James Gunn, there’s a Johnny Depp impersonator who would like to have a word about DC.
“I think the new ‘Supergirl’ sucks,” 39-year-old Oklahoma City native and devoted DC fan John (go figure) says from San Diego Comic-Con’s main floor. He looks exactly like “Pirates” era Depp, with chunky silver rings, a goatee, and a wide-brimmed fedora. Strangely enough, when asked if he’s cosplaying as the Hollywood bad boy, he tells me, as if offended, “Not really.” Returning to what ails DC, he adds, “I think they tried too hard. They’re trying to be like Marvel, and they need to really just be their own thing.”
San Diego Comic-Con is the sweltering core of the sights, sounds and sometimes smells of zealous fandom. It was intense, to say the least, for an SDCC rookie like me. The foot traffic could power a small city for a month, and navigating the convention hall in a sea of sweaty cosplayers felt like front row seats to “The Odyssey” in 4DX. But even for a first-timer, battling overstimulation and dehydration, it was obvious the annual gathering of geeks is ruled by three kings: Marvel, DC and “Star Wars.”
Once immortal titans of nerdom, the big three have recently lost their grip on the zeitgeist, especially in movie theaters. Marvel, which once set box office records with a snap of an Infinity Gauntlet, is struggling in a post “Endgame” era with relative duds like “Thunderbolts*,” “Fantastic Four” and “Captain America: Brave New World.” DC Studios, under the watch of co-CEOs Gunn and Peter Safran, launched to immediate success with last year’s “Superman,” but saw “Supergirl” flop in June. “Star Wars,” the original blockbuster muscle, returned to theaters after a six-year hiatus with “The Mandalorian and Grogu,” only to be met with a lukewarm reception and lackluster revenues. There have been enough think pieces about why this is happening to fill Stark Tower, but for the real scoop, SDCC superfans told Variety about why their favorite franchises are stumbling and what they can do to reclaim their former glory.
