It’s no secret after Avengers: Endgame Marvel took a nosedive into the bad reviews and low ratings. The question though, is did marvel really flop? With Iron Man being the anchor being of the MCU, after his tragic death, Marvel wasn’t able to quite generate the buzz they had up until Endgame. Was it because the fanbase was truly only invested in select characters like Spiderman and Iron Man, and without them, Marvel doesn’t withstand hype or was the cgi and bad storytelling really that bad?
So first of all, the CGI was in fact really that bad. Particularly in Antman 2, in the cell universe. Why did the villain MADOK look like a distant relative to the villain in SharkBoy and Lava girl played by George Lopez ( I know you thought it)? Such a terrific cast, and the first Antman left great potential for the sequel, but no matter how good of an actor, from an audience standpoint, the setting is just as important. I can say the same about the Multiverse of Madness as well. Which isn’t a bad movie. If anything, it was the perfect gateway into multiversal content for Marvel to branch out into (with help of the Loki series) because it showed us the danger of variants but also the mysticism of other universes. Unfortunately, some moments were a way to cringe, and it took away from the moment. Particularly when Doctor Strange, America, and Christine are in the space between universes getting the Book of Vishanti. Too Much green screen.
Quoting Ryan Reynalds during the promo for Deadpool and Wolverine, the story and writing is what is most important. And beyond Marvel fans, I think all film and tv watchers would agree. The fastest way to kill a show is bad writing (for example:The 100, sorry, but it’s true) and zero plot structure. Was I excited that for the three entire seconds Harry Styles was in a Marvel movie, yes! But the reality is, nothing about The Eternals made sense. I think we’re all still waiting for someone to acknowledge that giant hand in the sky. The Falcon and the Winter Soldier gave me high hopes, I was expecting a mix of what the Iron Man trilogy produced as well as the Captain America movies. It didn’t. So many great actors and yet, the dialogue and the character choices seemed so entirely off I actually haven’t even finished the series. Rhodey not trusting Nick Fury seemed strange, especially since Tony always trusted him and even when he didn’t understand what Tony was up to, he still always had faith in him. Not to mention, Nick Fury not knowing his wife was Skrull was where I drew the line. Don’t even get me started on the disaster that was Madame Web, and I was so excited for it.
The good news is Deadpool and Wolverine was a success! The acting, the storyline and the plot was pure perfection. Deadpool being able to break the 4th wall and joke about pop culture references is a nice gentle tapping from the intensity the MCU as of late has carried. “Oh no, the world is ending and only I can save it!” After about 10 movies it was a bit tiring. For the Deadpool writers to poke fun a bit at the superhero dynamics and characters was refreshing. Although Deadpool has been in the Marvel world for many years, I’m glad the character is finally getting the love it deserves. Sarcasm and wit is nothing new for a male superhero character, but on an entirely burnt body it is. No shirtless scenes, but instead gore and violence. I love it here.
I have hope for Agatha All Along, the new series releasing this fall. I quite enjoyed WandaVision and am glad they’ve decided to do a spinoff from it. I think it’ll be a great way for Marvel to be entertaining without the main superheroes and for Marvel to continue as a powerhouse with movies and series. Stand alone film and tv from Marvel has rarely shown great success but I’m an optimist and hope with all the failures as of late, they’ll learn a thing or two and turn things around. That being said, epic multi-sequel movies such as Secret Wars seem to be where Marvel thrives. I’m intrigued by RDJ back as Dr.Doom, wondering how that’ll tie in, but guess we’ll have to wait like 7 years to find out.
In conclusion, compared to other movies Hollywood has been putting out, Marvel has never fallen off, but the hype did.
