Once a household entertainment staple, the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) has lost its way.
The MCU is a series of superhero movies and TV shows, carefully interconnected in one overarching universe. Featuring iconic characters like Captain American and Spider-Man, the MCU began in 2008 when it released Iron Man.
The MCU has since lost its way by pumping out content and falling behind the competition.
A clear illustration of the MCU’s struggles is evident in the latest instalment, The Marvels. The film failed to generate sufficient revenue at the international and domestic box offices to cover its production budget of $274.8 million. Though the film’s plot brought together three of the strongest characters in recent Marvel projects to fight an entire army of enemies, the film only made a total of $199.7 million at the worldwide box office.
This is the same cinematic universe which, on a $170 million budget, transformed arguably comic book unknowns, the Guardians of The Galaxy, into superstars, generating a whopping $771 million.
There are many reasons for this decline, with more and more explanations being thrown out by everyone from fans, to comic book readers, to business analysts.
For one, Marvel seems to overlook the principles of supply and demand, saturating the market with a multitude of products, favouring quantity over quality.
Unless you’re a devoted MCU fan with ample time on your hands, it’s hard to dedicate the hours needed to stay in the loop of what’s going on in the MCU.
Even then, as a fan, it’s disheartening when you feel the content is becoming repetitive and mediocre in comparison to earlier years, leaving you less invested.
The MCU was once synonymous with quality films. No matter the title, if the project was associated with and made by the MCU writers, fans were sure they were going to get high quality visual effects, adaptations of the comics in good faith, and a new addition to the MCU that fits perfectly into the comprehensive storyline.
With the introduction of so many storylines, characters, intersecting timelines, and the multiverse, this is no longer the case.
With so many projects to juggle and increased pressure to meet deadlines, in quality. The poor visual effects aren’t just plaguing one MCU movie, but multiple, to the degree that Screenrant generated a catalogue of these poor MCU visual effects.
The emphasis in quantity over quality further results in storyline loopholes and major inconsistencies with the original comics. For example, the Hulk’s slow and patient character development in the MCU from a rage monster to a hero able to control his anger can be contrasted with She-Hulk.
Though She-Hulk displays strength that sures the Hulk himself, she learns to control her rage and prevent from “hulking out” all the time in the span of just a few days.
While these inconsistencies don’t stand out for the average viewer, devoted fans of the MCU who have followed all 17 Marvel projects, have stepped away, frustrated.
But there remains hope. All Marvel needs to do is make a simple change: return to its roots. By focusing on classic Marvel characters like those from Fantastic Four and X-Men while prioritizing quality over quantity, the MCU can potentially recapture its former glory and the hallmark excellence that once defined the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
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