Marvel's current model is very successful – but how long can it last?
From a certain perspective, "What does Marvel need to do to be successful in Phase 5?" That sounds like a stupid question. After all, this means that the Marvel Cinematic Universe was not successful in Phase IV – it was a success by almost every possible metric. From Black Widow to Black Panther: Wakanda Forever, each film grossed hundreds of millions of dollars at the box office, with Spider-Man: No Way Home becoming one of the ten highest-grossing films of all time.
A series of TV shows released on Disney Plus also proved successful, with shows like WandaVision, Loki, and She-Hulk: Attorney at Law dominating the conversation for weeks. 15 years on, Marvel is still reaching new milestones; For example, Angela Bassett is likely to become the first actor to win an Oscar for her performance in an MCU film. For a while, the MCU's box office dominance seemed almost heroic in the wake of the pandemic, proving that cinemas have a future after all.
Is the MCU's Golden Age Coming to an End?
But there are signs that, if you look closely, the MCU is no longer in its imperial phase. Take "The Eternals" for example, with its huge cast, a plot spanning thousands of years, and the award-winning director of Chloé Zhao, the film was hyped as a Marvel movie that could win the Scorsese brothers around the world; Instead, it was a (relatively) box office disappointment and was the first MCU product to receive a rotten rating on Rotten Tomatoes.
Or Doctor Strange in Multiverse of Madness, which was good at the box office, but the reaction from critics and viewers was relatively lackluster. Then there's Thor: Love and Thunder, which follows the beloved Thor: Ragnarök with sleek, malleable returns. The things people like about MCUs (like snarky, witty conversations) are no longer as frequent as they once were, and things that people politely overlook (like mushy VFX made by severely overworked artists) stand out more prominently.
Indeed, a behemoth like an MCU can operate for another few more years by inertia alone. It is true that people who prescribe fixes for MCUs often assume that their specific problem is universal; I mean, I'd be happy if they had Julianne Moore play Captain America and remake the plot of Safe, but I don't want anyone else to enjoy it. But as MCUs exit Transition Phase 4 and into the wilderness of Phase 5, it's worth considering how they regain the magic of their early years.
MCU Should Space Out Releases
When discussing Marvel's current state, one word that often comes up is "fatigue" — for example, "I'm tired of Marvel." When you look at the release timeline, it's not hard to see why. Going back to phases one and two, Marvel only releases one or two movies a year; Today, Marvel produces an average of three or four films a year, not counting the three or four TV series released simultaneously. While pandemic-related delays have certainly exacerbated the situation, there's no denying that Marvel content is absolutely flooded these days.
But is it really necessary? Back in the early days of the MCU, each movie felt like a capital E event. They are big movies that can stand on their own (for the most part), but each is interconnected, and each seems to lead to something bigger. In addition to the excitement of seeing a superhero duel on the big screen, there is also the excitement of discovery, the excitement of seeing something almost invisible on the horizon, and the certainty that one day you will see it in person. The extra time between installments allows viewers to cool off from a grand adventure while eagerly anticipating the next one.
Compare it with today. Of course, after 16 years and billions of dollars, it's hard to maintain a sense of discovery, but what was once fresh and exciting now feels exciting—even inevitable, and not in a fun Thanos-y way. A new MCU project is released every few months, each as large and exaggerated as the last, and it is easy to numb people; It feels less like the next chapter in a thrilling adventure and more like a quarterly report. While strictly speaking, you don't have to watch every MCU version, but...
It's getting harder and harder to keep up with MCUs
If we're not quite at the point where movies are incomprehensible to anyone who doesn't watch TV shows, then we're closer to that point than we should. Given how inevitable WandaVision is, making Wanda the villain in Multiverse of Madness isn't too much of a problem. But what happens when viewers are expected to enter Captain America: the New World Order knows everything that happens in The Falcon and the Winter Soldier? Or when She-Hulk first appeared in the film?
With the release of the Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantum Mania trailer, we're already starting to see this; Even if viewers can learn through context that Kang is a major threat, if they haven't watched the last episode of Loki's first season, they won't be clear about the seriousness of the situation (like it).
At least these characters have been introduced before. What should regular viewers take away from Cleo's subtitles appearing in Multiverse of Madness? Or Eros at the end of the Eternals? Maybe the excitement should come from seeing their respective actors show up ("Oh hey, this is Charlize Theron!"). But the excitement is short-lived in nature ("OMG, another character to keep track of. Marvel learned from the success of Guardians of the Galaxy, "you can make any random character in the comic book a beloved icon on the screen," rather than "handing the movie to a director with a unique vision," as it should. ”
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