From Shane Conto

What happened to the Marvel love? For ten years, the MCU was the biggest thing in the world of cinema. Disney was virtually printing money and audiences were loving what they were getting. Infinity War and Endgame became two of the biggest films in the history of cinema. Ten years of work and build paid off like no one could have ever imagined. But was the story over? So many people invested in this journey with the original crew of the Avengers. Iron Man, Captain America, and Thor led the way for The Infinity Saga but then 2020 brought a whole new world to light. Where would things go? Would they keep creating magic? There have been some great moments and films along the way but something, somewhere was lost. But can Disney and Marvel Studios find it again?

But first…what went wrong? The simplest answer…just TOO MUCH. There have been too many new characters, too many new projects, too many channels, and an overall story that has a realistic outcome of being way too much. In Phase One, Marvel set up a small and manageable group of Avengers who we got to know. They added more over the next two phases but the amount was still manageable. But they have introduced SO many characters already in Phase 4 including the whole crew of Eternals. We are not getting a chance to really connect with these characters because every project feels so overstuffed and each character is struggling for screen time. There have been so many projects too. The expansion into Disney+ has turned out to be a horrible choice. Only a few shows worked throughout (i.e. Wandavision and Loki). Then having four films per year is a lot to process and this immense workload is rushing the productions. The scripts are mostly feeling under-written and the effects feel undercooked. 

What is the most challenging concern? The multiverse. This overarching story has the potential to be too large of an undertaking. This is a cool idea and works well in the comics. But as a film story, there are so many things to bog it down. There are already too many characters and if you are adding more versions of each character, that is insane. It can also be confusing for those who do not have a deep understanding and grasp of the comics. The progress made so far has not reached audiences' insane and unfair expectations. The amount of fan castings and theories for Multiverse of Madness was just ridiculous and made this good movie falter because so many audience members wanted something unachievable. The multiverse is a cool idea in theory but from a storytelling perspective, it is way too complicated and not the best choice to follow The Infinity Saga. 

But what should Marvel be doing now? Pump…the…brakes. With Bob Iger returning, this does seem to be in the cards. Less films per year and A LOT less shows needs to be the future. More time needs to be spent on the scripts and especially the effects. As someone who has liked the projects in Phase 4 and 5, this is still a problem and these films have had so many flaws that could have been avoided by giving them more time and care. Build up the anticipation! Let’s hope for it. We can wait, especially when the projects are great. 

What is the future needed for the shows? Don’t do a bunch of random ones for the sake of content. Echo and Agatha getting a series for the sake of it feels like a stretch. Build up the characters like Moon Knight, Ms. Marvel, and She-Hulk more. Give them the development and spotlight instead of spreading yourself so thin. Find series that make sense as series as well. Wandavision and She-Hulk felt like shows. Everything else felt stretched out and padded films. There hasn’t been a purpose for the series format for most of these projects and that just doesn’t make sense. Street level heroes with more rogues galleries make more sense for a serialized series. Daredevil has worked already and should work again. But less shows and more focus on projects is the most important key. 

What is one of the keys to bringing excitement back? Consistent quality. “Superhero Fatigue” is only a thing if films are not good. If you keep creating quality films and bringing in new stories and experiences, you will keep people engaged. But there has been an increasing trend with Marvel. There seems to be two types of creators brought on. Those who have neutral voices/workman approaches who just disappear into Marvels style (i.e. Peyton Reed) or indie filmmakers who a couple of small scale successes who get brought in and are smothered by the Marvel system (i.e. Anna Boden & Ryan Fleck). They new more veteran filmmakers who have experience with bigger films or upcoming filmmakers with distinct voices and let me use it. 

James Gunn and Taika Waititi. These two have come into the MCU and left their mark and personality while creating some of the best films in the series. Thor: Love & Thunder feels like it was chopped to pieces by a studio and they were restraining Waititi. Guardians of the Galaxy and Thor: Ragnarok standout because you can feel the filmmakers there. Even Multiverse of Madness felt like a Sam Raimi film and that was a good thing. They need to breathe life into these projects and give the creators more flexibility. We don’t need an assembly line of gray CGI blob-fests all the time. More writers/directors would also help as there are some lead writers they have going right now that are not delivering the goods. 

These ideas might be easier said than done as the MCU is chugging along. But Kevin Feige needs to really take a step back and reevaluate. The WGA/SGA strike is slowing down Hollywood and this might be the perfect time for Marvel to refocus and breathe new life into their franchise. QUALITY IS KEY. Slow down, trim down, and increase the effort for each individual product. Mediocrity is not going to keep the MCU moving into the future.

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