The Marvel Cinematic Universe is doing better than ever both on the big screen and on television – but some fans are finally starting to feel fatigue. After more than a decade of content, including dozens of different movies to follow, it looks like the pressure has settled in for some viewers. At least, that’s what a study taken by Fandom shows.
As noted via Variety, the fan platform Fandom “drew from a survey of 5,000 entertainment and gaming fans between 13 and 54 years old, as well as what Fandom terms ‘proprietary insights’ from its platform of over 300 million monthly users across 250,000 different wikis.” This allowed them to break down fans into four different subcategories. Each subcategory was linked to a different level of intensity regarding how dedicated those fans are to Marvel.
This includes the following groups:
The Advocates
The Intentionalists
The Culturists
The Flirt
The Advocates are considered the most dedicated fans, specifically described as so “deeply invested in the IP,” that it is “part of who they are.” The Intentionalists are considered the average fans and as such make up the largest part of a franchise’s fan base. The Culturists are “heavily influenced by the buzz” of popular releases and like to watch releases as part of a cultural event. Lastly, The Flirts include those who only want releases they can “come in and out of” that “will allow them to find common ground with others around them.”
As a result of this study, they concluded that Marvel had more Advocates and Intentionalists with 66% over DC’s 61%. Though they also noted that DC does have the advantage in other areas. For example, 57% of DC fans are more interested in singular superheroes while only 38% of Marvel fans care about singular superheroes. Instead, Marvel fans are more interested in the franchise as a whole, with 81% of Marvel fans eager to watch anything in the franchise. As for DC, only 67% feel that strongly about the entire DC brand. Thus, it seems that might be why 20% of DC fans are fatigued versus the 36% of Marvel fans that are feeling fatigue.
This is certainly an interesting way to analyze such massive fanbases and there are no doubt plenty of possibilities to consider. Nevertheless, it seems unlikely that the MCU or DCU are going anywhere any time soon. So, fatigue or not, we’ll be continuing to see these brands expand with growing fanbases in the coming years.