Over the past five years, we’ve seen the superhero genre go through some ups and downs, from the highs of “Avengers: Endgame” making billions at the box office, to the lows of films such as “The Marvels” and underperforming Disney+ shows.

The boom of superhero movies caused not just Marvel, but other studios like DC, Amazon and Sony, all push forward with plans to expand their universes with more films and shows.  However, this didn’t work out as the executives planned, as audiences became worn out as too many projects would be released too quickly, causing the so-called superhero fatigue, which can mainly be put down to the recent projects being rushed or bloated, reducing the quality and introducing lesser known characters.

This shift has seen a major change within the studios, as Marvel reduced the number of new shows and films it releases, while DC Studios hit the reset button by also hitting the pause button and bringing in James Gunn to overall the division.

During a recent question and answer session at Wells Fargo’s 8th Annual TMT Summit Conference, Warner Brothers Discovery CEO President of Global Streaming and Games, JB Perrette, was asked about the problem of franchise fatigue, where he called out how they’ve learned from the mistakes Marvel has made with Disney+.

I think, yes, we’re conscious. On the flip side is, Marvel or arguably even Star Wars, but certainly Marvel in the Disney+ example, we look at it and say, we’ve learned from their mistake. You probably don’t need, for that fan base, you don’t need four series a year or five series a year. Probably two is sufficient.

So in the DC world, if you look at a, we’re releasing Creature Commandos, which is an animated DC series, which sort of kicks off James’s new DCU. We have Peacemaker, we’re working on a Green Lantern, but we think probably kind of two DC series a year is probably plenty. You don’t need four, you don’t need five, because that fan base is already pretty rabid and on the platform. And so, I think that’s how we think about the DC franchise.

DC has had similar problems in the past of releasing too many shows and films, resulting in a drop in quality, but it has been making changes to try to fix the problem, though it hasn’t had a breakout hit for a while, following many box office failures and shows failing to get substantial viewing numbers.   

Marvel Studios has also drastically reduced how many projects it has coming out each year, with just two series, one animated show and one film being released in 2024. However, in 2025, Marvel Studios will release three movies, along with three live-action and three animated series.  But it seems like Marvel is clearing out many of the projects it has in the can, as from 2026, we will see far fewer releases. 

Roger’s Take: Executives are undoubtedly looking at their competitors to learn from their mistakes. Disney’s former CEO, Bob Chapek, ‘s remit to get Marvel Studios to churn out as much as possible as quickly as possible resulted in a lack of quality, which was a major reason behind superhero fatigue.   DC has hit the reset button, which kicks off next year with the new Superman movie, which will hopefully rejuvenate the company, since a strong DC pushes Marvel to be even better.

Do you think DC and Marvel have been making too many shows?  Let me know on social media!

Roger Palmer

Roger has been a Disney fan since he was a kid and this interest has grown over the years. He has visited Disney Parks around the globe and has a vast collection of Disney movies and collectibles. He is the owner of What's On Disney Plus & DisKingdom. Email: Roger@WhatsOnDisneyPlus.com Twitter: Twitter.com/RogPalmerUK Facebook: Facebook.com/rogpalmeruk

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