Marvel’s “Superhero Fatigue” Excuse Debunked by Polygon Box Office Data

Supergirl’s shaky $38 million domestic opening has reignited a familiar argument: is the superhero genre simply worn out, or are studios just putting out weaker films? According to Polygon’s Brian VanHooker, the numbers say it’s the latter, and the popular idea of “superhero fatigue” doesn’t actually hold up when you look at how individual movies have performed since the pandemic.

For gamers who’ve followed the superhero genre across screens and consoles for the past two decades, from Marvel’s Spider-Man to Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League, the debate matters beyond the multiplex. Box office narratives shape which franchises publishers greenlight for games, and “fatigue” has become a convenient shorthand that can dictate the fate of tie-in projects long before a single trailer drops.

Supergirl’s Box Office Struggles Reopen the Fatigue Debate

Supergirl was meant to build on the momentum James Gunn generated with Superman for the rebooted DC Studios slate, but according to Polygon, critics and audiences have instead pointed to an uneven script, an underdeveloped villain, and a jarring needle-drop near the climax. Despite those specific complaints, Polygon reports that some commentators are still reaching for “superhero fatigue” as a catch-all explanation for the soft numbers.

VanHooker argues that blaming fatigue lets studios off the hook, framing audiences as simply tired of the genre rather than reacting to the quality of what’s actually being released. It’s a distinction that matters for anyone trying to predict whether the next big superhero release, on screen or in a controller, is worth their time and money.

Google Trends and 2022’s Box Office Numbers Tell a Different Story

Polygon cites Google Trends data showing that searches for “superhero fatigue” barely registered before the pandemic and only really took off in 2022. That year’s slate included Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, Black Panther: Wakanda Forever, The Batman, Thor: Love and Thunder, and Black Adam, with the first, fourth and fifth of those widely tagged as fatigue casualties while Wakanda Forever and The Batman were held up as the genre’s saviours.

Yet according to Polygon’s analysis, Multiverse of Madness actually out-earned the other four films that year and outperformed the original Doctor Strange even after adjusting for inflation. That inconsistency, VanHooker notes, suggests the fatigue label tracks critical reception far more closely than it tracks genuine box office decline, which undercuts the idea that general audiences were collectively switching off superheroes.

Kevin Feige’s “Quantity Over Quality” Era Gets the Blame Instead

Looking at 2023, Polygon points to Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3, Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse, Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania, Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom, and The Marvels as the year’s major superhero releases. Every one of those films except Across the Spider-Verse was accused of fatigue, despite Guardians Vol. 3 outgrossing Across the Spider-Verse and performing roughly in line with its own predecessor.

Polygon also notes that Marvel’s own leadership has acknowledged the real issue. According to the outlet, Kevin Feige has admitted the studio’s post-Endgame push to fill out Disney Plus with tie-in shows pulled focus away from the films themselves, describing an approach that leaned toward “quantity over quality.” Polygon frames this as the actual explanation for Marvel’s drop from a near-90 percent hit rate to something closer to a coin flip, rather than any broad public exhaustion with capes and cowls.

VanHooker also flags that Quantumania and Lost Kingdom were widely panned on their own merits, while The Marvels faced additional headwinds Polygon attributes to online hostility directed at star Brie Larson, and separately notes similar toxic commentary aimed at Milly Alcock around Supergirl. Those factors, the outlet argues, are distinct from fatigue and deserve to be named as what they are rather than folded into a vague genre-wide narrative.

Why the Fatigue Narrative Matters for Superhero Games Too

The stakes here extend past box office charts. Publishers greenlighting superhero games, from Insomniac’s Spider-Man line to Marvel Rivals and any future DC Studios projects, watch how box office narratives get reported before committing budgets, marketing pushes, or sequel plans. If executives internalise “fatigue” as the real cause of underperformance, it risks steering resources away from fixing scripts, pacing, and villain design and toward simply spacing out releases instead.

For fans in New Zealand and Australia who’ve watched Marvel and DC content saturate cinemas, streaming, and gaming storefronts alike, the practical takeaway from Polygon’s argument is straightforward: judge each release on its own script, direction, and execution rather than writing off the whole genre. Whether that’s a cinema ticket for the next DC Studios film or a day-one purchase of the next superhero tie-in game, quality remains the deciding factor, not some collective audience burnout that the data simply doesn’t support.

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