Marvel has completely shifted its focus following the last few years, changing many actors and moving to a more comedic approach. Marvel is a long-loved franchise by many fans worldwide, but as we move into the upcoming years, Marvel focuses less on the comics and more on their themes. Marvel movies are killing off many famous actors, including Robert Downey Jr, Chris Evans, Scarlett Johansson and more, leaving Marvel fans left to question what else is to watch. Does the Marvel Universe still have a future to live out, or have they shifted their story too much?
Over the last couple of years, Marvel has released record-breaking poor rotten tomato movie scores ranging from “Ant-Man And The Wasp: Quantumania” (2023) which received a score of 46%, “Eternals” (2021) receiving 47%, “The Marvels” (2023) receiving 62%, and finally “Thor: Love And Thunder” (2022) which received a score of 63%. Not too long ago, Marvel movies usually got the top three or spots on the list of highest-grossing films yearly. This year at the global box office, “Barbie,” “The Super Mario Bros. Movie,” and “Oppenheimer” all outgrossed both “Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3” and “Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania.” Additionally, “Ant-Man And The Wasp: Quantumania ” is now ranking bottom in the ten for the year, performing below expectations and finishing with 476.1 million dollars, ranking bottom eight over all-time Marvel movie grossings.
Lately, Marvel has continually received poor scores from box reviews, and this is because it fails to impress with its comedy and storytelling.
To continue, Marvel’s new release “The Marvels” could be considered Marvel’s biggest bust of all time. A direct sequel to “Captain Marvel” unites three superheroes, Captain Marvel (Brie Larson), Monica Rambeau (Teyonah Parris) and Ms. Marvel (Iman Vellani), on a journey to fight and take revenge on the supreme intelligence; however, they find themselves in a tricky situation with their powers. With an anticipated release, the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) still fell short: “The Marvels” misfired with $47 million in its opening weekend to land the worst debut in MCU history. Initial tracking was closer to $75 million to $80 million, but those projections shrank dramatically recently to $60 million to $65 million,” said Variety.com. After spending 300 million dollars for this movie, “The Marvels” has only been able to gross 206 million dollars, giving the Marvel cinematic universe one of its lowest-paying movies for one of the highest budgets.
Another very poor performing but highly anticipated Marvel movie was “Eternals.” A movie based upon a new approach to celestial beings that come to earth to fight against evil deviants and protect humanity scored 47% from Rotten Tomatoes and grossed 402.1 million dollars, ultimately reaching the bottom two for all-time Marvel movies. Many believed this movie was filled with too much information and could not keep track of all of it as it was 156 minutes long.
“Clearly, we’re supposed to leave the cinema filled with an urgent sense of anticipation. But all I felt was relief that the two-and-a-half hour running time had finally come to an end,” said top critic Sandra Hall, RottenTomatoes.com. “In many ways, what it means to be human is the central question that drives “Eternals”… But the movie’s dizzying star power and twisty backstories render it too clunky and overstuffed to concisely answer said central question,” also said top critic, Kylie Cheung.
As commented by Cheung, I agree “Eternals” was a poor film; new Marvel, despite a few recent movies and TV shows (“Chang-Chi,” “Black Panther: Wakanda Forever,” “Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3,” “Loki,” etc.), can be concluded as falling off. As I enjoy the thrill of watching these movies in theaters or even on my home couch, I have begun to realize lately that Marvel is changing. Concluding the 2023 year, Marvel is gradually losing its spark. The MCU has yet to produce great-quality films after the departure of certain actors, including Robert Downey Jr, Chris Evans and Scarlett Johanson. As a fan and supporter of the universe we all know and love, I hope Marvel can save its trilogy before it is too late.
To conclude, Marvel’s turn in events has negatively affected its future in fans and money, as shown by its many movies and TV shows falling short: “The Marvels,” “Ant-Man And The Wasp: Quantumania,” “Eternals,” “Doctor Strange Multiverse of Madness,” “Thor: Love And Thunder,” “She-Hulk,” and many more. After the passing of Stan-Lee, Marvel has been different in recent years; the old approach is missing in the new, and the spark is clearly gone.
“Marvel movies and TV shows are nothing new. They often have a movie about one of their own superheroes every year. However, in recent times, the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) has been losing its appeal and popularity among audiences and critics alike,” said medium.com.
