Winter is Coming
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One third of Marvel fans feel superhero fatigue, study finds

By Ashley Hurst

Benedict Cumberbatch as Dr. Stephen Strange in Marvel Studios' DOCTOR STRANGE IN THE MULTIVERSE OF MADNESS. Photo courtesy of Marvel Studios. ©Marvel Studios 2022. All Rights Reserved.
Benedict Cumberbatch as Dr. Stephen Strange in Marvel Studios' DOCTOR STRANGE IN THE MULTIVERSE OF MADNESS. Photo courtesy of Marvel Studios. ©Marvel Studios 2022. All Rights Reserved. /
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To say Marvel movies are struggling is a bit of a stretch. I mean, Avengers: Endgame was the highest-grossing movie of all time for a bit, and several Marvel films have earned over one billion dollars at the global box office. Those are insane numbers! The latest release, Wakanda Forever, is currently steamrolling the box office. These movies are not only keeping the industry alive but thriving.

At the same time, the term “superhero fatigue” has been floating around the internet for a while. It suggests that, given the constant, never-ending slate of superhero content, we’ll eventually reach a point when people simply don’t care anymore. And according to a recent Fandom study shared by Variety, the fatigue is very real: 36% of Marvel fans are reportedly fatigued with the franchise, compared to 20% of DC fans.

Fandom sought out 5,000 entertainment and gaming fans between the ages of 13 and 54, as well as analyzed its network of over 300 million monthly users across 250,000 different wikis. They concluded that  81% of Marvel fans will watch anything released in the franchise, whereas only 67% of DC fans will do the same. On the flip side, only 38% of Marvel fans say they’re focused on just one or two superheroes as opposed to the entire universe, whereas 57% of DC fans are focused on just a couple of important figures. That could explain why there’s less fatigue on the DC side, since the fans don’t feel as compelled to watch every single release.

How fans within a fandom are categorized

Interestingly, Fandom divides members of fandoms into separate categories. Let’s take a tour:

  • Advocates: These are the core fan base. These fans will watch anything and everything.
  • Culturalists: These people won’t watch everything, but are “heavily influenced by the buzz” and will watch highly-anticipated projects.
  • Intentionalists: This is the category with the highest number of people. These are the type of fans who will watch new things within the first two weeks of release. They are influenced by things like reviews, good marketing, or who is directing.
  • Flirts: These fans won’t watch everything, but will dip in every so often.

According to the study, Marvel has more Advocates and Intentionalists than DC.

No matter how you feel about the staying power of superhero movies and TV shows, their age has not passed. For instance, Amazon has just ordered several live-action shows based on Spider-Man characters, starting with one called Silk: Spider Society. Marvel Studios supposedly has projects planned well into the next decade. Are you feeling superhero fatigue? Let us know!

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