And there wasn't a Marvel movie out during its run, so one *could* argue... lol.

Look, it's unquestionable that the theatrical release format is dying. We're in the death rattle right now. And the above poster is right that, save for horror, there's nothing reliable out there other than the big budget franchise fare. Which means studios, scared of the death of this revenue stream, are only really looking to greenlight with any consistency possible franchises, remakes, and horror movies. That's definitively true, I'll tell you that from the front lines, lol.

Now, if you're a filmmaker, and you see a fairly homogenized corporate product (which, while I love the Marvel movies, that's absolutely what they are), and it's taking all the funding dollars because the film world you know is dying/dead and they're all that's left? I can't blame them for thinking "fuck Marvel movies." Not in the slightest. Are they mad at the wrong thing? Sure. But people have also argued that blockbusters would hasten the death of non-blockbusters at the theaters for decades now. It's not an especially new argument.

The reality TV boom saw this same convo, btw. All the traditional TV creators were saying "fuck reality TV, it's trash, and it's killing the artform." Everyone else said, "hey, consumers decided, they want this now." Same argument. Of course, that tapered off, because people decided they wanted non-reality TV again. Maybe that'll happen again with theatrical release cinema. I doubt it, but it could.

And you're superhero movies could taper off, just like Westerns did, gangster movies did, etc. Maybe it's just "the era of superhero movies," and it'll end eventually. I don't think the economics of the dying business model give me much optimism about that... but it's a possibility.