X-Men director Matthew Vaughn says we need “time off” from superhero movies

Matthew Vaughn has said the world needs “a little bit of time off” from superhero movies.

The director, known for films like X-Men: First Class and Kick-Ass, was asked in an interview with Screen Rant whether he would consider returning to the superhero genre.

In response, Vaughn explained that he was “freaked out” by the box office failure of The Flash starring Ezra Miller, which he described as a “really good film” that was potentially victim to superhero fatigue.

“And so it made me question,” Vaughn said. “I think there’s been so many bad superhero movies as well that it’s like when the Western got, you make so many [that] you get bored of the genre, not because the genre is bad, but because the films are bad.”

He added: “I genuinely don’t know what’s happening with the superhero in the sense that, I do think, maybe we all need a little bit of time off from it. Maybe someone will make something so great that we will get excited again and remind everybody that just having identical ways of making superheroes… Superhero films are films.

“It’s a film that has superheroes in it. I think what happened was that they became superheroes, and the film part wasn’t that important.”

Vaughn also credits the reliance on CGI as a part of the issue, “because you feel like you’re watching a video game” and “you’re not with the characters” – citing Groot and Rocket from James Gunn’s Guardians Of The Galaxy as the “genius” exceptions.

“I think at least DC is under; I think James Gunn and [Peter Safran] they’ve got a good chance of popping, and hopefully, [Marvel’s Kevin] Feige will go back to less is more and make less films and concentrate on making them great,” Vaughn said.

The director’s next film is spy action comedy Argylle starring Henry Cavill, Bryce Dallas Howard, Sam Rockwell and Bryan Cranston. The film, scheduled to be released in February next year, follows introverted spy novelist Elly Conway (Howard) who is drawn into the real world of espionage.

Recently, Vaughn revealed that he decided to quit directing X-Men: The Last Stand because Halle Berry was “tricked” into reprising her role as Storm.