KINGSMAN Director Matthew Vaughn Thinks Marvel Needs To “Make Less Films And Concentrate On Making Them Great”

Are comic book movies in trouble? Some people would have you believe so, though talk of “superhero fatigue” feels somewhat premature. The genre has delivered more misses than hits lately, but all it really needs is one huge box office hit like Avengers: Endgame or a critical darling like Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings to bounce back. 

Filmmaker Matthew Vaughn is no stranger to comic books after working on the X-Men, Kick-Ass, and Kingsman franchises. Even now, he’s believed to be in talks to take charge of The Authority for DC Studios and, in the late 2000s, was even Marvel Studios’ top choice for Thor. 

Talking to Screen Rant, Vaughn shared his thoughts on the current state of the genre and whether he believes superhero fatigue is an issue for the MCU’s recent woes.

“I think there’s been so many bad superhero movies as well that it’s like when the Western got, you make so many than you get bored of the genre, not because the genre is bad, but because the films are bad. I was old enough, sadly, when Batman and Robin came out, and it was terrible. I was a big Batman fan, and we were like, Ah! And then superheroes stopped, and then they came back. Now, I’ll be intrigued to see how The Marvels does.”

“I genuinely don’t know what’s happening with the superhero in the sense that, I do think, maybe we all need a little bit of time off from it. Maybe someone will make something so great that we will get excited again and remind everybody that just having identical ways of making superheroes… Superhero films are films. It’s a film that has superheroes in it. I think what happened was that they became superheroes, and the film part wasn’t that important.”

When you’re making a superhero movie, you sort of have to work harder because you’ve got to make people believe it. That’s why X-Men First Class was pretty grounded. We set it in the Cuban Missile Crisis; they had relatable human problems. And it wasn’t relying on the CG. I think CG’s f–ked up everything as well, because you feel like you’re watching a video game. You’re not with the characters.”

“Apart from Guardians, I still think Groot and the racoon are f–king pieces of genius, that I feel so much for them. So I’ll be intrigued. I think at least DC is under; I think James Gunn and Saffron they’ve got a good chance of popping, and hopefully, Feige will go back to less is more and make less films and concentrate on making them great.”

He sure is heaping plenty of praise on DC Studios’ co-CEO James Gunn there, eh? Rightly so in fairness, though we can’t help but wonder whether Vaughn is essentially a lock for The Authority at this stage. 

There’s long been a narrative among certain critics and outlets that superhero movies need to go away, hence why the superhero fatigue narrative is now being pushed so hard. The genre is here to stay – if not, the DCU will be in trouble – but Vaughn is correct that now might be a good time to lessen the quantity and focus on quality. 

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