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Monday, August 08, 2022 

Poll reveals Americans losing interest in superhero movies

Breitbart found polling research revealing the fascination with superhero movies in the USA is waning:
...Americans’ enthusiasm for men and women in capes is waning, a Morning Consult survey found.

The poll data shows that “enjoyment of the seemingly never-ending stream of superhero content continues to drop among U.S. adults — and among even self-identified Marvel fans,” the report states. Between November 2021 and July 2022 the share of adults who say they enjoy superhero movies plunged five percentage points, from 64 percent to 59 percent.

At the same time, the number of adults who do not enjoy superhero movies increased 5 points, 36 percent to 41 percent. That number has increased 9 points since the survey was conducted in 2018.

Self-identified Marvel fans are still overwhelmingly dedicated to superhero movies at 82 percent, though that number is down five points from 87 percent in November. One-third (31 percent) of those fans say they are “getting a little tired of so many of them.” Notably, the number of Marvel fans who do not like superhero movies rose from 13 percent to 18 percent.
As a Marvel fan myself - specifically, of the comics up to the early 2000s - I can't stand the thought of watching them at this point, realizing where they've sunk to, and recalling that some of the wokeness these movies are suffering from now started a decade ago when the Thor movies were first made, and characters like Heimdall were race-swapped from white to Asian/Black. Why, the Marvel films are easily a big reason I've since been making efforts to watch arthouse cinema more often, where it can all go in any direction, and the foreign filmmakers are usually trying to build their movies on acting talent, not identity politics.

And let's not forget the makers of DC movies are no less guilty of PC as Marvel's been of recent, recalling the Justice League movie had a cameo by the social justice influenced Asian Atom, and Perry White was changed to Black in the earlier Man of Steel movie, played by Laurence Fishburne. Understandably, who could've guessed at the time that the filmmakers were going out of their way to change the original structure, rather than concentrate on merit? Even now, it doesn't look like WB's taking a wise path, seeing as they're reportedly following the direction Marvel's Kevin Feige goes by. From Movieweb:
It seems like there has been a constant comparison made between the DCEU and MCU, with the former always seeming to be playing catch up with the mighty Marvel machine. However, after spending many years distancing themselves from such comparisons, Warner Bros.Discovery CEO David Zaslav has revealed at the company’s Q2 2022 earnings call that the future of the DC franchise will be governed by a 10 year plan, which is “inspired” by none other than Kevin Feige’s Marvel Studios.
Considering where the Marvel studio is going under Feige of recent, I don't think that's a good idea. They include a statement from Zaslav himself, who said:
...There will be a team with a 10-year plan focusing just on DC. It's very similar to the structure that Alan Horn and Bob Iger put together, very effectively, with Kevin Feige at Disney," he added. "We think that we could build a long-term much stronger, sustainable growth business out of DC. And as part of that, we're going to focus on quality. We're not going to release any film before it's ready. We're not going to release a film to make a quarter. We're not going to release a film unless the focus is going to be, 'How do we make each of these films in general as good as possible?' But DC is something that we think we could make better and we're focused on it now. We have some great DC films coming up — Black Adam, Shazam, and Flash – and we're working on all of those. We're very excited about them."
After all the trouble Ezra Miller caused, there's no use promoting the Flash movie, because there are people out there who'd feel awfully uncomfy about watching a movie starring an actor who committed horrific violence, and exploited an underaged girl in the past decade. Also, if the following news from The Direct says anything, there's more PC at work:
In the movie, Quintessa Swindell will play Cyclone, the grandchild of Red Tornado. The character can create powerful wind gusts and is known for manipulating sound waves. The hero is a member of the JSA, otherwise known as the Justice Society of America, a team that has been explored in other recent DC properties, such as The CW's Stargirl. The JSA is expected to clash with Black Adam, which will likely result in some interesting, dynamic battle scenes.

Ever since news broke of Swindell's casting, certain individuals have criticized DC for “race-bending” Cyclone, who is white in the comics.
Since the character was originally co-created by Geoff Johns, it's hard for me to care, if only because I can't stand his writing. But, that doesn't mean this continued social justice pandering isn't dismaying and trivial. Even more troubling, however, is if the news the Black Adam movie will feature a transgender take on Ma Hunkel (the original Red Tornado) is correct. The character was originally a woman and mother featured in All-American Comics from 1939-44 in Scribbly the Boy Cartoonist feature by Sheldon Mayer, who soon cast her in a parody of superheroes, where she dressed in a goofy outfit that looked like it consisted of a pot for a helmet. If this new movie corrupts all that, the filmmakers will have effectively insulted Mayer along with his creation for the sake of their PC agendas. But that's already typical conduct in Hollywood.

All that aside, Dwayne Johnson, who's playing Black Adam in the movie, is decidedly one of the most overrated "actors" of the 21st century, and even the IMDB's contributors seem to think so. Quite a few of his movies to date have actually gotten pretty bad reviews. I have no issues with escapist popcorn fare, but in whatever I've seen of his resume to date, including at least 2 of the Fast & Furious entries, he is so dull and doesn't offer much in the ways of humor either. Only one of his early films, the Scorpion King, ever really interested me, and since then, it's been boredomville in whatever I've seen of his movies since. (Besides, I find it hard to care about heavy special effects these days.) So I'm not impressed when he talks of Black Adam as a pet project, period, and I'm sure not many others are either, seeing how, as the Breitbart article noted, the public's tiring of superhero fare. DC sometimes seems to follow up on Marvel's approaches much too late, and this could be another example in the making.

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  • I'm Avi Green
  • From Jerusalem, Israel
  • I was born in Pennsylvania in 1974, and moved to Israel in 1983. I also enjoyed reading a lot of comics when I was young, the first being Fantastic Four. I maintain a strong belief in the public's right to knowledge and accuracy in facts. I like to think of myself as a conservative-style version of Clark Kent. I don't expect to be perfect at the job, but I do my best.
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