Spider-Verse’s Lord & Miller Address Superhero Fatigue

There’s been a lot of conversation about “superhero fatigue” over the last couple of years. With hordes of superhero movies and TV shows planned each year, it’s easy to see where the argument comes from, and the diminishing returns of films like certainly added fuel to the fire. On the flip-side of that coin is the huge success of Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 and Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse, proving maybe superheroes aren’t the issue for audiences.

Across the Spider-Verse writers and producers Phil Lord and Chris Miller were asked about the superhero fatigue during an interview with Rolling Stone. The filmmakers explained that people aren’t tired of seeing films in the same genre, they’re just sick of seeing films in the genre do the exact same things.

“I don’t believe it’s super superhero fatigue, I believe it’s “a movie that feels like a movie I’ve seen a dozen times before” fatigue,” Miller explained. “If you’re using the same story structure and the same style and the same tone and the same vibe as movies and shows that have come before, it doesn’t matter what genre it is. It’s going to be boring to people.”

Lord went on to say that notion to be different was a big driving force behind the creativity of the Spider-Verse films. They are striving to do something audiences haven’t seen before.

“And the audience in the theater cannot be sustained on Easter eggs and reveals. Or even these big, crazy multiverse stakes,” Lord added. “They only care about, like, the relationship between Rocket Raccoon and Groot. And so this story is just so rooted in parents and kids. And Miles and his family. With the last movie we showed it to some friends early on, and they were like, “You have to get to like all these multiple Spider-People as quickly as possible. That’s the exciting thing.” And we were like, we don’t think so. Because the thing that everybody seems to enjoy is the quieter scenes with Miles and his mom and dad. They can’t get enough of it. And I’m so glad we stayed true to what the audience was telling us.”

Miles Morales returns to the big screen with Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse now playing in theaters after premiering on June 2nd. Miles (Shamiek Moore) reunites with fellow heroes Spider-Gwen (Hailee Steinfeld) and Peter B. Parker (Jake Johnson) for another web-swinging adventure through the multiverse, finding himself at odds with the Spider-Society led by Spider-Man 2099 (Oscar Isaac). Other new heroes include Spider-Woman Jessica Drew (Issa Rae), Spider-Punk (Daniel Kaluuya), and Pavitr Prabhakar (Karan Soni), while new villain the Spot (Jason Schwartzman) also enters the fray. The sequel to Sony Pictures’ hit 2018 film Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse, Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse is directed by Joaquim Dos Santos, Kemp Powers, and Justin K. Thompson, and written by the team of Chris Miller, Phil Lord, and Dave Callaham.