text: Decades from now, cinephiles will look back on the early 2000s as the Superhero Era — and they’ll be able to pinpoint the moment when the bubble burst. As with all trends, it’s only a matter of time. It happened with film noir and then westerns, it happened to the spy movies of the 1960s, and then to the gritty crime dramas of the ’70s. 
   
   And that’s why Warner Bros.’ plan to produce 10 DC Comics movies between 2016 to 2020 seems so short-sighted. The company is so focused on dethroning Marvel as the reigning box office champ that it’s missing the big picture: Superheroes may be invincible on screen, but their popularity won’t last forever. And the upcoming glut of movies might just speed their demise. 
   
   The saturation is no joke. Studios have already slated 22 titles over the next five years, not including the handful Marvel has promised with release dates but without any details. That also doesn’t count second cousins like the “Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles” sequel and “The Lego Batman Movie” in 2017. The spandex industry must be thrilled. 
   
   
   
   Can this man rescue Warner Bros.? Henry Cavill plays Superman in “Man of Steel.” (AP Photo/Warner Bros. Pictures, Clay Enos) 
   
   While Marvel has enjoyed hit after hit, from “Iron Man” to “Guardians of the Galaxy,” Warner Bros. has had a spotty past with its DC Comics adaptations. Batman and Superman can deliver predictably big box-office numbers, but beyond those guys, all bets are off. Remember the “Catwoman” catastrophe of 2004? Not to mention the two consecutive bombs “Jonah Hex,” in 2010, and “The Green Lantern” the following year. 
   
   Warner Bros. is doubling down on its golden boys: In addition to “Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice,” with Ben Affleck as Bruce Wayne, Warner plans to release two other Justice League movies. The directive is clear: Replicate the success of Marvel’s “Avengers” franchise, and pray that Affleck doesn’t pull a Clooney. 
   
   The 2016 release of “Suicide Squad” is another copycat move. The comic book features a crew of antiheroes, who are sprung from jail to become covert operatives for the good guys. Sound familiar? 
   
   Here’s the problem: The great asset of Marvels movies like “Guardians of the Galaxy,” “Iron Man” and “Captain America” is their sense of humor. Warner’s superheroes lean much more somber. And the fact that David Ayer, the man behind dark action films like “Fury” and “Training Day,” is set to direct “Suicide Squad” doesn’t suggest a fun romp. 
   
   Marvel’s casting has also been exceptional. Warner Bros., meanwhile, is betting big on newcomers. First there’s Gal Gadot as Wonder Woman — and, credit where it’s due, good for them for finally making a female superhero movie. Also noteworthy: Warner has hired openly gay actor Ezra Miller to star in “The Flash” (to be released in 2018). Though acclaimed for “The Perks of Being a Wallflower,” few multiplex-goers know who he is. Jason Momoa, the “Game of Thrones” warlord lined up to play Aquaman, has only slightly better name recognition. Though, hey, at least there’s Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson cast as Black Adam in “Shazam.” In other news, Warner will reboot “Green Lantern,” in 2020, not even a decade after the Ryan Reynolds incarnation bombed. If at first you don’t succeed. . . 
   
   Director James Gunn brings "Guardians of the Galaxy" that follows a motley team of otherworldly misfits, including a talking raccoon, led by Chris Pratt's character. The film opens Friday. . (Walt Disney Pictures) 
   
   Of course, the superhero genre might hang on for another decade. Westerns delighted audiences for ages. But box office numbers overall are down for the year. “Guardians of the Galaxy” is the number one movie so far, but with a little more than $326 million, that’s not as impressive as last year’s top superhero movie, “Iron Man 3” ($409 million), which wasn’t even number one domestically. “The Hunger Games: Catching Fire” brought in more than $424 million. How many more times will people pay to see Robert Downey Jr. as Tony Stark or a muscled Hugh Jackman with mutton chops as Wolverine? 
   
   It looks like Warner Bros. is running hard to catch up when it might be smarter to focus on the next big thing. ||||| Well played, Warner Bros. Just when everyone thinks that Robert Downey Jr.’s potential return as Tony Stark is the biggest news of the week—well, if someone can return before they’ve actually left, considering he’s still signed up for the next two Avengers movies—you go and drop the names, dates, and casting announcements for no fewer than 10 movies during a conference call. Well played indeed. Here are the highlights of the week’s superhero movie news. 
   
   SUPER IDEA: Warner’s Making a Lot of Superhero Movies Over The Next Five Years 
   
   Warner Bros. has finally unveiled plans for its DC Comics properties on the big screen. We all knew that Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice was coming in 2016, but during a conference call yesterday Warners CEO Kevin Tsujihara announced it’ll be joined by a Suicide Squad movie directed by David Ayer. In 2017, there will be a solo Wonder Woman movie and the first of two Justice League movies. The following year Warner Bros. will release The Flash and Aquaman, with Ezra Miller and Jason Momoa in the lead roles, respectively. In 2019, we’ll get Shazam and Justice League Part Two (Really, that’s the title), with 2020 offering up a new Green Lantern movie and a solo Cyborg movie, starring Ray Fisher. Yes, we’re already talking about movies that’ll be coming out six years from now. 
   
   Why this is super: Beyond the simple fact of Warner’s stepping up and declaring its intentions, there’s a lot to unpack here. Warner Bros. has beaten Marvel to the punch of not only a solo female-led superhero movie, but also superhero movies with non-white leads: Aquaman and Shazam, and possibly even Green Lantern, depending which Lantern they choose to focus on. More to the point, the scale of this announcement shows that Marvel will very soon have a serious competitor in the superhero movie business, one that’s in it for the long haul and may even outpace Marvel in terms of production. The official announcement of these movies hinted that even more DC projects could be revealed for the time period, including solo Batman and Superman projects. The race is on. Or, rather, it will be on in 2016. 
   
   SUPER IDEA … MAYBE: Captain America 3 Will Have Cap Take on Iron Man 
   
   So it turns out that Robert Downey Jr. might not be making a fourth Iron Man movie—because he’s actually in talks to appear in the third Captain America instead … as the bad guy, oddly enough. According to Variety, the Marvel movies are expected to follow the direction of the 2006 comic book series Civil War, with Stark and Cap coming to blows over whether or not superheroes should register their identities with authorities. (This is a heavy-handed gun control metaphor, everyone.) 
   
   Is this super?: On the plus side: More Robert Downey Jr. playing himself in a suit of superheroic armor! On the slightly more ambivalent side: There’s a risk in bringing the Civil War storyline to movies, and not just because the comic book was about as subtle as someone dropping an anvil on your head. For one thing, it arguably turned Iron Man into a bad guy and turned many readers against him for awhile, and that seems like a road that movie audiences might not appreciate. For another, do we really want to see another movie where Cap fights against a corrupt system he’s already entirely complicit with, using only his unshakable moral system, chiseled jaw, and utter lack of personality? Wasn’t that exactly what happened last time, as good as it was? For now, let’s chalk it up to “To Be Continued,” instead of passing judgment. Isn’t that how superhero stories should end, anyway? 
   
   SUPER IDEA: Michael Keaton Becoming Batman Again 
   
   In an interview with Entertainment Weekly, Michael Keaton said he’d play Bruce Wayne again “in a heartbeat”—as long as Tim Burton was directing. “He started everything, and some of the guys who have done these movies since then don’t say that, and they’re wrong,” Birdman star added. 
   
   Why this is super: There are many who feel that Christopher Nolan did the best Batman movies, but Burton definitely made the most interesting ones (Batman Returns, anyone?). The idea of Burton and Keaton re-teaming now to do another one is very exciting indeed, even if it is almost entirely unlikely to happen considering that whole Ben Affleck thing. But we can dream… 
   
   SUPER IDEA: Hawkeye In A Solo Movie? Sure, Why Not? 
   
   During a Reddit AMA, Jeremy Renner backtracked on earlier comments about his Marvel character going it alone. “Am I interested?” he wrote in response to the prospect being raised. “Always have been interested. I always love Clint, and in the last Avengers: Age of Ultron, we got to dive into him some more. Very excited about the outcome of it, and where it can go in the future.” It’s ultimately up to Marvel, he said. “It all comes down to … how the puppeteers at Marvel can manifest a story that’s worthy of a solo movie. Not sure what that is, or how that is, but I’m confident they can do whatever they want, if they want to do it.” 
   
   Why this is super: If someone at Marvel Studios hasn’t thought about trying to adapt Matt Fraction and David Aja’s Hawkeye series for the big screen yet, we’d be very surprised. And if they haven’t, it’s clearly time to start. 
   
   SUPER IDEA: Darkness. No Parents. 
   
   Nevermind all the other DC news: A movie featuring Will Arnett’s Lego Batman is being fast-tracked, according to reports. It’s going to be directed by Chris McKay, who was the animation supervisor on The Lego Movie, with that movie’s writers acting as executive producers. It’s likely to hit theaters in 2017. 
   
   Why this is super: If you saw The Lego Movie, you know why. If you didn’t, then you should really watch The Lego Movie, because it is—if you’ll pardon the cliche—awesome. More importantly, you’ll get to meet the none-more-dark Batman, who is as vain, lacking in self-awareness, and hilarious as you’ve always suspected the Dark Knight would be. More of that just might be the best movie news of the year.
target: – News that Warner Bros. is planning no fewer than 10 DC comics movies in the next six years is great news for superhero fans, yes? No, writes Stephanie Merry at the Washington Post. In fact, the announcement might just herald the end of the genre. "Decades from now, cinephiles will look back on the early 2000s as the Superhero Era—and they’ll be able to pinpoint the moment when the bubble burst," she writes of the studio's announcement. This kind of bubble-bursting happens with any film trend, from film noir to westerns to spy movies, and the move by Warner Bros. seems likely to speed things up. The studio is desperately trying to overtake Marvel (Iron Man, Guardians of the Galaxy) as king of the superhero flicks, but in doing so it will only worsen the glut of such movies, writes Merry. People are going to get bored. "It looks like Warner Bros. is running hard to catch up when it might be smarter to focus on the next big thing," she concludes. Those looking for antidote to the skepticism can check out Graeme McMillan at Wired, who loves most of the new DC Comics lineup. With Wonder Woman, for example, "Warner Bros. has beaten Marvel to the punch of not only a solo female-led superhero movie, but also superhero movies with non-white leads: Aquaman and Shazam." Taken as a whole, the 10-movie schedule is, in a word, "super," and the heightened competition could lead to bigger, better movies from both studios. Click for McMillan's full column, or for Merry's full column.