Marvel has been a blockbusting juggernaut the last few years, with multiple films grossing a billion dollars at the box office and completely engulfing pop culture to the point that everybody and their grandmother knows who Iron Man is. However, things are starting to look dire with two of the last three films they released (Antman: Quantumania and The Marvels) not meeting the usual margins of previous films in the franchise. The Marvels in particular has become an icon for the “Superhero Fatigue” argument, with fans, critics, and pretty much everybody pointing out the film’s extremely poor box office and lackluster reviews as a sign that the era of superhero films might truly be dead. So, what caused this? Let’s break down the reasons and arguments for why The Marvels is failing and what needs to happen next for them to break out of this “Marvel Wobble.” If you’re interested in the larger MCU issues and the overall history of the Marvel films, check out the book MCU: The Reign of Marvel Studios by Joanna Robinson for more.
So first, let’s set the table. The Marvels made $46 million on its opening weekend, the lowest box office return of any Marvel movie as of 2023. This is especially painful when you compare it to Captain Marvel which is the 10th highest-growing superhero film of all time and grossed $1.1 BILLION. The film seems to not be drawing in the massive drones of people that previous titles did and doesn’t seem to be having any real impact on the culture either. People aren’t clamoring about at work, theatres are looking empty, and every other news outlet is heralding the doom of the MCU with The Marvels being the first trumpet. All of this is mostly hyperbole, but there is some truth in that The Marvels just didn’t seem to hit at a time when Disney and Marvel needed it to. Thus, let’s get into the autopsy to see what factors led to this film being a potential dud.
One of the most talked about aspects of why people were disinterested in seeing The Marvels is the “homework” concept of the film. This film technically ties in 3 widely varied TV series in WandaVision, Ms. Marvel and Secret Invasion, as well as, the previously mentioned Captain Marvel movie. Now this is not something new, but many viewers and critics have been criticizing the “need” to watch previous films and TV shows to understand what’s going on in the general story of an upcoming MCU movie. After all, two of the leads, Monica Rambo and Kamalah Khan, had their superpower origins explained in the aforementioned TV series. Thus when someone who hasn’t been keeping up with the Disney+ shows sees the latest trailer for The Marvels, they would be confused regarding who those characters are. Now for “real fans” this is not a problem, but it’s important to remember that Marvel has grown to appeal to a mass audience not just a niche devoted fanbase. This need for audience members to “do their homework” probably swayed a few away. Additionally, the universe has diversified so much with the TV shows and movies, that perhaps audience members are being more selective with what they want to watch.
After Phase 4, a school of thought began to grow that potentially you don’t have to see every film in the MCU, because not all of it is going to come back and be relevant in the next one. In fact, the TV shows have been more of a connective tissue for the MCU “mega-narrative” than the movies. Thus audience members have, in a way, been subtly influenced to not care so much about seeing every film or TV show, and just go see what they want. This is great for stand-alone projects, but bad for making a consistent big splash at the box office. This eventually bleeds down to The Marvels, which seemingly does the opposite of this since two of its three lead characters made their debut via Disney+. Therefore, this idea might have had a huge negative effect on audience expectations for The Marvels.
Speaking of the additional characters, due to the recent SAGAFTRA strike, none of the lead actors, Brie Larson, Teyonah Paris, or Iman Vellani, were able to promote the film through interviews, talk shows, or well… anything. Now doing press for film usually isn’t a make or break, but this film is built around the concept of 3 lead actors coming together for a big team-up and you need to get general audiences on board if you want to make a billion dollars. Having Teyonah Parris and Brie Larson on the Tonight Show talking about how great it is to be a superhero team, or Iman Vellani geeking out about comics stuff on Hot Ones could have really helped to get general audiences more familiar with these actors and their newly introduced Disney+ exclusive characters. Not to mention that Variety or The Hollywood Reporter would have probably had a big cover piece with the three leads together in an attempt to push this new trio of heroes as the next big thing we should all be super excited for.
Although the actors couldn’t promote the film, the marketing team for the film could still put out trailers, which they did. However, the various trailers that were released had huge tone differences and would at times portray The Marvels in completely different ways. The initial trailer depicted the movie as a fun, goofy team-up film with jokes, songs, and a lot of Iman Vellani frantically screaming. As the release date drew near, they dropped a new trailer that showcased scenes from Endgame, as if this film was going to be connected to in some way, (which it wasn’t) and the trailer had a huge emphasis on the concept of a “different reality bleeding into ours.” A lot of people sort of saw this as a cheap way to make the film seem more important than it actually was in the grand scheme. That trailer literally shows older characters who are no longer alive or present in the narrative to promote this film. This probably had the opposite intended effect, possibly swaying people away from this film and making people wish they had the previous characters and stories.
As the variety of MCU content grew so did the divide of critical reception for these TV shows and movies. It’s no secret that the MCU has been struggling to find another culture-defining hit since Endgame. The closest they have gotten was with Spider-Man: No Way Home, which featured the return of Toby Maguire and Andrew Garfield as Spider-Man alongside Tom Holland. This movie was huge, but not because it expanded the MCU lore. Most everyone saw the film because the trailers showed the Green Goblin and Doc Ock were going to be played by Willem Dafoe and Alfred Molina in addition to the ton of rumors that other Spider-men might return. Before Spider-Man, Eternals landed and was promptly swept under every possible rug within a 100-mile radius. People still talk about how much they disliked it, myself included, and, since it was released, has had no impact on the other films in MCU. This problem kind of persisted in all of the Phase 4 and 5 films, in that most people found that none of the films truly connected to each other or the larger universe besides Doctor Strange: Multiverse of Madness, and even then its biggest draw was that was going to the film to usher in “The Multiverse.” All of the Phase 4 movies made decent money but weren’t causing huge waves in the cultural landscape like the previous peak of Endgame, which, to be frank, nothing ever will. Not Shang-Chi, not Ant-Man and the Wasp Quantumania, and especially not The Marvels.
Additionally, it appears that many previous projects from the company are being pushed aside. We talked about Eternals earlier, and it cannot be understated how disastrous the film was in terms of MCU worldbuilding. Featuring a cast of characters that “have been here the whole time and refused to do anything,” the unfortunately disappointing film directed by critical darling Chloe Zhao fell completely flat with general fans and is a continuity headache for diehard MCU fans. The ending of Eternals features a giant stone head and hand rising out of the Pacific Ocean, that still stands there to this day in the MCU. No films have addressed this, and potentially it never will since it seems like Marvel might just let that one slide and just pretend like it never happened. More recently, Secret Invasion, a Disney+ streaming show starring Samuel Jackson as Nick Fury, has been deemed a complete miss by some, and completely ignored by the rest. Likeability aside, it has been noted by many critics and fans that the events of Secret Invasion seem to be completely glossed over by The Marvels. This gives the impression that Marvel might just toss that whole plot and story progression out the window since A) Secret Invasion was not well received and B) It was barely received in the first place. This continues to build the sentiment that these new MCU films are irrelevant no matter what universe-effecting events happen in them, everything can be tucked away, never to be spoken of again. It feels like studying material that doesn’t end up on the exam, even though you were told it might be on the exam. The Marvels is the first MCU film in a while to really grapple with a larger mega-narrative – bringing characters from different corners together and featuring events that will affect them as well as the whole MCU, but the film also completely disregards previous stories like Secret Invasion to do so.
With all these aspects in mind, the most obvious and possibly over-discussed has to be the concept of “superhero fatigue.” With the recent box office and commercial failure of almost all the most recent superhero films. The Flash, Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania, Blue Beetle, and Shazam: Fury of the Gods all underperformed at the box office and were followed by headlines declaring that superhero films were dead. Many of these articles, YouTube video essays, and tweets describing why this sub-genre was dead usually featured the phrase “superhero fatigue.” This phrase has been used to express the public’s growing indifference towards comic book films over the years due to an overabundance of content over the last few years through the numerous TV shows, sequels, spin-offs, etc. Simply, people are just getting tired of “seeing the same thing.” While all the recent superhero films of late have been different, either tonally or visually, general audiences seem to lump these types of films together. Thus, after a string of mildly disappointing or mediocre films, the typical Friday-night moviegoers have begun to stop giving these films a chance and would rather wait to see them when they come to streaming. Tie in the previous point of recent Marvel films feeling less and less connected or “integral to the greater MCU Mega-narrative” and you’ve got a solid reason why a teenager would rather go see something like Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem instead of The Marvels.
A small side note to the previous point, going to the theatre is expensive. Most tickets typically end up being about $17, with premium formats like IMAX coming out to about $23 for a Friday night show. Once you add snacks and drinks, you’re looking at around a $50 investment. The cost of seeing a movie has definitely affected moviegoers in that they have become more selective with their choice of film. So after reading a couple of tweets about a film underperforming at the box office, or reading an article about how “The MCU is dead?”, it makes sense why a regular person would probably just pass on seeing The Marvels and go see something else instead.
The most basic issue when it comes to why The Marvels flopped is the discrepancy between its budget and its box office return. This film cost a staggering $274 million dollars to shoot, the 14th largest production budget of all time behind Solo: A Star Wars Story and just ahead of films like Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice and Star Wars Ep VIII: The Last Jedi. For reference, Captain Marvel cost about $175 million. It’s ludicrous how much these blockbuster budgets have ballooned over the last decade, and The Marvels has become another showcase in Disney’s awful box office returns in 2023. Alongside Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiney, which cost $300 million, we might have finally reached the tipping point for mega-budget blockbusters. There’s a great point made by Steven Spielberg, you know that guy who invented the blockbuster, where he said in regard to huge budget blockbusters that, “ there’s eventually going to be an implosion — or big meltdown. There’s going to be an implosion where three or four or maybe even a half-dozen megabudget movies are going to go crashing into the ground, and that’s going to change the paradigm.” We might just be in the middle of that paradigm shift now with films like Fast X, Indiana Jones, and The Marvels being the massive flops they are, and who knows what the results of this will be.
A year ago, many would say that Marvel was a box office sureshot. However, with The Marvels tragically flopping, it appears that might no longer be the case. It seems as if the MCU has grown too big too fast. Releasing 3 films a year and multiple TV shows has diluted the brand and overwhelmed general audiences with homework. Marvel seems to know this and is slowing down the production of new movies and shows, with the only MCU film slated for next year being Deadpool 3. This is potentially their best bet and can hopefully stop the bleeding. With rumors of reviving old favorites like Iron Man and Captain American, a complete restructuring of creative leadership of upcoming MCU projects, and a wide variety of future installments being delayed into the “indefinitely” category, it seems that the failure of The Marvels has shaken Disney into a panicked frenzy.
Before we end, the writer of this piece would like to address that The Marvels was a decent moviegoing experience. As much as this movie can be considered an astronomical failure to Marvel, almost all of the factors that caused this result are outside of the film itself. There has been some discussion and articles suggesting that the director Nia DeCosta is being set up as a “fall person,” which is wrong, and we do not agree with or support that theory. DeCosta did what she could with what she had and made a pretty alright superhero flick that just didn’t make a billion at the box office due to forces out of her control.
Whether it be an over-reliance on “MCU homework”, an actors strike, or the very simple prospect that movies have just gotten too expensive, The Marvels was a flop and potentially one the biggest box office disappoints of 2023. Disney is far too big to fail at this point and has already taken steps to recover from this, but the effects of this will be felt in the coming years. In a 1992 interview with 60 Minutes, Steven Spielberg discussed how budgets would expand to such a degree that “Hollywood would be out of control in that they won’t be able to give audiences grand entertainment anymore and instead you’re going to just have to settle for films that are little low in calories…” This sounds dire, the apocalypse for blockbuster cinema, yet this appears to be where Hollywood could be going next. The best part of this Spielberg quote is at the end where he says, “There’s nothing wrong with that because maybe it’ll bring back Tracy and Hepburn…I mean maybe there’ll be a revolution and the films will be smaller but much more provocative.” Which, if you’ve kept up with modern releases, has been correct for the most part. Studios like A24 and Blumhouse are thriving through the success of low to mid-budget, provocative films, while also being able to play nice and fair with the unions, unlike the big studios who seem to be in some sort of meltdown every other week. Hopefully, the phoenix that rises from the ashes of The Marvels is not more big MCU projects that lean heavy on nostalgia, but tighter, mid-budget projects that, while less grand in scale, can still be as impactful as they are enjoyable.
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