With Marvel releasing umpteen different superhero films every year and a new show launching on Disney+ every other week, and with DC, well, trying at least, the Hollywood trend of superheroes is seemingly indestructible. With Netflix’s The Umbrella Academy and Amazon Prime’s The Boys, the superhero genre is stretching far beyond Marvel and DC’s big-screen offerings. But how long will this keep going for? Will this trend die out at some point?

Superhero films have been around for a very long time. Even before Marvel’s X-Men really kick-started the genre in 2000, the superhero film dates back a long time, with one of the earliest examples being 1920’s The Mark of Zorro. But even if the MCU only made it cool a little more than a decade ago in 2008, and with every major studio trying to latch onto this trend, surely, it’s got to die at some point. Or is it invincible?

Over the past few years, we’ve already been seeing a slight shift in the type of superhero shenanigans we’re seeing. We’re seeing darker, more adult takes on superheroes in programmes like Invincible and Peacemaker and Marvel’s recent Halloween special Werewolf by Night, which is rated 16+ on Disney+. It’s a nice change of pace from the lighthearted quipping of the standard Marvel fare and it’s something a bit more refreshing than what we’re used to seeing.

Additionally, Marvel are branching out into hour-long specials including the previously mentioned Werewolf by Night and the Guardians of the Galaxy Holiday Special alongside their Disney+ series like She-Hulk: Attorney at Law and Ms Marvel. It’s no longer just superhero films that we’re getting: shows and specials are now being thrown into the mix. And with tonal differences and darker versions also available, there’s such a broad range of super shows for us to watch.

But is this enough to keep the genre alive? With so many different shows on every single streaming service and specials, as well as all the films, to keep up with, it’s no longer so easy to keep on top of the MCU lore. If it’s now expected that you’ve seen 20+ films, as well as a bunch of TV shows that are only available on one specific streaming service, just to keep up with the latest movie and to understand what’s going on, it’s becoming hard work to keep up.

It shouldn’t have to feel like homework that you need to watch all the latest shows just so you can enjoy the films. Is this oversaturation from Marvel going to ruin it?

The level of connection that the MCU has is something that’s always been one of its strongest points, that any character from any film can just turn up, but when there’s so much new Marvel content being re leased, almost more than we can physically watch, is it becoming too much to the point that we just can’t keep up?

We’ve seen genres that have defined an era and taken over our screens for a number of years only to then die out and for us to see very little of them go ing forward into the future. We only have to look at the Western films of the 50s and 60s, the epics of the 50s or the disaster movies of the 70s to see that a genre can very easily die out and disappear. It’s only a matter of time before this happens to the superhero film.

Importance of Student Cinemas on Campus

In the early weeks of October this year, the Edinburgh Film Festival, along with both Edinburgh and Aberdeen’s Filmhouse cinemas, announced they would cease trading. These announcements were preceded by their organiser, The Centre for Moving Image, having gone into administration, and therefore no longer being able to support the organisations in their funding efforts. Overnight, a vital aspect of the cultural community within Scotland was lost, and many jobs along with it.

It isn’t just Scotland that is taking a hit though. Just recently the Lighthouse Cinema in Wolverhampton and Hampshire’s Palace Cinema have also confirmed they are heading for closure. While festivals can be important spaces for the independent spheres, the Lighthouse cinema was known for celebrating local LGBTQ+ filmmaking and hosting the biannual Deaffest, the UK’s only deaf-led film festival. The accessibility and representation that independent cinemas have built reflects how cinemas mould their programming opportunities around their communities, seeking to become more fluid representations of them. When a cinema is lost, a chunk of the community goes with it too. But cinemas are not just micro-communities, they are safe spaces, an escapism. Especially in the current economic landscape, people are deserving of venues in which they can find themselves both represented and accounted for.

There is a trend emerging amongst UK-based film festivals and cinemas alike in which venues are being forced to close due to a lack of sustainable funding and audience development. With the continued rise of streaming platforms, and more upcoming features being set for digital releases, the 16-30-year-old age bracket is not going to the cinema as often and are far less likely to take ‘risks’ on the kinds of films they end up buying a ticket for.

This is where student cinemas come in. They encourage youth engagement with film and are run entirely by students for students, staff and members of the public. They are microcosms for the wider exhibition industry, enabling students to both experience and get involved with supporting independent cinemas. Like any other cinema, they’re important community and cultural spaces for each campus and the programming choices seek to reflect each campus’ audience with a mixture of recent releases and cult classics that students may be watching on the big screen for the first time.

Student cinemas tend to show their films about six weeks after their initial release in mainstream cinemas, and can therefore sell their tickets below the typical price of ten pounds. Most also have membership schemes that enable even cheaper prices for those who buy into it. There are challenges of course, as most of these cinemas, York included, only have one screen, which means they are limited to what they can show and when. The average number of screens for larger independent cinemas tends to be about three screens, which obviously means there is more freedom in what to screen and when.

In the North and Midlands, there are three notable student cinemas: York, Warwick and Sheffield. It’s interesting how differently they approach their programming and events management. York Student Cinema has introduced ‘Interactive Screenings’ to their schedules, in which active audience participation is encouraged at screenings. These screenings tend to be popular films that are considered ‘so bad they’re good’ or cult classics such as the annual interactive screening of Rocky Horror Picture Show on Halloween. Sheffield’s cinema, known as Film Unit, recently introduced a ‘Culture Shock’ section to their schedule which seeks to introduce students to classics and lesser-known titles from world cinema, similar to the aims of their neighbouring cinema Showroom. Whereas Warwick student

Whether it’s because we get bored of seeing the same characters on our screens countless times, or if it’s the fact that the stakes can’t get any bigger than a purple alien collecting colourful MacGuffins, or just that we lose interest with the copious amounts of superheroes flying our way, one thing’s for sure, this trend of superhero movies and TV shows filling out screens will fade away at some point. Much like Iron