For over a decade, Marvel had completely changed the way that we’d see superheroes on screen. It all started with Iron-man’s theatrical release back in 2008 and with its success, Marvel Studios started making more superhero films such as Captain America and Thor. At the time, it was unheard of to have a series of movies connected in some way, and eventually they would lead up to something bigger projects. Avengers: Endgame had ended up being one of the biggest movies of all time, grossing $2.798 billion worldwide. Other studios had seen the success of the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU), and wanted to be able to keep up with them. Warner Bros. Pictures had tried to do this with the DC extended universe, but the movies felt like they tried too hard to be on par with MCU. The same success that Marvel had found by creating the MCU, would also lead to its downfall and influence on other studios.
The influence that the MCU had on other media had caused irreparable damage. A lot more franchises have attempted to connect their movies and start up different series’ in their own universes to mixed results. Most movies share the same cheesy quip humor that Marvel has popularized. There’s a lack of sincerity in the humor, and emotional scenes can be ruined with poorly timed humor. Right now, the only series that are restoring hope in the superhero genre are Invincible and The Boys. Invincible is great because it shows that you can create well-written stories, with great characters, and with an actual ending, without having to follow up with any spin-offs or movies. They leave room for the characters to grow, and cover different themes throughout the series. Invincible had comics that have been written for years, and they were able to adapt it while staying faithful to the comics, along with making some improvements. Even though The Boys hasn’t concluded yet, it’s been able to keep you interested during each episode, it’s able to build tension, and it’s been doing well with things Marvel has been struggling with recently. Both The Boys and Invincible do have comedic moments in them, but they also know when to keep things serious. So hopefully, The Boys won’t fumble like Marvel has.
Ever since Avengers: Endgame, Marvel tried to replicate the same success that
had led up to Endgame. Before, it was the Infinity Saga, and now we’re in the Multiverse saga. The problem with the Multiverse saga is that the films and tv shows being produced have been solely focused on building up to the Multiverse, instead of focusing on their individual stories and characters. “I’m a Marvel guy but I stopped trying to follow with all the new stuff that’s happening, it just hasn’t been good for a while ,” said former fan and current Senior Alejandro Galo. With every new Marvel project, we hear the same thing with the multiverse over and over again. Since the MCU introduced the multiverse, other films have started to feel the need to do the same, and it’s tiring to see the same gimmicks being done repeatedly. And it’s not like the multiverse concept can’t be done well, Everything Everywhere All at Once and Spider-Man: Across the Spider-verse, had completely nailed the multiverse concept and had used it to tell a complete story. Doctor Strange & the Mutliverse of Madness was one of the first examples of how the quality had started to dip. It lacked any good writing qualities and solely relied on cameos along with more build up to the multiverse rather than telling an individual story about its main protagonist.
The most recent Marvel projects have followed the same formula with minimal effort. They all have the same basic storytelling structure, pretty bland villains/antagonists, and the same humor. The MCU never really had the greatest villains before, but now their only purpose is to serve as obstacles for the leading characters. There has been nothing really unique or interesting seen within any of the shows or movies. Here and there, there have been a few interesting stories like with Spider-man: No Way Home, Moon Knight, and Shang-Chi, but even then some of the same concepts slip through the cracks a bit. This doesn’t just go for Marvel, but most comic book movies as a whole.
With Thanos gone, Marvel needed a new major threat. It was leading up to Kang the Conqueror, a supervillain who is noted to be one of Marvel’s most iconic and powerful villains. Kang is a time traveler and was a distant relative of Reed Richards (Mr. Fantastic). Multiple times throughout the comics has broken the timeline bringing the heroes together, which is the exact fit for the multiverse Marvel had been leading up to with this new saga. The issue is that when Kang appeared in Loki, it was hinted that another version of him would soon come to take over, which would eventually lead up to Avengers: Kang Dynasty. But the actor who portrayed Kang, Jonathan Majors, got into some trouble with the law. And because of that, he was dropped by Marvel immediately, and his last appearance was him being defeated in Ant-man: Quantumania. So Kang the Conqueror ended up being a short-lived concept for Marvel, and will probably bring in another major villain, like Galactus or Doctor Doom.
Marvel’s shows being streamed on to Disney plus was probably the biggest change since post-endgame. With the introduction of the new Disney Plus shows, Marvel started to pump out movies and films like crazy. Ironically enough, senior Seth Marvel had said in our interview “I think it started getting worse after Disney plus was a thing. They had way too many shows and they mostly kind of sucked.” During the Infinity saga there used to be one or two movies every year, but just last year we received three movies and four different shows. It also forces the writers and other teams to be rushed into finishing up on time for release, and they work all that just to be put onto another project. It’s extremely noticeable that the special effects, writing, and sets have lowered in quality. There used to be a lot more practical work that was used in the movies that would give off the illusion that certain things looked realistic, but now they heavily rely on green screens and CGI. It doesn’t just go for Marvel either, most action movies have started to use CGI in order to save on funding, and put less work into producing movies. The Disney plus shows are also extremely short, it forces the entire plot to fit in about 9 episodes. They fail to build any sort of tension or give any reason to care for the characters.
On top of the needless amount of shows, they’re making shows for characters that no one really cares to see more of. Shows for Agatha Harkness, Ironheart, and Echo have all been or are being produced, despite no one really asking for them. These characters would make appearances in other projects before getting a show of their own. The problem is that they didn’t add too much when they first appeared, and when they did it wasn’t very good. Ironhart was one of the big new characters that was introduced into Black Panther: Wakanda Forever, but she wasn’t very likable and didn’t really serve all that much to the story either. Ironhart isn’t really all that great, but she is getting her own show and she’s meant to be the new stand-in for Iron-man. The Young Avengers are also something that has been worked from the start of the new phase, but hasn’t been served all that well.
Most of the new Avengers are meant to replace the original six Avengers that we all knew and loved since before Endgame. The problem is that they don’t seem to flow as well as the previous heroes. So far we’ve seen; Kate Bishop’s Hawkeye, Ms. Marvel, and Cassie Lang. Hulk also has a son, Skaar, who’s basically meant to be a younger Hulk, but we haven’t seen anything from him at all. The line up is similar to the comic version of the Young Avengers, but so far they’ve been way worse on screen. Especially with the fact that they are supposed to replace the original Avengers, it is not looking too bright for the future of the MCU. Since most of the original Avengers had basically gotten replaced, most fans have only lost interest in the MCU.
It’s not like they couldn’t do well with the characters they were given either. Marvel has taken obscure characters that no ones ever heard of, and turned them into a great and popular set of characters. For example, the Guardians of the Galaxy was one of the most unknown groups of superheroes, and once they had their on-screen debut, they turned into one of the most popular superhero groups of all time. They got a whole trilogy, and it ended up being one of the best ones in the MCU, and they had even joined the Avengers in Endgame.
The Marvel movies don’t seem to carry the same charm or influence that they once had. Now the only times that you hear about Marvel, is when people talk about it negatively instead of praising it for what it once was. Tons of fans and even non-Marvel fans would go to the movies just to see the most current Marvel movie, and now Marvel has lost a majority of its audience. I personally believe that Endgame could’ve been the perfect way for Marvel to end, but the studios just had to keep going because they knew how much money they were making. Even knowing that nothing will change going forward, we still hope that the superhero genre will eventually take a new direction.
