Don’t let the enormous success of Deadpool & Wolverine fool you, the decline of the superhero movie genre is still alive and well! Before the aforementioned Ryan Reynolds threequel became the biggest live-action movie of the year, Marvel and DC films were facing a major slump — the MCU’s last effort before Deadpool 3 was The Marvels, which has gone down as far and away the lowest-grossing Marvel Studios production of all time.
And yet, to channel Thanos for a moment, perhaps the Marvel fandom treated it too harshly. Almost a year on from its release in November 2023, Brie Larson’s box office bomb of a sequel is finally getting its dues thanks to an unexpected development in the comic book cinema arena — another superhero film is somehow faring even worse. Joker: Folie à Deux finally entered cinemas over the weekend of Oct. 4, and its opening gross is coming in below even The Marvels‘ own disappointing first weekend.
Considering both Joker and Captain Marvel were billion dollar plus smash-hits a few years ago, the fact that Folie à Deux is performing even worse than The Marvels is leading many of the MCU effort’s defenders to feel a surge of vindication as all the hate for the Brie Larson vehicle has been categorically proven wrong.
Starring Joaquin Phoenix, directed by Todd Phillips, Lady Gaga having just over 30 minutes of screentime… There’s no way they can pin this one flopping on it being “too female.”
Audiences are bored of seeing movies with white men in the lead. Stop Hollywood’s white male agenda! Bring back the M-She-U!
Getting down to brass tacks for a moment, The Marvels grossed $47 million over its opening weekend… but Folie a Deux has come in even lower with just $40 million. Considering that Joker 2 has had a much more robust promotional push than The Marvels did — it released at the tail-end of the actors’ strike, remember — this is a seriously embarrassing blow for Warner Bros. But at least now director Nia DaCosta’s film won’t be viewed as the worst follow-up to a $1 billion comic book hit anymore.
Joker 2 has broken one comic book movie record, to be fair to it, although it’s one no other entry in the genre would want — it’s officially the lowest-rated superhero film on CinemaScore, with a paltry D grade. Plus, its Rotten Tomatoes ratings is at an absolutely atrocious 33%. The Marvels, meanwhile? A solid 62% on RT and a healthy B on Cinemascore.
It’s also worth comparing their RT audience scores, or Popcornmeters. The Marvels has a strong 82%, proving that fans actually hold it in high regard, regardless of the critical reception and financial woes. Joker 2, though, is at just 31% — meaning audiences like it even less than critics. So that’s bad box office, awful reviews, and disappointed audiences — a perfect hat-trick of own goals.
That’s got to be the ultimate insult to the Clown Prince of Crime. It’s The Marvels that gets the last laugh, not the Joker.