The Witches' Ride by by William Holbrook Beard

Weekend Roundtable: What’s Next After Superheroes?

That’s it, folks. With Avengers: Endgame, we’ve not only hit the end of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, but of the superhero genre entirely. No more movies about super-powered crimefighters will be made from here on out. In their absence, what will be the next major trend to sweep popular culture?

Brian Hoss

With Game of Thrones persisting at the top of pop culture even in its final season, I suspect that the intriguing fantasy format of that show, Dune, and even Harry Potter will explode into all kinds of media. I’m talking about the Game of Thrones spinoffs and knockoffs that are on the way, sci-fi fantasy programs (such as The Mandalorian), and, knowing Disney, something very kid-focused (Frozen 3).

Of course, I’m pretty excited about the new Dune, so maybe this is wishful thinking.

Adam Tyner (DVDTalk)

Maybe witches will be the next big thing. The Chilling Adventures of Sabrina and Charmed have recently been revived for television, and the remake of Suspiria isn’t that far in the rear view mirror. Black-ish creator Kenya Barris is spearheading a remake of Bewitched for ABC. Robert Zemeckis’ adaptation of the Roald Dahl classic The Witches is on the way next year, while the blockbuster musical Wicked is casting its spell on the big screen in 2021. A witch is among the nemeses in 2020’s live-action remake of Mulan. If you don’t feel like waiting that long for a Disney witch, Maleficent: Mistress of Evil will be out just in time for Halloween. There’s supposedly some sort of small-screen Hocus Pocus remake or sequel in the works as well.

So, yeah. Witches! You heard it here first.

Josh Zyber

Vampires and zombies have each already had their day. I suspect that Adam is right about witches making a big push. (He didn’t even mention The Witch or A Discovery of Witches, which both made some waves recently.)

Looking at where our culture is right now, though, it’s clear to me that one particular type of monster is certain to dominate the zeitgeist for the foreseeable future. I’m speaking, of course, about racist morons.

They’re already everywhere, top to bottom in our society, from secretive backwoods Klan meetings to the highest reaches of public power. Even if we’re fortunate enough to oust some of these imbeciles from office in the next election cycle (which is probably unlikely, to be honest, as they’re just getting stronger), it seems inevitable that we’ll have to suffer decades worth of movies and TV shows about the damage they’ve done to this era. Some will be serious-minded political docudramas, but racists will also become the de facto villains in action movies and other summer tentpoles.

It’s a depressing vision, I’m sorry to say.

Your Turn

How relieved are you to finally be done with superheroes? What do you see coming next?

[Note: The header image to the post is The Witches’ Ride, by William Hobrook Beard, 1870. Found at Wikimedia Commons.]

25 comments

  1. Timcharger

    Or in 6 weeks we can take a school trip to Europe for some more superheroing. Pack your “suit.”

    There’s giant Kaiju monsters on their way, too.

    • Bolo

      Yes, I think Americans are going to get a lot more kaiju and mech movies in years to come. A Hollywood ‘Gundam’ movie seems to be building steam lately. And as I’ve said before, it seems inevitable that Hollywood takes a shot at ‘Attack on Titan’; that property just checks too many boxes as an appetizing franchise.

      • Timcharger

        Maybe they can do prequels? Feigefilms can do Avengers prequels? Explore the stories of young Ultron & young Thanos? Find out some blood parasite is what gives all superheroes/supervillians their powers. Learn how trade disputes and parliamentary procedures is what led to this conflict.

        Oh, we can learn Thanos’ real name. He was just Than. Under the Family Name entry, he wrote “no.” And some villian registry administrator, “Than with No family, okay Thanos, you’re registered, next in line!”

      • Barsoom Bob

        Whoa Josh, you are working a dark vein of humor today. LOL I really don’t know if you were just Joshin’ with us in your paragraph above, or, if you were stepping out of the gaslighting fog and were just being real for a moment, but I loved it ! Couldn’t have said it better myself !

  2. Scott

    God, I WISH this was the end of Marvel and superhero movies. Miss the days of non-existent or minimal use of CGI. Also looking forward to a time when great actors aren’t wasting their talents. So over it.

  3. Csm101

    Foreign language art house fare. They’ll be packing those Atmos theaters now that those pesky superheroes are out of the way.

    • ‘Farinelli The Return in 3D in space’, ‘An Elephant Sitting Still 2: Still Sitting Still’, ‘Blue Is The Warmest Colour: Red’. Yes. Sign me up for the foreign language art house fare wave.

  4. David Weishahn

    The next big sensation at the cinemas will be cats. They are already a favorite on YouTube; now with the studio execs lack of imagination they will rip those stories and put them on the big screen.

    • Elizabeth

      Goose the cat/Flerken from Captain Markel can get his trilogy. Except we’ll discover that the life a Flerken is just like that of an Earth cat only they hack up bigger things than hair balls. Part 1 will be 90 minutes of Goose playing piano, followed by 3 hours 2 minutes of chasing a laser pointer, and the trilogy will wrap with 4 hours 23 minutes and 15.8 seconds of Nick Fury singing Motown songs while giving Goose a bath.

  5. Shannon Nutt

    Between Bond 25, two more Mission: Impossible films and Russian collusion, I think spy movies are prime for a big comeback.

  6. Pedram

    I say video game movies are finally going to get consistently good.
    There have been a few I enjoyed in the past (Mortal Kombat, Prince of Persia, Rampage, a couple Resident Evil movies), but they have in the minority overall.
    Here’s hoping that with the Uncharted movie things will turn around – though with the lack of Nathan Fillion and the focus on the young Nathan Drake (showing that they’re more interested in a franchise than what the fans want), I’m still not convinced that Hollywood gets it.

  7. Charles Contreras

    Maybe movies that are made in the same or similar style to Pink Floyd The Wall, which by the way is long overdue on blu ray.

  8. photogdave

    I think big action star franchises á la the 80s with Arnie, Jean-Claude etc. will make a comeback.
    They’ll be taking out middle eastern terrorists and invading Mexicans of course.

    • Timcharger

      Arnie is an immigrant from Austria.
      Jean-Claude is an immigrant from Belgium.

      We should have good old boys like James Bond and Bruce Lee protect us.

  9. Nathan

    Captain Marvel 2, Guardians 3, Black Widow, Far From Home, Aquaman 2, Wonder Woman 1984, The Batman, Suicide Squad, Captain Marvel 3, Black Panther 2 etc etc etc etc etc

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