shadows on the docket for 2016, and at least seven comicbook movies coming in 2017, there doesn’t seem to be much, if any slowdown.

According to Jon Favreau, largely credited for kicking off this modern era of films with Iron Man in 2008 (yes, the Spider-Man movies at Sony, X-Men movies at Fox, and Dark Knight trilogy at WB all get credit, too, but Marvel Studios’ revolution is incomparable in the long run), the wide variety in genres that superhero movies can cover will keep them fresh for years to come.

“If you stamp [a movie like Guardians of the Galaxy] as a ‘superhero’ movie, then I think superhero movies are going to be around for a long time,” Favreau said at a THR event. He said that the “swagger” of an independent film being captured in films like that give superhero films a long life.

That’s been a common call to arms by Marvel Studios, with president Kevin Feige and directors like the Russo brothers (Captain America: Civil War) and Scott Derrickson (Doctor Strange) all praising the ability to do something new within the existing framework of the Marvel Cinematic Universe.