Comingsoon.net is noticing plenty of similarities in a bunch of 21st century superhero movies. Check out our findings in the gallery below!
With more than a handful of superhero movies every year, at least three being a part of the Marvel Cinematic Universe and at least two being a part of the DC Extended Universe (with a few Sony Marvels and Fox Marvels thrown in as well), there’s no doubt going to be some overlap from time to time. Call it lazy storytelling, call it the McDonaldization of blockbuster filmmaking, heck, call it just plain insulting—this goes beyond recycling Joseph Campbell’s model of the hero’s journey. Studios tread the same ground over and over and cross their fingers their audiences won’t notice.
Judging by how successful superhero movies have been in the digital age of the 21st century, it’s no doubt that those crossed fingers have yielded great results for Disney, Warner Brothers, Sony, 20th Century Fox, and plenty of other studios, too. Don’t worry, though—we’ve seen right through it and are bringing it to your attention now. Don’t let them pander to you anymore. Demand better stories. Go see some original films.
similar superhero movies
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Avengers: Infinity War (2018) and Avengers: Endgame (2019)
Assemble the team. Gather the stones. Lose a complex female team member on Vormir. Take part in an inscrutable CGI battle shrouded in smoke, dust, and debris. Snap. The combined budgets for these two films is nearly one billion dollars, which Infinity War earned easily. Every dollar put toward Endgame represents a victory lap for the studio and an insult to the viewer who just paid to see the same movie under the guise of another.
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Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice (2016) and Captain America: Civil War (2016)
Two heroes, both supposed to be the good guys, can’t help but spar with each other. A complex female sidekick does her best to keep things amiable between the good guys. A villain who threatens both of their livelihoods forces them to set aside their differences and fight side-by-side. Then, a sacrifice that puts their silly fight into perspective. There were less than six weeks that separated these two films in 2016.
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The Incredibles (2004) and Iron Man 3 (2013)
Rejected superfans-turned-vengeful supervillians. Intelligence used as a weapon. Inventions proving to be downfalls. You’ve even got a sequence with the hero’s arms bound up. These stories are more or less identical. Sure, there are other themes explored on the surface here, but the bones are the same.
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Sky High (2005) and Zoom (2006)
Young heroes with new powers. Older heroes past their prime (and an old villain from their past that the new generation must face). Even a couple superhero training facilities complete with humorous montages where the new supers failing to harness their powers. These movies might be the oldest of the bunch, but they prove that this problem exists far outside the boundaries of DC and Marvel.
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Thor: Ragnarok (2017) and Black Panther (2018)
Visions of dead dads, confrontations with long-lost evil family members, big gladiator fights, cautionary tales about colonialism, and acceptance of their rightful spots as kings—Black Panther and Thor: Ragnarok are more or less the same movie under the surface, released a little more than three months apart. Marvel must think their fans love this stuff. They hope they'll eat it up.
