“Avengers: Doomsday” releases on Dec. 18, 2026. It’s a grand culmination of nearly 20 years of storytelling, and it will bring together fan favorite characters in one epic crossover event. I grew up watching these movies, and some of my all-time favorite films come from this franchise. So will I be watching this movie on release? No, I’ll be watching “Dune: Part Three” in the adjacent theater.
The Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU)—and superhero movies in general—have significantly dropped in popularity in recent years, and the spark that once made these movies so dominant has since died out. Unfortunately for superhero lovers, it appears as though consumers have simply gotten bored of the genre. Yes, people are still watching these movies, but at this point it has more to do with brand loyalty than the actual quality of the films. During the 2010s, the MCU had a clear hold on the movie market. Every movie that came out was a hit, and there was genuine excitement over the franchise. After so many years, however, it seems like the novelty of the genre has worn off.
Out of the dozens of superhero projects that have been churned out in recent years, there have been maybe five superhero movies that can be considered genuinely good films. This is partly because of the shift in consumer interest, but it is clear that the overall quality has decreased as well. The writing and storytelling has become uninteresting and soulless, and it’s abundantly clear that the VFX artists are overworked and rushed.
What Marvel and DC needed to do was slow down and focus on making a handful of quality films, but instead the number of projects being released increased substantially. The sheer number of new projects only served to overwhelm audiences as storylines became increasingly complex and confusing.
While it’s obvious that Marvel and DC will continue to produce these movies, I believe that the future of Hollywood will be found elsewhere. Recent and upcoming movies such as “Dune: Part Two”, “Wicked” and “The Odyssey” have excited me much more than any superhero movie released in the last few years, and it appears that Hollywood as a whole is shifting its focus towards more cinematic and character driven stories. It had a good run, but the reign of superhero movies is over.
