It’s a bird! It’s a plane! No, it’s a nonstop stream of comic book movies! Throughout the year, superhero fans worldwide were thrilled with the release of numerous box office hits, such as “Superman,” “Fantastic Four: First Steps” and “Thunderbolts.” With so many inspiring, action-packed possibilities, fans can be certain they’ll be entertained anytime they walk into the theater.
This poses the question: why are these movies so popular? Why is everyone so obsessed with superheroes? The answer is simple: superheroes make their fans feel. They give viewers something to aspire to.
“Every character brings a different emotion: watching a historically ‘bad’ character become good makes me feel like I can come back from anything; characters that have always fought for what’s right, like Captain America, inspire me to be the best version of myself every day,” commented Junior Jayden Caltumo.
Even when fans aren’t old enough to understand the complexities of the spandex-wearing heroes, they know that they love them, which is evident from the popularity of superheroes with children. Guidance counselor Mr. Nikolopoulos, for example, has been an avid fan of Marvel’s cartoons and trading cards since he was in third grade. Watching comic book culture expand into mainstream media over the years has been something he’s greatly enjoyed watching, as it allows a wider variety of people to discover something he’s so passionate about.
Despite the seemingly overwhelming love for superheroes and their cinematic appearances, fans have had their fair share of concerns over recent years. Many have felt that studios have been releasing interchangeable movies over and over again, causing the genre to become stagnant and unimpressive.
However, 2025 seems to be the year that all changes. In an interview with CBS Mornings, D.C. Studios’ Co-CEO James Gunn offered this response to fans concerned that his new “DC Cinematic Universe” will remain a series of copy and paste projects: “There’s not a company style. It’s not like every movie is gonna be like ‘Superman.’ The artists and the directors and the writers that create each one will bring their own sense to it…We don’t want people being bored.”
This effort has already started to make a difference, with the release of “Superman” making even long-term Marvel fan Nikolopoulos admit that it was his favorite movie of the summer. The support for this movie has stretched across the globe as well. Earning over $600 million globally, the film has been cleared for a sequel, “Man of Tomorrow,” which is scheduled to release on July 9, 2027.
Likewise, Marvel studios has begun to shift their focus from quantity to quality with fans responding to recent releases “Thunderbolts” and “Fantastic Four: First Steps” in an overwhelmingly positive manner.
After seeing “Thunderbolts,” which released May 2, 2025, Senior Faith Hohn felt that, “It broke Marvel out of the habit of releasing the same movie over and over again. It was very new. It was just less serious than a lot of the previous movies and contained a lot more comedy. It also brought back a lot of characters from other movies and TV shows, which is something I don’t think Marvel has done a lot of recently.”
Fans still have plenty to look forward to for the coming years with projects like “Supergirl,” “Avengers: Doomsday,” “Spiderman: Beyond the Spiderverse” and “The Batman Part II” all releasing before the end of 2027. Make sure to catch these upcoming releases and support a local movie theater! Excelsior!
