With so many superheroes, hope is on the horizon. Graphic by Abby Ayre.
HARRISON PRYOR | STAFF REPORTER | hrpryor@butler.edu
“Film Fanatics” explores Hollywood’s recent releases, cherished classics and everything in between. These thought-provoking reviews invite fresh perspectives and weigh whether a film deserves attention — or if it’s best left in the past. Read on to find out what our writers think of this week’s film.
It is no secret that the superhero movie industry has struggled these past few years. Marvel focused more on quantity over quality, and DC has been trying its best to follow the cinematic universe formula. Both have had the rare floating hit in a sea of flops, but fans have been largely dissatisfied with the state of their favorite comic book characters.
That all changed this summer.
The Marvel Cinematic Universe has been rearing up for the Multiverse Saga’s grand finale with “Thunderbolts*” and “The Fantastic Four: First Steps”. Consequently, superhero buffs have been wild with speculation about reboots and revivals. Meanwhile, “Superman” successfully reset the DC Extended Universe as the DC Universe, paving the way for a more comic-accurate film franchise.
“Thunderbolts*”
Superhero is a loose term when it comes to the Thunderbolts. The begrudging team of anti-heroes is forced together by the mysterious Valentina Allegra de Fontaine — portrayed by Julia Louis-Dreyfus — whose past caught up to herself and everyone else. The film marked the genre’s continued revival with a box office pull of over $382 million on a budget of $180 million.
“Thunderbolts*” pulls together sharp quips, well-choreographed action and a gut-wrenching found family trope to make a genuinely fun movie. Each character — despite being a clear stand-in for an original Avenger — is unique and compelling, but the team’s name itself is a reminder of the larger franchise at work.
That asterisk is no mistake. It spells out the film’s hidden subtitle — “*The New Avengers”. The big reveal of the team’s new name shot the movie’s menagerie of morally grey misfits into the big leagues and primed them for the overcrowded team-up at the end of Phase Six of the MCU. “Thunderbolts*” may be good, but its story is still a pawn in the MCU’s messy, one-sided chess game.
“Superman”
Sophomore middle/secondary education major Lorelei Guenther was so impressed with “Superman” that her faith in superhero movies — new and old — was revitalized.
“I really liked it,” Guenther said. “Afterwards, I went back and watched the old [1978] Superman movie with Christopher Reeve. I felt like superhero movies were kind of back in a way.”
The big screen debut of James Gunn’s new DC Universe aided in the resurgence of not only superhero movies, but DC movies specifically. “Superman” blasted into theaters on a budget of $225 million and made $600 million, sparking high hopes for the franchise’s future.
“Superman” follows a new version of the big blue boy scout — portrayed by David Corenswet — as he tries his best to bring peace to a chaotic world that loves and hates him in equal measure. The film introduces a world already full of super-powered metahumans, bringing to life both iconic and lesser-known characters from the comics.
Guenther expressed that skipping the origin and picking up in the middle of Superman’s journey helped the movie’s pace.
“Going back and watching the old movie with Christopher Reeve, it had a very slow start,” Guenther said. “We see all the stuff with his parents on Krypton … [and] on the Kent farm, [but] we don’t see much of him as Superman. I think it was really cool to see him as Superman for the whole movie. I do kind of wish it focused more on him as Clark Kent, but maybe that will come in the future.”
“The Fantastic Four: First Steps”
The irony is not lost that it took four movies to get the Fantastic Four right.
“First Steps” recognized that the team’s origin is done and tired, and opted — like “Superman” — to pick up their journey in the middle. The family of super-powered adventurers is forced to face a threat like no other when the world-eating Galactus — portrayed by Ralph Ineson — demands a steep price in exchange for Earth’s survival.
Junior entrepreneurship and innovation major Ben Adler believes that Galactus is too big a threat to waste on one movie.
“I don’t think they used [Galactus] to his full potential,” Adler said. “He could have been a Thanos-level threat and could have been the big bad for this phase … I still think [Doctor] Doom is fine, but there’s a lot of controversy around that.”
Though the cast of “First Steps” is confirmed to appear in “Avengers: Doomsday”, the film itself is singular. “First Steps” is set in a universe entirely separate from the MCU, which allowed the story to ignore the rest of Marvel and focus solely on the Fantastic Four and their world. This choice kept the movie from being bloated with cameos and fan service, though not entirely.
Following the trend of lucrative superhero films, “First Steps” made almost $500 million on a budget of $200 million.
General reception
Senior middle/secondary education major Margaret Smith appreciated the themes of unity seen throughout all three movies.
“A big thing [in these movies] is hope, helping each other and being connected with other people, whether they are friends or family,” Smith said. “[In] Thunderbolts, a big theme was mental health. [At] the [end] they defeated the villain with the power of friendship, and that is really awesome.”
In spite of the so-called superhero fatigue, super-powered hits have been rocking theaters all year. It seems that superheroes have had a thundering, super, fantastic, very good summer.