I noticed this before, but it sort of jumped out at me with the reaction to Deadpool. There's this idea that every superhero movie functions as a judgment on the entire genre of superhero films. Deadpool does great? Superhero movies aren't dead/there's no superhero fatigue! Fantastic 4 bombs? Is this the end for superhero movies?!?! There are, on average, somewhere between 5-10 superhero movies a year, and at least one or two of them generally make between 500 million to a billion or more at the box office. There are also a ton of superhero TV shows, cartoon, video games, etc. It's a pretty firmly established genre at this point. I'm not saying that they'll always be happening at this level, but I do think we're past the point where one film, no matter how big, sinks the genre. Especially Marvel's films, which are about as reliable as Pixar at this point, in box office, if not in quality.

So, yeah. It's here to stay.

Will it ever recede in popularity? Or do you just mean there will never be a time when they cease to exist?

It is a trend that will pass. That doesn't mean they will go away completely. Other examples of genre include westerns -- they had a huge zenith, a long run, and never completely disappeared. But there were periods of time when they were more the big thing.

There was a trend in the 70'd for large scale disaster movies. They faded, but are still with us.

Slasher films in the 80's. Still with us, but not as much.

There will come a time when it's not the case that every Memorial Day, Fourth of July, Thanksgiving, and Christmas is anchored by a superhero movie. DC is trying to speed that along.

"Super-Heroes" is a motif, not a genre. Discuss.

Will it ever recede in popularity? Or do you just mean there will never be a time when they cease to exist?

Because surely that is not the question -- westerns have been with us since the 1920's, but they are currently not in vogue for multiple releases a year.

I think we need to have a non-trivial question before there is anything to discuss.

Westerns are locked in to a time period (maybe the only genre that is), making it difficult to produce a "new" story within that genre. Obviously, you can make a new story with interesting characters, but there is a perception of "been there, done that" with Westerns.

With Superheroes, we are only just now exploiting characters, concepts, and stories that have been around since the 1960s, not to mention the capability to produce entirely new concepts in the subgenre. I think there are decades left before it loses steam, a la the Western.

"Super-Heroes" is a motif, not a genre. Discuss.

"Super-Heroes" is a fashion choice, not a genre. Discuss.

It is a trend that will pass. That doesn't mean they will go away completely. Other examples of genre include westerns -- they had a huge zenith, a long run, and never completely disappeared. But there were periods of time when they were more the big thing.

There was a trend in the 70'd for large scale disaster movies. They faded, but are still with us.

Slasher films in the 80's. Still with us, but not as much.

There will come a time when it's not the case that every Memorial Day, Fourth of July, Thanksgiving, and Christmas is anchored by a superhero movie. DC is trying to speed that along.

Super-heroes are tearing IMWAN apart.

They are the elephant in the room. Discuss. Pardon?

When everybody's dad is wearing graphic superhero tshirts, it's going to result in young people wanting something of their own.

I do know that I'm pretty tired of them though; that might be significant because I'm a long time fan, or insignificant because I'm tired of a lot of things at my age. It does feel like over kill currently.

Agreed. We should ban the topic. And your face.