Is there such a thing as too many comic book movies?

Comments made by Steven Spielberghave actually reignited this debate in recent weeks, and while comic book movie saturation has been a topic of discussion for years now, it’s set to be an even more important one in the coming years. There are 14 films based on Marvel Comics characters set to come out in the next five years, and some have wondered if this is too much for movie-going audiences to take.

Working to establish historical precedent, those who don’t believe in the long, long future of comic book movies point to the death of the western – which was a genre that went out of style simply because the market became saturated with too many similar stories set out in the old west. This isn’t necessarily wrong, but other movie-goers shoot back that westerns made up a much higher percentage of films being released back in ‘30s, ‘40’s, and ‘50s, and that the titles didn’t have the same opportunity for variety that comic book movies have (there aren’t exactly many comparisons to be made between Captain America: The Winter Soldier andGuardians of the Galaxy showed us that disinterest in a superhero film can cause it to flop hard, but whether or not that’s the future for all movies based on Marvel properties is an unanswered question that will be fought about for years.