The once-dominant superhero film has suffered a host of injuries lately, from the middling performance of Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania to the thunderous box office crashes of Shazam: Fury of the Gods! and The Flash. Many potential factors have been assigned blame, like behind-the-scenes drama, studio interference, excessive output, or superhero fatigue, but such a complex stew leaves little clear direction forward for Marvel or DC Studios. If the modern superhero movie needs saving, it could do worse than take influence from a very different kind of superhero film: monster maestro Guillermo del Toro’s Hellboy.
