Why Do So Many Superhero Shows Struggle on Streaming?

Superheroes can stand up to power-hungry titans, evil masterminds, dark elves, and garden variety villains, but one thing they can’t seem to conquer is streaming. Marvel has proven again and again that audiences are hungry for well-made popcorn flicks, and Greg Berlanti has successfully managed to make the CW ground zero for a small screen DC universe. However, Netflix’s partnership with Marvel has fizzled, DC Universe is struggling, and Prime Video’s upcoming dark superhero show, The Boys, is garnering mixed reviews ahead of its July 26th debut. Has the bubble for superhero content on streaming finally burst? Can Disney+ course correct Marvel’s television missteps? And is there something inherent about comic book storytelling that doesn’t lend itself to streaming? As another San Diego Comic-Con wraps up, lets look at whether or not superhero shows can survive on streaming.

When Netflix first launched its slate of original programming, their Marvel deal was thought to be one of their savviest moves to date. All the way back in 2013, Deadline reported that Marvel and Netflix had reached an “unprecedented deal” for “Marvel’s most ambitious foray yet into live-action TV storytelling.” There would be four separated hour-long series about Daredevil, Jessica Jones, Luke Cage, and Iron Fist that would culminate in an epic crossover limited series, Marvel’s The Defenders.

At first, these series were unqualified successes, with Marvel’s Daredevil spawning its own spin-off Marvel’s The Punisher, and Marvel’s Jessica Jones earning a Peabody. However, Marvel’s Jessica Jones ended its three-season run last month with hardly any fanfare and series low reviews. It would prove to be the final coda in Marvel’s deal with Netflix. The streaming service had been cancelling its Marvel shows left and right. It was understood that Disney+ was being positioned as Marvel’s streaming home, and, let’s be honest…not all the Netflix Marvel shows were successes. Daredevil, Jessica Jones, Luke Cage, and The Punisher all had strong first seasons, but each series began to fizzle later on, while Iron Fist and The Defenders were critical disasters. Elsewhere, Marvel’s Runaways did fine on Hulu, but just fine. It’s hardly a zeitgeist-puncturing hit, and DC Universe’s future is in question as it’s already canceled one of its original shows.

In fact, superhero shows have been fumbling on streaming since the get-go. For all the praise that the early Marvel Netflix shows received, they each had their detractors lamenting how long and slow the seasons were. In fact, almost without fail, the Marvel shows that landed on streaming, be they Luke Cage or Runaways, suffered from “bloat.” In adapting these comic book characters’ origin stories for streaming, Marvel in particular took advantage of the “13-hour movie” approach to plotting. That meant showdowns with villains were postponed, unnecessary subplots were introduced, and long scenes featuring only dialogue were featured. It stagnated the storytelling, and meant that viewers got bored. Couple this with the fact that a lot of these shows are shot with an emphasis on “realism,” meaning straightforward on-the-ground settings, and you sometimes also had shows whose visual language was boring to watch.

Ironically, in adapting superhero comic books for streaming, many writers pushed against what makes the genre’s style so irresistible: quick pacing, economic dialogue, and beautiful visual storytelling. Comic books don’t waste space on scenery that has no bearing on the story or tone, and they certainly don’t waste dialogue bubbles on information the audience doesn’t need. The superhero stories in comics move at a brisk clip, and work in an almost episodic way. Individual issues advance a story that is wrapped within six or twelve-issue-long arcs. So comic books do lend themselves to longer story arcs, but they are also designed to be read in chapter-like forms. Netflix’s Marvel shows pulled their seasons longer than a wad of boardwalk taffy, and therefore robbed these tales of the tension you’d find on the page. Marvel’s Runaways even managed to take a quick six-issue arc and barely resolve it over ten episodes of its first season. The first two episodes of the series told the same story twice.

Even if Marvel and Netflix’s partnership is over, many other streaming services are going to try to make superhero stories work for them. Specifically, Disney+ is planning at least three original shows spun-off from the MCU movies. Will they make the same plotting mistakes with these projects, or will they learn that what audiences like about superhero stories is not just the epic scope, but the episodic storytelling. The success of Marvel’s films isn’t just about character or budget. If you look at the MCU films, you’ll see that each film is a complete chapter in a larger episodic storyline…all leading up to Infinity War, Endgame, and beyond. The stretched out binge-mode storytelling of streaming doesn’t heighten the allure of superhero stories, but in fact, ruins them.