Ah, that delicate question about the superhero bubble bursting. Every new movie, whether a super success or massive dud, gets everyone chattering about how movies starring once-spandexed heroes are on the way out and how audiences will tire and other blah that makes up far too much of comic book movie coverage. While both of the MCU movies this year certainly saw a decrease on box office expectations (and let's not even acknowledge Fant4stic), it feels like that's a little bit alarmist thinking. Next year will be the real test though. We're going to be getting a grand total of seven movies (assuming there's no production-enforced release date changes) from Marvel and DC properties alone - Deadpool, Batman V Superman: Dawn Of Justice, Captain America: Civil War, X-Men: Apocalypse, Suicide Squad, Doctor Strange and Gambit - more than any year previously. With at least two movies in each of the respective MCU, DCEU and X-Men series, we're the closest we've ever been to peak superhero saturation. There's a high level of variety here for sure, with R-ratings, pure fantasy, anti-heroes and more making each project distinguished (heck, the two big hero showdown movies couldn't come across more differently). But that doesn't mean the year still isn't, to use the parlance, the genre's biggest test. 2016 will determine whether audiences will buy in unconditionally to cinematic universe with multiple releases in a single year or (as suggested by the success of Jurassic World and co.) are starting to long for some diversity; a decision that will have a major impact on the box office in the coming years.
