Paul Dano Says “Quantity Over Quality” in Hollywood Contributed to Superhero Fatigue

Paul Dano is sharing his thoughts on the superhero fatigue that’s hitting the film industry, calling it a “welcome moment” he thinks could lead to better movies down the road.

During an interview with The Independent, published online Saturday, the Spaceman actor said he feels “quantity over quality” in recent years played a role in the current state of Hollywood, especially Marvel and DC Studios‘ box office flops last year.

“It’s an interesting moment where everybody has to go like, ‘OK — what now?’ Hopefully from that, somebody either breathes new life into [comic book movies], or something else blossoms which is not superheroes,” he said. “I’m sure there will still be some good ones yet to come, but I think it’s kind of a welcome moment.”

The There Will Be Blood actor continued, “It’s a larger thing, too. As soon as the word ‘content’ came into what we do — meaning making movies or TV — it meant quantity over quality, which I think was a big misstep. And I certainly don’t need that as a viewer or as an artist.”

Though Dano has mostly avoided comic book blockbusters for the majority of his acting career, he eventually found himself starring as The Riddler in Matt Reeves’ The Batman in 2022. The actor admitted that he wasn’t necessarily interested in the film genre at first, but that changed thanks to Reeves’ writing.

“There are enough comic book movies where you just know what you’re gonna get,” he explained. “Reading the script for The Batman, you knew it was a real film. Every sentence… that’s just [writer/director] Matt Reeves.”

But the following year after the Robert Pattinson-led movie premiered, the superhero genre started to face many highs and lows at the box office. Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania, The Flash, Shazam! Fury of the Gods and The Marvels were among those that disappointed, leading to Marvel and DC having to regroup.