SPIDER-MAN: FAR FROM BROKE

SPIDER-MAN: BRAND NEW DAY debuted to the second-biggest opening weekend box-office take of all time. What’s that say about the future of the Marvel Universe and the Summer Blockbuster?

AVENGERS: ENDGAME was the high-water mark of superhero films. Released in 2019, it was the capstone of the first three phases of the Marvel Cinematic Universe and shattered box office records, raking in an astounding $2.79 billion dollars at the global box office. That exceeds the gross domestic product of 27 nations, making one single Marvel movie the financial equivalent of the nation of Gambia or any number of Caribbean and African nations. It was a runaway success that had all eyes looking to Marvel Studios’ next move. The success of SPIDER-MAN: FAR FROM HOME only created anticipation for Phase Four and beyond.

And then, ETERNALS happened.

Marvel’s newest attempt to hard-launch a superhero team full of C-list characters has been, to date, the company’s biggest failure. Certainly, BLACK WIDOW and SHANG-CHI AND THE LEGEND OF THE TEN RINGS didn’t light the global box office on fire ($379 million and $432 million, respectively), but at least they had good opening weekends and turned profits even with industry-standard accounting practices. ETERNALS was DOA by Marvel standards, and it still made $402 million globally. A modest success is still a success. But the bloom was off the rose by then, and the knives were out for Phase Five.

The mighty Marvel machine still churned out hits with known properties:  ANT-MAN AND THE WASP: QUANTUMANIA limped to break-even. DEADPOOL & WOLVERINE crushed expectations at the box office. Even CAPTAIN AMERICA: BRAVE NEW WORLD and THUNDERBOLTS were successful by normal standards. However, THE MARVELS was not. Making $206 million against a stated budget of $350 million, it won the race to the bottom with 2008’s THE INCREDIBLE HULK and stands out as the only Marvel Studios property to lose money. Clearly, THE MARVELS heralded the death of the so-called “capeshit” genre that had been dominating the box office for almost 20 years.

But then, SPIDER-MAN: BRAND NEW DAY happened.

AVENGERS: ENDGAME made $1.22 billion dollars in three days across the world. SPIDER-MAN: BRAND NEW DAY has made an estimated $927 million dollars in the same time period (all without a single IMAX screening). The next-closest movie to those two untouchable titans? AVENGERS: INFINITY WAR ($640 million) and SPIDER-MAN: NO WAY HOME ($600 million). Clearly, the evidence shows, the only superhero who can match up with the Avengers in the box office is the friendly, neighborhood Spider-Man.

Of course, the easiest way to disprove the argument of capeshit fatigue is the fact that capeshit continues to make huge profits at the box office. The worst-performing movies of the bunch failed not because of superhero fatigue, but because they were bad. THE MARVELS? Not great. ETERNALS? Not great. THE INCREDIBLE HULK? As much as I like Tim Roth eating the CGI scenery, it’s not great. Most of the DCEU’s output during this time period? Also not great. In the rush to compete with Marvel, most other companies pumping out superhero films are doing so with weak scripts and bad CGI. For all its flaws, the MCU at least has been more consistent than any 38 (!!!) movie collection has any right to be, and there’s always at least one tall poppy in every bunch.

Every phase of the MCU has had at least one movie make a billion dollars, and usually it’s been, as J. Jonah Jameson might say, “A PICTURE WITH SPIDER-MAN!”  Why? The SPIDER-MAN series tends to be really well-written, and a success with both critics and audiences. It’s capeshit, but it’s the best version of capeshit that’s likely going to hit the theater in that particular time period because audiences (particularly Gen Z)  are still on board with the adventures of Peter Parker and his amazing friends.

Why do Gen Z kids still like Spidey? Well, the fact that it’s the modern version of Bogie and Bacall certainly helps. Tom Holland and Zendaya are the biggest celebrity couple since Brangelina, and Tomdaya show no signs of slowing down because they tend to pick great projects both together and separately. Between this film, THE ODYSSEY, and their secret marriage reveal, Tomdaya are having a 2026 to remember, and the kids seem to love them even when the projects around them (EUPHORIA) are weird and bad.

A potential reason for the continued success of SPIDER-MAN aside from quality? Spidey got them young. My daughter has been watching SPIDEY AND HIS AMAZING FRIENDS for years at this point, and she’s at the prime age to start going to movies. Kids have grown up watching Peter Parker since 1967, and when there’s not a Spider-Man cartoon on the air, Spider-Man is in movies. For all the television love, it feels that the movie that cemented Spider-Man as the choice for Gen Z was the amazing Lord and Miller SPIDER-MAN: INTO THE SPIDER-VERSE, which Tom Holland acknowledges as the best Spider-Man film ever made. An excellent film with protagonists that aren’t just one white kid created in 1962? That’s the sort of film that has appeal across all demographics, and those demographics are being funneled into Tom Holland’s Spider-Man films.

Another reason Spider-Man seems to have staying power regardless of actor, studio, or project? The video games do a lot of the heavy lifting. In the best piece of timing ever, two months before INTO THE SPIDER-VERSE came out, MARVEL’S SPIDER-MAN was released by Sony and Insomniac Games and it has remained the best superhero video game ever released, except for perhaps the sequels MARVEL’S SPIDER-MAN: MILES MORALES and MARVEL’S SPIDER-MAN 2. The three modern Spider-Man games and their DLC are some of the best open-world games ever created.

Like the films, the video games feed into both nostalgia for the character and excitement for the new versions of the character, like Morales and Spider-Gwen, that OG Spider-fans didn’t necessarily grow up on. That excitement for Spidey on the PS 5 feeds back into the excitement for Spidey on the big screen, and vice-versa. It’s both wildly financially successful and the most successful tie-in marketing program since MAD MEN fed into the bourbon boom of the early 2010s.

It’s not as if Spider-Man as a property can’t miss, but even the misses (SPIDER-MAN 3, anyone?) don’t seem to dilute the brand too much. Whenever Spidey hits a low point, the next entry creates a brand-new high point with a new star and new hype for it. Nothing stays gold forever, but as long as the studio doesn’t interfere too much, the scripts are solid, and the stars are intact, it seems like Spider-Man will continue to be immune to accusations of “capeshit” and failure.

A great character can’t overcome a bad movie. The character matters more than the people behind it, and the writers, directors, and actors matter more than the character. So the solution is to just… make good movies. Make good movies with characters people like and make them well. Dolby, IMAX, good popcorn… none of these things truly matter. Audiences will show up, if you give them something worth watching.

The days of capes and masks getting audiences into the theater aren’t over; they never actually existed. Marvel hits more than misses because they make competent, solid movies that are entertaining. Their unsuccessful movies would be unsuccessful regardless of the superhero genre because rushed scripts, poor casting, bad CGI, and uninspired direction aren’t a Marvel issue, they’re worldwide in every film genre from every production house. Superhero fatigue was never the issue; bad movie fatigue is the issue. Whether it’s Spider-Man, Batman, or Vin Diesel, bad is bad, and more often than not, the proof of badness is in the box office receipts.

Ron Hogan is a writer, podcaster, gadabout, and raconteur from Louisville, Kentucky. You can read his written works at Den of Geek, Film Stories, and at several magazines and sites that no longer exist. You can hear his voice (and potentially see his magnificent beard) on the Film Strip Podcast. 

PLEASE NOTE: The views and opinions of the staff of Memento Mori Ink do not necessarily represent those of Memento Mori Ink or Crystal Lake Publishing, nor do the views or opinions of Crystal Lake necessarily represent those of Memento Mori Ink or its staff. Thank you for understanding.