James Gunn says most movies are mediocre now: “I don’t believe in superhero fatigue”
James Gunn, the co-CEO of DC Studios and the director of the 2025 Superman movie, has newly complained that “superhero fatigue” isn’t real—most movies are just mediocre.
In a new interview with GQ, the director addressed what movie-goers and critics call “superhero fatigue”, which posits that the action market is oversaturated with caped do-gooders. This is leading to a plummeting interest in Marvel and DC.
Gunn stated self-assuredly, “I don’t believe in superhero fatigue. I think there’s, you know, mediocre movie fatigue. I think you can tell stories about anything. If you see the same gangster movie over and over, you’re gonna get so bored. But if you see different types of criminals doing different things that are involved in different activities, different levels of morality, different styles, it’s not ever gonna get boring.”
He added, “This concept of ‘superhero fatigue’ in one way is real because there have been a lot of superhero movies that maybe haven’t been up to what they should have been or what the audience wanted. You see the same thing happening across the board with movies in general. That people are not making the movies that need to bring people into the cinemas.”
He hoped the younger generation would find love in the cinemagoing experience, as he truly loves “the magic of cinema.”
Gunn added that the antidote to declining interest in cinema generally is for directors to “take risks. It hasn’t been happening because people are so afraid of making a mistake. I think we should make a lot more mistakes.”
James Gunn recently also gave an interview to The Times, saying, “Superman is the story of America. An immigrant that came from other places and populated the country, but for me it is mostly a story that says basic human kindness is a value and is something we have lost.”
In response, actor Dean Cain, who played Superman in the 1993-1997 TV show Lois & Clarke: The New Adventures of Superman, branded the new movie too “woke”.
Cain said, “Changing beloved characters, I don’t think is a great idea. I think if you wanna create a new character, go ahead and do that, but for me, Superman has always stood for truth, justice and the American way. And the American way is immigrant-friendly — tremendously immigrant-friendly, but there are rules.”
Superman hit UK cinemas on July 11th, 2025. The film stars David Corenswet as Superman and Rachel Brosnahan as Lois Lane.
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