‘Deadpool & Wolverine’ Director Sean Levy Rejects The Idea Of Cinematic Superhero Fatigue: “People Are Way Too Quick To Declare The Last Rites Of The Superhero Genre”
In adding his voice to the ongoing discourse, Deadpool & Wolverine director Sean Levy has dismissed the idea that general movie-going audiences are currently suffering from ‘superhero fatigue’.
The seeming last hope to save the Marvel Cinematic Universe from complete failure offered his take on the superhero genre’s current struggles while speaking with Entertainment Weekly‘s Nick Romano in promotion of the upcoming crossover film.
Rather than delve straight into the topic, Levy began his thoughts by discussing the overall concept behind Deadpool & Wolverine, explaining, “With the character of Wade, especially in combination with the character of Logan, I saw that story beyond the franchise value.”
“You have Wade Wilson, who is like an impetuous motormouth child in a superheroic man’s body, and you have the laconic, largely nonverbal, gruff Logan,” he told Romano. “On the surface, they’re completely different, which is what makes them a perfect comedic duo.”
“But they’re both haunted by regret,” the director added, “and there’s a darkness and a sadness and ultimately a solitude to both these heroes that also makes them anti-heroes.”
From there, Levy dived into the film’s myriad of cameos, explaining that while fans may be wary of such easter eggs given their overuse in recent years, the Deadpool & Wolverine team “didn’t want any of the cameos or characters to be the story of the movie.”
“But they are peppered in throughout,” he detailed. “There’s a lot of characters. The internet is a delight of rumors about the multitude of character cameos that are in this movie. Some rumors are true, some are way off base.”
Continuing, Levy further noted, “Wade himself is a fan. Without giving anything away about the various universes the different characters live in… Because he’s in some ways a fawning motormouthed little fanboy himself, it allows the movie to call out and reference a ton of deep-cut Marvel references.”
In light of Levy’s willingness to lean into those very genre trappings which, thanks to a recent overabuse by lazy writers, have led to some audiences completely tapping out of superhero films all together, the director was then pressed by Romano for his thoughts on the concept of “superhero fatigue”.
“Marvel had some misses,” he ultimately admitted, “[but] people are way too quick to declare the last rites of the superhero genre. I don’t buy into that fatigue narrative.”
As noted above, Levy is far from the first ‘superhero creative’ to weigh in on the widely-postulated theory for the genre’s box office decline.
As far as supporters go, both DC Studios co-head James Gunn and former DCEU architect Zack Snyder believe that, at current, audiences have become exhausted with superhero films all-together.
Meanwhile opponents to the theory, such as Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse co-writer Christopher Miller and Arrowverse creator Marc Guggenheim, believe that rather than some sort of general exhaustion, the genre is stumbling due to the respective quality failings of each individual project.
At current, Deadpool & Wolverine is gearing up to slash its way into theaters on July 26th.
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