Robert Kirkman: MCU-style superhero storytelling isn't novel anymore

The Marvel Cinematic Universe is experiencing a commercial slowdown. Even with upcoming releases such as Spider-Man 4 and Avengers: Doomsday, box office takings are down; 2025 was the first non-pandemic year since 2011 without a Marvel Studios film among the year's top 10 highest-grossing movies.

On Prime Video, Invincible has been building momentum by taking a different approach to superhero storytelling. Robert Kirkman says "superhero storytelling was so novel when the Marvel Cinematic Universe started" and that audiences have grown used to that model, now asking, "Well, what have you done for me lately?" The show, which adapts his comics closely, leans on multi-season arcs—recurring threats such as the sequid invasion (which pays off early in season 4), repeated clashes with the Flaxans, and the looming Viltrumite conquest—rather than an endless parade of one-off villains.

Kirkman adds that large superhero projects "have to be special, and...

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