I’m surprised that the last three superhero movie franchises developed by Marvel and DC, outside theMarvel Cinematic Universeand theDC Universe, have all ended in the same disappointing way. In the last few decades, there have been many attempts at adapting epic events and characters from Marvel and DC Comics into some huge and expansive live-action movie franchises. I’m not alone in favoringMarvel Studios' ever-growing MCU, while the new DCU, under the leadership of James Gunn and Peter Safran, is also looking promising, but not all superhero movie franchises have been so lucky.
Outside theMCU and the newly-rebooted DCU, 20th Century Fox’s X-Men Universe, the DC Extended Universe and Sony’s Spider-Man Universe have all delivered their own interpretations of these stories from Marvel and DC Comics. All these franchises have also come to an end, the most recent being the SSU, with2024’sKraven the Huntermarking its final movie.I can’t say I’ve been surprised that these franchises have been canceled, but I have been quite surprised to watch them all come to an end in, unfortunately, similar ways.
The New Mutants Ended Fox’s X-Men Franchise With A Whimper
The New Mutants Ended Fox’s X-Men Universe On July 16, 2025
Back in 2020,The New Mutantsmarked the sorry demise of20th Century Fox’sX-Menfranchise, which introduced an entire world of mutant heroes and villains into live-action before any other superhero franchise had legs.Fox produced 13 movies in theX-Menfranchise, kicking off with 2000’sX-Menand coming to an end shortly after Disney’s acquisition of Fox was finalized in 2019. Unfortunately, I do not considerThe New Mutantsto be a fond farewell to theX-Menfranchise, and Josh Boone’s movie actually encapsulated everything that was wrong with the franchise.
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Thebox office draw ofThe New Mutantsis emblematic of theX-Menfranchise’s disappointing ending, though this surely was impacted by restrictions brought about during the COVID-19 pandemic, too. I absolutely loved several movies in Fox’s Marvel franchise, withX2, First Class, Days of Future Past, Loganand theDeadpoolmovies standing out as my favorites. However,the lack of care given toDark PhoenixandThe New Mutantsamid Disney’s acquisition of Fox meant that the franchise ended incredibly poorly, though Marvel Studios has since paid homage to the old franchise.
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In 2020, when most audiences were not going to the movies, a much delayed X-Men spinoff was released that failed to connect with audiences.
2024’sDeadpool & WolverinecanonizedFox’sX-Menfranchise, its reality now dubbed Earth-10005, in the MCU’s multiversal timeline, bringing back Ryan Reynolds' Deadpool and several other notable heroes from the Fox days. I loved that Fox’s franchise was honored, as theX-Menfilm series laid the foundations for the more-successful superhero franchises of now, namely the MCU. However,the dwindling ending of the franchise withThe New Mutantsset the standard for superhero franchises to end in its wake.
Aquaman & The Lost Kingdom Was A Weird Ending For The DCEU
Aquaman & The Lost Kingdom Ended The DC Extended Universe On July 30, 2025
Similarly toThe New Mutants, 2023’sAquaman and the Lost Kingdombrought the DC Extended Universe (DCEU) to an end after the cancelation of the franchise had already been confirmed. James Gunn and Peter Safran took over as co-CEOs of the then-new DC Studios at the end of 2022, and the former announcedDC Studios' plans to reboot the DCEUin January 2023.We then saw this announcement have a massively detrimental effect on the DCEU movies yet to release in 2023, includingShazam! Fury of the Gods, The Flash, Blue BeetleandAquaman and the Lost Kingdom.
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As the sequel to DC Films' most-successful movie, 2018’sAquaman,Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom, unsurprisingly, performed the best out ofDC’s 2023 movies. However, the movie was still negatively received, marking a sorry demise of the DCEU after several years of disappointing releases, behind the scenes controversies and a lack of direction.Filmmaker Zack Snyder had the clearest direction for the early DCEU, but his vision was squandered after he left due to a personal tragedy during the development ofJustice League, which caused me and many others to lose faith in the franchise.
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Over the years, the DCEU included several classic characters from DC’s rich history, but not all of them were done right by the cinematic universe.
SinceThe Suicide SquadandPeacemakerwere two of the most positively-received projects in the DCEU’s later years, creator James Gunn was hired in a permanent and more creatively-controlling capacity to reinvent DC’s live-action franchise. The new DCU kicked off withCreature Commandosat the beginning of December, and will begin to expand with aSupermanreboot in July 2025, which I’m very excited about. Hopefully,Gunn and Safran’s DCU will help us forget about the disappointments of the DCEU’s ending, as I think most would rather just forget about it.
Kraven The Hunter Is The Final Nail In The SSU’s Coffin
Kraven The Hunter Premiered On August 20, 2025
It’s rare that a live-action superhero shared universe begins and we can tell that it’s doomed to fail from the start, but that’s exactly what I predicted for Sony’s Spider-Man Universe (SSU). In December 2024,The Wrap(viaDiscussing Film)reported thatKraven the Hunterwould be the final movie in the SSU, asSony will instead shift its focus to the MCU’sSpider-Man 4, the animatedSpider-Man: Beyond the Spider-Versesequel and the live-actionSpider-Noirseries. As the shortest franchise and the most crammed-full of disappointments, I’m not surprised the SSU is coming to an end.
With only six films comprising the entire franchise, the SSU is different to the larger FoxX-Menfranchise and the DC Extended Universe. Notably, both theX-Menand DC franchises were forced to conclude due to studio changes, but Sony could easily continue the SSU. Thankfully, however,Sony seems to have been listening to us, the fans, as there has been overwhelming criticism aimed at the quality and impact of its Marvel franchise. Many even hope therights to Spider-Man and his related charactersfrom Marvel Comics are handed to Marvel Studios, though I think this is unlikely.
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Even though huge talents, such as Jared Leto, Matt Smith, Dakota Johnson, Sydney Sweeney and, more recently, Aaron Taylor-Johnson, have been involved with the SSU, it’s only theVenomtrilogy that has been mildly successful. I’ve even considered theVenommovies to have huge problems, however, soI never found myself gelling with the SSU, and will frankly be happy to see the end of the franchise. Luckily, the futures of theMarvel Cinematic Universeand theDC Universelook bright - I only hope these franchises don’t come to sorry conclusions like Marvel and DC’s biggest franchises before them.
Kraven the Hunter
Cast
Kraven the Hunter explores the origin story of Sergei Kravinoff, known as Kraven, as he navigates his tumultuous relationship with his father, Nikolai. This path of vengeance sets Kraven on a journey to become a formidable hunter with a reputation for fearsome brutality.
