Hot take: Dune (2021) made superhero movies uncool the same way Nirvana made hair metal uncool
That's when Dune comes into play in October 2021, which aligns with "Smells Like Teen Spirit" gaining airplay in October 1991. This was a big-budget, philosophical sci-fi epic based on a classic book, with a large, diverse ensemble cast of respected actors, and helmed by a singular auteur in Denis Villeneuve, rather than the latest yes-man to Kevin Feige. It championed practical effects and location shooting, along with VFX that hold up after 30 months, instead of CGI and green-screens. Everyone treated their situations with seriousness and gravitas, instead of making quips and saying funnies. There were deep philosophical themes like culture, history, industry, religion, philosophy, and society that the MCU could never hope to tackle. And eventually, despite ending on an obvious cliffhanger, it made just enough money to get Part Two green-lit, showing that audiences were genuinely invested in Paul Atreides' goal of becoming a savior to the Fremen.share
This is when it started becoming easier to criticize Marvel and the whole superhero-industrial complex. Perhaps coincidentally, two weeks after Dune's release, Marvel put out Eternals, its own attempt at a philosophical sci-fi epic with a large ensemble cast and based on decades-old source material, with an Oscar-winning director at the helm, but not only did it become Marvel's first Rotten movie with critics, it made $33M less than Dune's modest $434M global intake. This was the first time Marvel Studios was seen as the inferior product, and things would only escalate from there. Even though Marvel bounced back with Spider-Man: No Way Home, people were already mocking it when it home video in March, from its obvious green-screen shots, to poor lighting in action scenes, to the "applause" moments for the other Spideys being silent and awkward. Despite its status as a juggernaut and the defining movie of 2021, it got just one token VFX nomination at the Oscars (which many argued wasn't even deserved), where it was trounced by Dune in its below-the-line sweep.
From then on, 2022 would give us many more movies with blockbuster spectacle that people would compare negatively to Marvel, all of which were director-driven passion projects with deep themes and coherent action. We got RRR, a Tollywood blockbuster that became the rare Indian action movie to break out in the U.S. and gain notoriety in film circles. We got Everything Everywhere All at Once, a multiverse adventure that told its own story with inventive action, creative jokes, and emotional performances, eventually becoming the most awarded film of all time and winning Best Picture. We got Top Gun: Maverick and Avatar: The Way of Water, the two global mega-blockbusters of the year that were sold on singular auteurs (Tom Cruise and James Cameron), and were legacy sequels to decades-old films, but told their stories with practical effects and spectacle and genuine heart and emotions, rather than Marvel's snarky self-awareness. Suddenly it became harder to put up with the latest superhero product; you couldn't enjoy Doctor Strange 2 with its shallow callbacks and references after watching EEAAO break the mold, and Black Panther 2 looked so cheap as a water-set action movie next to Avatar 2.
Then 2023 gave us Barbenheimer, the double-feature phenomenon of the year, sold as two tonally clashing yet stylistically brilliant big-budget spectacles from directors Christopher Nolan and Greta Gerwig, which made $2.3B combined and will rack up tons of Oscars next month, with Oppenheimer almost certainly winning Best Picture. They were arguably the high point of a year that saw movies like The Marvels lose millions, Quantumania get reviews so bad it kills Marvel's multiverse phase, and The Flash destroying DC's brand permanently and potentially killing off the legacy sequel. And this is coming full-circle in 2024, with Madame Web being a cultural punching-bag not seen since Cats, and Dune 2 looking to open big as the first blockbuster and awards contender of the year, already getting praise for its faithfulness to the book and Villeneuve's direction.