Never Meet Your Heroes
THE SUPERHERO CREEP IN MOVIES
POWER CREEP (noun) - the gradual unbalancing of narrative stakes for heroes as their powers and abilities increase in newer released content
Superhero movies have proliferated modern culture in a significant way with a deep impact.
Since 2000, 128 superhero movies have been released in theaters.
For this presentation, superhero movies must meet at least one of the following criteria:
- Adaptation of characters/plot from a comic book
- Characters gain or have incredible powers and abilities that are central to the plot
- About superheroes, though they may not appear in the movie
When did superhero movies become so commonplace?
Superhero movies have been produced since the 1940s but have ballooned in the past ten years.
A few causes for this are:
- Media and technological advances have made the genre more exciting for audiences and created a genre fit for broad consumption (Smart, 2018).
- Marvel and D.C. followed the likes of other action sequels (like Fast and Furious, Mission Impossible, etc.) to create franchise media that crosses both film and tv.
- And...
Superhero films just make business sense.
The average return on investment is 397% with a maximum of over 3000%!
But companies with franchises profited the most.
Every successive film makes the franchise bigger and forces audiences to watch more superhero movies to keep track of interwoven plot lines. This issue is exacerbated by the advent of superhero television programming that ties into movie plots.
Why does this matter?
Movies center the values and desires of their target demographics. Consider target audiences for different genres of film.
|
GENRE |
TARGET AUDIENCE |
|---|---|
|
Action/Adventure |
Men |
|
Horror/Thriller |
Both |
|
Comedy |
Both |
|
Romance |
Women |
Compiled from AS Media Studies Project.
WHO ARE SUPERHERO MOVIES FOR?
Women are underrepresented in superhero movies in front of and behind the camera.
Out of 128 superhero films released in the past 22 years, only 7 were directed by women!
Few films star more than one woman in the top-billed cast. It is uncommon to have even two women in the top-billed cast.
Your choices have an impact!
Don't worry superhero fans, no need to give up on the movies yet...but it is important to realize how consumer choice can impact the industry.
Just by buying a ticket to a movie in theaters, you signal which cast members are worth more, which directors are worth more, and which genres are worth investment.
So choose your tickets wisely,
and invest in more genres!
Photo by Yulia Matvienko on Unsplash
Photo by Yulia Matvienko on Unsplash
References
IMDb. (2008). IMDb - Movies, TV and Celebrities. IMDb. https://www.imdb.com/
Mesned. (2020, April 11). Audiences for different genres: AS Media Studies Project. https://mesnedalmisned.com/2020/04/11/audiences-for-different-genres/
Power Creep. (2021, September 20). Wiktionary. https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/power_creep
Sahay, A. (2023). Superhero Movie Data. https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1yEphC6aMIq_Fq_UDiWkWj46SEul6wLHocYowYDP2Luo/edit?usp=sharing
Smart, T. (2018). Superhero Popularity in Past and Present America | The People, Ideas, and Things (PIT) Journal. Unc.edu. https://pitjournal.unc.edu/article/superhero-popularity-past-and-present-america
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