{"id":320387,"date":"2025-12-17T06:06:08","date_gmt":"2025-12-17T06:06:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/320387\/"},"modified":"2025-12-17T06:06:08","modified_gmt":"2025-12-17T06:06:08","slug":"most-modern-superhero-movies-no-longer-do-something-the-classic-masterpieces-mastered","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/320387\/","title":{"rendered":"Most Modern Superhero Movies No Longer Do Something The Classic Masterpieces Mastered"},"content":{"rendered":"

Looking back, the dawn of the MCU<\/a> was a key moment in Hollywood history. It led to a superhero boom that has only really slowed down over the last few years; and yet, despite the fact modern superhero blockbusters struggle to perform in the box office, they still have massive cultural significance. There can be no doubt next year\u2019s Avengers: Doomsday will be one of the biggest hits of the year, in large part because of the return of Robert Downey Jr<\/a>. \u2013 as a villain, this time.<\/p>\n

And yet, remarkably, modern superhero films have failed to learn one key lesson from the classics. As good as the likes of Iron Man, Guardians of the Galaxy, and so many other blockbusters may be, there\u2019s one key way they\u2019ll never hold up to the likes of the 1978 Superman film. There\u2019s a sense in which Iron Man set the entire genre in a different direction, and it\u2019s yet to do a course-correction.<\/p>\n

Classic Superhero Movies Did One Thing Better Than Modern Movies<\/p>\n

\"Christopher<\/p>\n

There\u2019s a reason the 1978 Superman film was such a success, and it\u2019s only partly due to the stunning performance of Christopher Reeve<\/a>. It was also notable for an unforgettable soundtrack, with a stunning theme composed by the legendary John Williams. That theme has established itself as a permanent part of Superman lore, so legendary that James Gunn riffed on it in this year\u2019s reboot. From that moment on, each superhero became known for their own distinctive theme tune. It\u2019s still almost impossible to think of the 1988 Batman film without remembering Danny Elfman\u2019s music, for example.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

The MCU took a different direction with 2008\u2019s Iron Man, though. Marvel wanted to tell superhero stories that were set in \u201cthe world outside your window,\u201d and that meant deliberately avoiding theme tunes. Alan Silvestri pushed things in a different direction with Captain America: The First Avenger and The Avengers, and it\u2019s possible the entire genre would have moved in a different direction \u2013 if not for James Gunn. Guardians of the Galaxy used music<\/a> in a totally different way, and the genre generally forgot Silvestri\u2019s example.<\/p>\n

Modern Superhero Movies are Implicitly Admitting the Problem<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Oddly enough, many modern superhero films have admitted the mistake. Gunn\u2019s example is a case in point; while the 2025 Superman film has a tremendous theme, it largely riffs on the classic Donner version. When the MCU began integrating X-Men characters into the current narrative, it was with versions of the theme from X-Men: The Animated Series. These decisions implicitly acknowledge that the modern superhero films are standing on the shoulders of giants, rather than serving as masterpieces in their own rights.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

There are some positive signs, though. Fantastic Four: First Steps featured a delightful fanfare that\u2019s particularly distinctive, and that\u2019s not really a coincidence; the film was set in an alternate timeline, meaning Marvel had no worries about setting the story in \u201cthe world outside your window\u201d anymore. Appropriately enough, that\u2019s a step in the right direction for the entire genre \u2013 a move towards something more fantastical, something more dramatic, that dares to bring the wonder and joy of the entire genre to the real world. <\/p>\n

It\u2019s time for the genre to decide to make more masterpieces \u2013 which will include iconic new themes, not just homages to the past.<\/p>\n

What do you think? Leave a comment below and\u00a0join the conversation now in the\u00a0ComicBook Forum<\/a>!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Looking back, the dawn of the MCU was a key moment in Hollywood history. It led to a…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":320388,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[87152,96,6461,2839,96773,56,54,55],"class_list":{"0":"post-320387","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-movies","8":"tag-answer-feature","9":"tag-entertainment","10":"tag-marvel-cinematic-universe","11":"tag-movies","12":"tag-superman-2025","13":"tag-uk","14":"tag-united-kingdom","15":"tag-unitedkingdom"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/320387","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=320387"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/320387\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/320388"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=320387"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=320387"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=320387"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}