6 Lessons We Learned From 2016’s Superhero Movies

The superhero movie genre had a hugely important year in 2016. All three major franchises – that’s Fox’s X-Men series, Disney’s Marvel Cinematic Universe and Warner Bros.’s DC Extended Universe – released multiple movies that saw them carve out exciting new directions. Some of those films made some big mistakes along the way, but others did a lot of things right. Now that there are several superhero movie franchises out there in rude health, we should look forward to seeing even more comic book heroes and villains brought to life on the big screen in the near future. This year alone we have – in order of release date – Logan, Guardians of the Galaxy Vol 2., Wonder Woman, Spider-Man: Homecoming, Thor: Ragnarok and Justice League. Oh, and The LEGO Batman Movie, if you want to count that. Though they've already been produced and packaged off, let’s hope that these movies paid attention to what worked and what didn’t in 2016’s superhero films. Not every release from last year was a hit, but they did teach us several important things that studios should take to heart moving forward. 6) Film First, Franchise Second In this age of cinematic universes, superhero movies are becoming less like standalone blockbusters and more like feature-length television episodes, telling one part of an ongoing story. The trick is in balancing the two; serving up a compelling movie with a beginning, middle and end while also linking into the wider shared universe. In 2016, there were two movies, in particular, that had to deal with this issue. Generally speaking, one handled the task a lot better than the other. On the positive side, Captain America: Civil War mostly succeeded in this respect. On the one hand, it was a film heavily reliant on preceding movies and left a big question mark at the end that will be picked up in Avengers: Infinity War. Likewise, it introduced characters like Spider-Man and Black Panther who will appear in their own solo movies soon. Despite the lengthy checklist it had to tick off, however, the movie managed to handle them with a deft hand and ensured that, first and foremost, it worked as a standalone piece. At the very least, it managed to serve up enough thrills in itself that we didn’t mind the unanswered questions. As the title suggests, Batman V Superman: Dawn of Justice went the other way. Ostensibly a sequel to Man of Steel, it piled on the elements in a rushed attempt to kickstart the DC Extended Universe. Meeting Ben Affleck’s Batman should have been enough, but we also got an extended cameo from Wonder Woman and a laughable sequence of teaser trailers for Aquaman, Flash and Cyborg. Oh, and let’s not forget those head-scratching dream sequences which presumably hint at the plot of Justice League. On the whole, BvS totally forgot that the first step in creating a franchise should be to make a great standalone movie first. In short, the film's excessive teasing of the future just left us wishing we could cut out the middleman and go straight to Justice League instead. 5) Be Adventurous Much has been said about the potential for superhero fatigue in the current craze for comic book movies. Such masters of cinema as Steven Spielberg have predicted that, sooner or later, the superhero movie will “go the way of the western.” The best way to avoid the death of the genre then is for the studios to keep trying fresh, adventurous ideas. If every superhero movie that comes out feels different from the last, then audiences aren’t going to grow bored. The two superhero movies released by Fox in 2016 perfectly sum up the virtues of being different and the failures of lazily going with the same old thing. Deadpool could have been a risky move from the studio, as it was unlike anything they had produced in their X-Men franchise before. Plus, it was R-Rated – cutting off the lucrative family market. Yet, because the studio backed it and the production team believed in their movie, Deadpool was a welcome breath of fresh, foul-mouthed air. The movie-going public thought so too, and it made a shedload of money on the back of a relatively small budget. On the other hand, Fox put out X-Men: Apocalypse later in the year. The sixth mainline X-Men movie and the fourth from director Bryan Singer, the minds behind Apocalypse assumed that offering up much the same thing that we've been watching for several films now – Professor X and Magneto’s on/off-again friendship, the X-Mansion getting attacked, rogue students going into battle, etc. – would suffice. Oh, and they threw in a two-dimensional uber-baddie in an attempt to up the stakes. The result was a movie that was met with a collective shrug. After Apocalypse, the future of the X-Men series is in question (especially with Hugh Jackman calling it quits). What we do know, however, is that there will be many more Deadpool sequels. 4) More Leading Women/Ethnic Minorities The superhero movie genre has a poor track record with leading female and ethnic minority characters. Yes, there exists a handful of comic book films with women or African-Americans in the lead – Elektra, Catwoman, Steel – but unfortunately, most have been awful. Recently, strong female characters like Marvel’s Black Widow and X-Men’s Mystique have been a welcome addition, but they're still only part of a bigger, male-led, ensemble cast. Likewise, the trend for black characters to be stuck as the sidekicks to the white heroes – e.g. War Machine and Falcon – is a bit problematic. 2016’s superhero movies made some big steps in diversifying the landscape, however, and were met with a lot of praise for it. Civil War introduced the kickass Black Panther, and now fans can’t wait for his 2018 solo movie (which will be the first MCU movie with a black lead). Elsewhere, Gal Gadot’s Wonder Woman threatened to steal the show in BvS and Harley Quinn and Will Smith’s Deadshot were the two standout characters of Suicide Squad. In 2017, DC will give us Wonder Woman and Cyborg as a founding member of the Justice League, with Gotham City Sirens (starring Margot Robbie’s Harley) to come in the next few years as well. Marvel, meanwhile, have got Captain Marvel and the aforementioned Black Panther on the slate and are always taking about a Black Widow solo film. This can only be a good thing, and we hope the upward trend won’t lose its steam anytime soon. 3) Don’t Forget The Villains They say a hero is only as good as his/her villain, but the superhero movies of 2016 definitely under-delivered in the bad guy department. To be fair, two of these movies were mostly devoted to the conflict between the heroes themselves, but the rest of them don’t have that excuse. Though terrific actors like Oscar Isaac and Mads Mikkelsen were contracted, they were given little to do. Doctor Strange gave us the typical reverse-of-the-hero with rogue Master of the Mystic Arts Kaecilius, while Deadpool at least lampshaded its stereotypical bad guy by crediting Ed Skein as “British villain” in its fun opening credits sequence. Meanwhile, you would expect Suicide Squad, a film all about supervillains, to produce a strong antagonist for them to face. Instead, we got a scantily-clad Cara Delevigne and her rubbish CGI demon brother. Apocalypse is perhaps the most disappointing. One of the coolest X-Men antagonists in the comics was reduced to a Power Rangers villain with a predilection for face painting. The best villain of the year was definitely Civil War’s Zemo, but even then, we could have done with a bit more from him. The common problem here is that, in each case, the villain is an afterthought. This is best shown in Lex Luthor from BvS. Whatever you think of Jesse Eisenberg’s Riddler-esque take on the character, his nonsensical plan had clearly not been thought through at any stage of the filmmaking process. The same goes for his non-existent motivation. A problem shared by most of the villains in the rest of 2016’s comic book films. In the future, we'd love for Marvel and DC to remember that a good threat is a key element in making an exciting superhero movie. 2) No More Mindlessly Destructive Climaxes Superhero movies don’t traditionally go in for the most high-minded of third acts. Nine times out of ten, a comic book film will end with the heroes winning by punching the bad guy into submission or with some massive explosion. Recently, we can throw in citywide devastation into the mix as well. By this point, that kind of climax has become very samey and has lost the thrill factor it once had. That was why it was such a delight when Doctor Strange actually had the hero save the day by using his wits rather than his fists, tricking the dreaded Dormammu into leaving the Earth alone. It was refreshing to see the hero putting his unique talents, bravery, and intelligence to good use when it would have been far easier to have Strange blast Dormammu to kingdom come with his magic. The lack of smashing the villain’s face in meant that this was a much more exciting denouement than the likes of X-Men: Apocalypse, which served up a very traditional ‘good buys beat down bad guy in ruined city’ ending. The same goes for – yes, here it comes again – BvS and its big, dumb final fight with Doomsday. We’re not saying we don’t want to see some great action, but these guys are aren’t action heroes – they’re superheroes. They should find a super way to save the day that’s more imaginative and indicative of their heroic natures than boring old punch-ups and destruction. 1) Focus On The Story Ultimately, what we most want what from a superhero movie – just like any movie – is for it to have a good, solid story. On too many occasions, comic book films are clearly rushed out to make some cash without a good enough story to support it. Either that, or they start with good intentions, and then things get thrown at the movie as it goes along and, by the end, it’s a bloated mess. Suicide Squad is the chief example of this from 2016. Director David Ayer reportedly wrote the script in just six weeks – and it really shows. As we've already said, the villain was poor, the character’s motivations were sketchy at best and their development was pretty much non-existent. Batman v Superman, on the other hand, had a strong basis in its Dark Knight Returns-esque battle between Bats and Supes. Along the way, though, it had the weight of carrying a newly-minted franchise put on its back which left it unfocused and flabby. That’s not to pick on DC, however, as even Fox’s Deadpool relied on a pretty standard superhero origins story format. The same goes for Doctor Strange, beneath its additional elements of magic and mysticism. Civil War, meanwhile, probably has the easiest ride of it – as we already care about its characters and were immediately emotionally plugged into the conflict between Tony and Steve. Still, it served up a thrilling story of friendships breaking down and heroes turning into fugitives all on its own. Yes, we love to see great visual effects and awesome fight scenes, but first and foremost audiences want an engaging story. The quicker movie studios remember that, the better.