Superhero saturation: Why have Ant-Man and Shazam struggled at the box office?

There are many complimentary reasons I'm sure.

But fundamentally, as was the case (I think) with the Han Solo film: There just isn't any real interest in these particular characters.

I think the subject of the film has to have a following and then the film itself has to be good.

Put out a good Batman or Spiderman film and they will come.

Ant-Man? Shazam? A young Han Solo?

I don't think anyone cares.

See John Carter for further evidence.

Both are underperforming but there's slight differences. Antman 3 has brand recognition since the last two were well received. So it might at least break even which is just not gonna happen for Shazam 2.

The first Shazam got critical acclaim and it certainly made $$$, but it wasn't a big hit. This one had the misfortune of being delayed cuz of COVID and its younger cast aging out. And let's be honest, the trailers kind of stunk. Rock or not.

This might spell bad news for upcoming DC movies like The Flash, Blue Beetle, and Aquaman 2. Not sure what the hell interest there is for Kraven the Hunter. Guardians of the Galaxy 3 is the likeliest bet for a big hit. Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse might be alright. But then again, time is of the essence these days and it has been 5 years since the first movie.

Shazam is a D level character and most people dont care or know anything about him.

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They just aren’t good movies, I guarantee Guardians 3 will do great because it will be a good movie

Superhero movie fatigue is real. It was bound to happen at some point, not sure why some are denying the blatant.

Shazam is a second-tier hero and he is supposed to be a more of a kid's hero. The two youngest family members were around fifteen or sixteen when the sequel was filmed. This could have been a big kids' movie but they made one of the kids openly gay. Many parents do not want their children exposed to sexuality or homosexuality so they alienated a lot of conservative parents by having the young man come out as gay. It looks like they hinted at it in the first movie but I totally missed it.

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-11828493/Shazam-Fury-Gods-writers-reveal-superhero-Pedro-Pe-gay.html

The Shazam sequel also lacks a good villain. Why are three females running around playing badasses? Shouldn't there be a proper villain like Black Adam or another big-name DC villain like Joker or Mr. Freeze? I'm glad they didn't use Captain Nazi since there have been too many shows/movies with Nazis as the villains.

https://www.comicbasics.com/shazam-enemies/ * Shazam enemies *

I think Ant-Man didn't take off since Ant-Man is not the featured hero. The rest of the family stole the show. It also sounded like the villains weren't really villains. Woke Marvel has been playing a game with their villains lately. Instead of saying that a villain is inherently evil, Marvel is trying to show that everyone is good and that villains are forced into their lives of crime due to circumstances beyond their control. This approach to villains is some sort of restorative justice philosophy that advocates a healing approach to fighting crime instead of a punitive approach.

https://law.wisc.edu/fjr/rjp/justice.html#:~:text=Restorative%20justice%20seeks%20to%20examine,to%20repair%20the%20harm%20done.