In 2008, comic book films were starting to change. Beyond Iron Man, The Dark Knight made it known that superhero flicks were here to stay. At the same time, Zack Snyder would take a plunge into the world of caped crusaders with his superb adaptation of Watchmen. Even back then, the future helm of the Snyderverse held some visionary ideas about what the novel MCU would become. The things he said in 2008 are eerily accurate, almost like Zack Snyder predicted the entire arc of the MCU – from its rise to its ongoing steady decline and fall.
Zack Snyder’s Chilling Prediction Of The MCU
In a revealing interview with Entertainment Weekly, Snyder commented on what he believed the future of superhero movies might look like. Iron Man had just come out, taking the world by storm and setting the MCU on its path to pop culture dominance. Even before the MCU was a thing, Zack Snyder counted every Marvel film as part of a connected franchise. “Fantastic Four, X-Men, Spider-Man. The Marvel universe has gone nuts!” Snyder commented. Then, he chillingly predicted that we would eventually get a Captain America film, and “Thor, too!” Funnily enough, both Captain America: The First Avenger and Thor were released the same year.
Snyder also mentioned how Marvel’s formula elevated relatively unknown characters into stardom, citing Iron Man as the perfect example. “Iron Man – $300 million domestic box office on a second-tier superhero! And not to demean Iron Man – my point is that we all know about superheroes now.“
What Snyder predicted then is precisely what comic book fans are living through right now: superheroes are now part of the mainstream knowledge. Everyone knows who Stephen Strange and Peter Quill are – even if that was considered almost arcane knowledge back in the 1990s or early 2000s.
That said, Snyder also predicted another aspect of the MCU. No matter how popular your franchise is, people will eventually grow tired of seeing the same movies over and over again. In essence, Snyder predicted how the MCU was going to end.
We’re Living The Post-Credits Scenes Of The MCU
It’s undeniable that we’re living through superhero fatigue. The success of Deadpool & Wolverine is the outlier in the downward spiral of the MCU ever since Endgame came to theaters. That climactic battle between the Avengers and Thanos‘ army was the climax of the entire franchise. Everything that came after it feels more like an epilogue – and a rather unnecessary one at times.
Zack Snyder predicted superhero fatigue (and the issues the MCU faces) back in 2008. “You’re getting to that saturation level where superhero movies, it’s hard for them to figure out what more to do,” Snyder told Entertainment Weekly almost two decades ago.
The Creative Decline Of The MCU
The lack of innovation left the comic book movie genre in a creative bankruptcy. Movies like The Marvels feel more like contractually obligated affairs rather than pieces of an interconnected narrative. The result is the current state of the MCU: an amalgamation of mismatched storylines that lead nowhere.
There’s still hope for the MCU to change its course with the upcoming Doomsday event. Still, it’s impressive how much Zack Snyder understood where the industry and the MCU was headed back in 2008. If only he could have somehow predicted 2016’s Suicide Squad….
RELATED: Yes, Zack Snyder’s Justice League Story Really CAN Be Finished – Deadpool & Wolverine Just Proved It
Tell us, do you think Zack Snyder was right about the MCU’s eventual fall and superhero fatigue?
Zack Snyder's Justice League |
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Determined to ensure that Superman's ultimate sacrifice wasn't in vain, Bruce Wayne recruits a team of metahumans to protect the world from an approaching threat of catastrophic proportions. |
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| Studio: Warner Bros. Pictures, Access Entertainment, DC Films, Atlas Entertainment, The Stone Quarry |
| Running Time: 242 minutes |
| Release Date: March 18, 2021 |
| Cast: Henry Cavill, Ben Affleck, Gal Gadot, Amy Adams, Ray Fisher, Jason Momoa, Ezra Miller, Willem Dafoe, Jesse Eisenberg, Jeremy Irons, Diane Lane, Connie Nielsen, J.K. Simmons, Ciarán Hinds, Amber Heard, Joe Morton |
| Director: Zack Snyder |
| Writers: Jerry Siegel, Joe Shuster, Zack Snyder |
| Genre: Action, Adventure, Fantasy, Superhero |
| Box Office: N/A |
