This summer has been a strong season for the superhero genre, and that's not an understatement. With overwhelmingly positive reviews for James Gunn's Superman and the MCU's new Fantastic Four, it feels like superheroes have heart and soul again. That's great, but could there be a bigger reason for that?
Both Marvel and DC are coming out of a shadowy time, with the MCU recovering from the maddening multiverse and the DCEU reforming under James Gunn's leadership. So it feels highly appropriate that their landmark titles lead them into a new age. However, Superman and Marvel's First Family have one element in common that the audience has craved for years: a message of hope.
It's no coincidence that DC and Marvel returned to their flagship franchises, but it's more than just pumping fresh blood into familiar characters. Both studios are reminding audiences why they fell in love with their heroes in the first place.
Having the opportunity to see both films within the same week, this writer can thoroughly vouch for them both being excellent pieces of superhero cinema, featuring fantastic worlds, likable characters, and a familiar yet needed story arc of good versus evil that inspires hope and optimism in its delivery.
However, that's not the only thing both movies have going for them. It's not just the return to the traditional superhero flavor, but a rebirth of the feel-good action-packed romp that's been absent from the genre since the last Guardians of the Galaxy movie.
You can't have Yin without Yang, and the wide-eyed and optimistic superhero movie has been absent for far too long. While there's certainly a fan base for Matt Reeves' dark and grungy Batman and the gritty and heavy Thunderbolts*, the escapist fantasy of the classic superhero has become something of a lost art form.
To put it bluntly, audiences are tired of the dark and gritty, flawed hero stories with moral ambiguity and villains who need justifiable backgrounds. The world is dark enough, which is why we look to the likes of Superman and the Fantastic Four to shed a little light.
In these two films, audiences are treated to visions of optimism, hope, family values, and (as cliche as it sounds) truth, justice, and the American way. These bright and colorful escapes are comic books come to life, which is exactly what fans want when they pay for a movie ticket.
While it's still early in this new era of superhero rebirth, both Marvel and DC have taken the first steps in the right direction. All we can do now is wait to see what happens next.
Superman and Fantastic Four: First Steps in theaters now!
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