Marvel has long been one of the biggest pop-culture sensations, regardless of the era. However, despite its incredible success and fame, it seems that each new movie released has gotten lower and lower ratings.
The Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) has gotten consistent praise since its kick-start with 2008’s Iron Man and received countless awards for other films like Avengers: Infinity War and Black Panther, but after it began its “Phase 4,” it hasn’t seen any hype like it used to. Despite still holding the rank of largest and most expensive movie franchise of all time, with 35 total films and several small-screen series, audience reviews have been surprisingly low.
A common claim is that Marvel’s movie franchise was at its peak with Avengers: Endgame, towards the end of the MCU’s Phase 3 in 2019. Fans loved it for a conclusion to the Infinity Stones arc that had been building for years and the inclusion of every single hero introduced thus far, with its typical explosive action and quick humor. This is what Marvel fans came to see: the second-highest-grossing movie of all time, having made $2.8 billion.
However, that kind of success hasn’t been replicated since. Newer films like The Marvels and Ant-Man: Quantumania have been regarded as some of the worst films to come out of Marvel, ever. Viewers often blame Disney’s “Marvel Method,” which prioritizes pumping out film after film, series after series, prioritizing quantity over quality. No one can deny that, in recent times, Marvel has been creating incredible amounts of films.
However, this is exactly why the franchise tends to suffer nowadays. The writing feels more bland, the CGI is worse, and the plots end up conflicting. Marvel has suffered the same fate as the Star Wars franchise, where new shows and movies are churned out every few months without proper scripts or fleshed-out ideas. Most movies end up mediocre, but some do well, and that’s profitable enough for Disney, so they keep on making more and more.
Sentiment against the new Marvel is felt across the world—even here at Pembroke Pines Charter High School (PPCHS).
“I started getting into superheroes with the original X-Men series in the 90s when I was super young,” says World History teacher, Brian Garcia. “Unfortunately, Disney involving politics has heavily impacted the quality of the storytelling and the plots.
All these movies have to push some kind of agenda. I don’t care if it adds substance, but it feels so forced. That’s my issue right now with Marvel,” he says.
Although Quantumania cost more to make than it earned, and audiences are generally upset with new Marvel films, Disney’s Marvel is still doing well. They’ve cut costs in terms of their designers, writers, and editors, paying their CGI designers 20% less than they used to, but their new movies, even poorly received ones, have caused Marvel to make 8% more money in 2024 than in 2023. Even if audiences are unhappy, Disney executives and shareholders aren’t, so there isn’t any guarantee that they’ll even make an effort to change.
However, it’s often neglected that there are recent Marvel films that are well-received. While it’s true that Eternals, Madame Web, She-Hulk, and Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness were considered some of the worst Marvel films of all time, Deadpool & Wolverine, for one, was a huge success, praised for being a breath of fresh air. Not only did it deliver exactly what fans wanted in terms of action sequences, but it also had the raunchy humor that fans had so long been craving and even poked fun at Marvel’s previous failures, especially regarding its multiverse concept. The franchise has been criticized of late for making everything a “multiverse” as a crutch to add back in fan-favorite characters and create lazy stories, but the third installment of Deadpool makes perfect fun of this.
Off of the big screen, Marvel has seen huge success with their recent video game release, Marvel Rivals. Rivals saw millions of players pick it up as soon as the game dropped, drawing its popularity from two distinct groups: hero game fans, and those already fans of the Marvel franchise. It took spectacular advantage of a dried-out market in which other hero combat games were considered to be at their lowest points.
While it’s true that on average, Marvel’s films have been consistently worse in quality since the beginning of Phase 4, these films generally continue to rake in money, so the Marvel Method isn’t set to be discarded any time soon. However, this doesn’t mean that great Marvel entertainment isn’t still being made, from blockbuster hits like Shang-chi and Deadpool & Wolverine to well-acclaimed shows like Wandaverse and their domination of the multiplayer hero game industry.
Even though Marvel’s films have gotten significantly worse, if you’re looking for entertainment, now is still a perfectly fine time to get into Marvel, whether it be the MCU, comics, games, or anything else.
