IS MARVEL GETTING WORSE ?

- September 15, 2022

( Image credit: Disney )

MCU (Marvel Cinematic Universe) debuted in 2008 with their first superhero movie Iron Man(2008), starring Robert Downey Jr., Gwyneth Paltrow and was directed by Jon Favreau who also played the role of Happy Hogan in the movie. But the movie has little to no chances of becoming a commercial success, as the superhero market was dominated by titles like Spiderman, Batman and Superman. Besides Iron man comics were not that popular either, so realising a movie about him was like shooting an arrow in a dark room with the hope of hitting the target.

But Marvel not only hit the target, they got a straight Bullseye. The movie became an instant hit, managing to collect over 588 million dollars worldwide. This was the beginning of one of the most iconic movie franchises of all time.

Looking at the success of Iron man Marvel released 4 movies in a span of three years including Incredible Hulk(2008), Iron man 2(2010), Thor(2011) and Captain America: The First Avenger(2011). Although Iron man 2 was continuing the story of Iron man, the other three movies were introducing new superheroes to the audience. Unfortunately none of these three performed well with not a single one of them able to cross the 500 million dollars mark. So, people started to get confused about these new movies anr thought that Marvel was gonna make a superhero assemble movie and wrap up. But as The Avengers(2012) became a massive hit collecting over 1.5 billion dollars worldwide, they further proceeded to realise new movies in their newly announced Phase 3. But again Iron man 3(2013) and Thor: The Dark World (2013) didn't manage to perform well. Thor: The Dark World is even considered to be one of MCU's weakest movies. But then came Captain America The Winter Soldier (2014) which changed the game for Marvel.

This movie was the only movie after The Avengers(2012) to have multiple superheroes, but it also felt much more polished. Now people have started to doubt that Marvel is planning something big for their future movies. They clearly explored the space side of their universe with Guardians of the Galaxy(2014) and also introduced Quantum Realm in Ant-man(2015), which would play a major role in future movies.

Phase three was their strongest Phase up until now with movies like Captain America Civil War(2016) to Black Panther (2018). At this point Marvel was on the top of the market and people started to follow every one of work like a religion. Marvel ended this Phase with Avengers Endgame(2019) followed up with Spiderman:Far From Home(2019) and completed the Infinity Saga.

After Endgame people started to question whether Marvel will be the same as so many of the characters were either retired or dead. Once again they had to introduce new faces to the audience in Phase 4. Marvel's Phase 4 was starting with Black Widow(2021) and ending with Black Panther Wakanda Forever(2022), with several web series inbetween. However none of Marvel's Phase 4 movies ( not including the unreleased Black Panther Wakanda Forever ) except Spiderman: No Way Home(2021) were upto the mark. Although the movies were commercially successful critically, the movies received backlash from the fans. Eternals(2021) introduced a new concept of Celestials but don't get a relatively good feedback from the audience and although Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings(2021) was a decent movie that told the story of the Ten Rings and it's greater connection with the Marvel Universe, only managed to collect 433 million dollars worldwide. On the other hand Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness(2022) and Thor:Love and Thunder are considered a wasted opportunity by most Marvel fans.

Now the question stands that has the days of Marvel finally come to an end. Their new movies don't feel connected like they used to be. Before there were two or three of their movies that came out every year but now by the amount of movies and web series they release each year, fans are thinking that they are choosing quantity over quality. Some people might say that they are introducing new characters just like their Phase 2 and thus the solo movies aren't performing well which is true but no one can deny that Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness and Thor: love and Thunder could have been 10 times better if done right. Doctor Strange M.O.M. struggled with a generic storyline and they made Thor's character a joke. The movies felt more like a Disney movie than a Marvel movie.

It might go horrible for Marvel if they try to test the loyalty of their fans by each and every one of their Movies and web series. But things are looking bright for the future as they realised their next Phase which is jam packed with big titles Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3, Fantastic Four and their last movie of the Multiverse Saga Avengers: Secret Wars with which they are probably gonna reboot the universe. As fans all we can do is hope best for the future and keep supporting our favourite superhero.

_____strawberrypie____