What All Did 2023 Give Us?
The past two years have seen a downturn in output, due in part to lingering effects of the pandemic pausing production, The CW gradually easing out of the superhero game and, most recently, the Hollywood strikes playing havoc with the 2023-24 TV season. (Regarding The CW’s shift in focus under new ownership, entertainment chief Brad Schwartz said that “as much as we all love those shows and they had their time, they’re not working on linear.” Superman & Lois, specifically, is “expensive” and “doesn’t make any money for us,” he explained, especially since the CW app doesn’t get to stream it.)
Even so, DC in 2023 brought us The Flash, Titans and Doom Patrol (though each with their farewell runs), the first/only season of Gotham Knights, and new episodes of Superman & Lois; the Marvel pipeline, meanwhile, churned out Secret Invasion and Loki Season 2.
The big screen during this same span served up Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania, Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3, Shazam: Fury of the Gods, Blue Beetle, The Marvels and — now in theaters and heralding “the end of the DCEU” — Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom.
That was still a robust-ish lineup, but the year ahead promises to offer much less fare based on comic book properties….
Netflix did confirm on the official social media on November 9 that The Umbrella Academy would be coming back in 2024, no specific date. I for one welcome a break from DC and MCU overload, they both need some resets (and the Sony villain films I just have no interest in)
It’s a definite welcome break for both the MCU and DCEU. It’s a been a mediocre to lesser wave of content for several years now. We all need a break.
Yeah, I was thinking about taking a break from the DC and Marvel movies in 2024 already just for a breather since I haven’t been that engaged with either studio. At least in my case I don’t think it is “superhero burnout” either for I feel the same way about other IP as well.
Superman and Lois remained strong in Season 3. Very sorry to see it end with Season 4. Hope the CW saves it for the fall 2024 rather than air it in the summer and it ends with it’s high quality intact despite the budget cuts.
The Flash Season 9, with the exception of one or two episodes, was a disappointment. It seemed that despite the short season most episodes were filler and I was waiting for the end story to start. If the poor storytelling means the powers that be at DC need a break to reset things so be it No comment on The Flash movie.
No genre stays on top forever. In the 1950s, Westerns were all the rage. Then spies ruled the 60s. Those were followed by detective shows before science fiction came along. Eventually people grow tired of a genre and move on. What we’re seeing right now is people moving on. Sure, the die-hard fans will continue to watch superhero movies and TV shows, but you’re going to see smaller budgets and fewer releases.
The thing is “superhero” isn’t necessarily a genre on itself. Captain America: The Winter Soldier is a spy thriller, while Guardians of the Galaxy is a space opera. It only becomes one and the same thing if you make everything look and feel the same, and that’s the problem of recent years. The Arrowverse shows are a prime example of this, they all fit the same mold.
Agreed. Spinning off The Flash from the same universe as Arrow effectively killed the latter.
Arrow seasons 1 and 2 were amongst the best superhero series I’ve seen and then it just got utterly ridiculous.
I’ve been a fan of the Supers genre for as long as I can remember. I remember a time before the Arrowverse, before Smallville and Sam Raimi’s Spider-Man when Supers content was rare and if we have to go back to that…. well at least I have a ton of stuff on Blu-Ray/DVD to watch.
I would like to see a summary like this for Sci-Fi and Fantasy as well.
Very, VERY ready for studios to pull back and focus on quality rather than quantity.
About goddamn time
Once I have a new season of Superman and Lois to look forward to I’m good. Fantastic show.
Looking forward to season 4 Superman & Lois. Sad it’s the last but also think that it might be a good thing and hopefully lets it go out on a high. Show has cemented me as a fan of Tyler and Bitsie, can’t wait to see what they do next.
5 movies and likely 12 tv series … That is still a heck of a lot. And, you didn’t include some of the Marvel stuff like Spider-man Freshman year, Marvel Zombies, etc… that should hit sometime in 2024.
Spider-Man Freshman Year (now titled Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man) is in fact included; Marvel is not confirming Zombies for 2024. –Mgmt.
Agreed. I don’t understand why people have been desperate to bury the superhero genre since it became popular. A few movies and TV shows do well each year and people treat it like it’s the end of civilization. More Holiday movies were made this year alone than there have been superhero movies ever and nobody complains. This site revels in it (and if you want to talk about formulaic stuff,nothing’s more formulaic than a holiday movie…). There are more prime time soap operas than there are superhero shows or movies and this site revels in that too. There are more shows about rich people treating everybody horribly then there are superhero TV shows or movies and this site revels in that too. There are more horror movies and TV shows than superhero TV shows and movies and this site revels in that too. Why is the superhero genre the only genre that has to constantly justify its existence and the only genre it’s okay and cool to bash? I like superhero movies and TV a lot better than holiday movies but I don’t constantly yell ” Death to holiday movies!” Why is it cool to do the reverse?
Hopefully,superhero fans and non-superhero fans will both be very happy this year and all the years to come. There’s no reason they can’t be.
Dear Decision Maker: Where is the DIVERSITY?!? Where are our 109 plus Superheros of COLOR!! ( Comicvine.com) where are the DIVERSE Dramas, Sitcoms, with EQUAL Blacks, Hispanics, Asians, etc. for each white-looking lead character?!? Where are the Unique Sophisticated scripts!! that DON’T NEED Laugh-tracks for STUPID people?? the lines are either Funny or NOT!! You either GET the Humor, or you DON’T!! Why do all the Generic shows NEED an ALL white-looking cast?!? We just DON’T Get it in 2024 and BEYOND.
It is about time, super hero movies more then outstayed their welcome. Time for them to go.