Deadpool & Wolverine is set to become the box office hit Disney and Marvel Studios were looking for following The Marvels‘ late-2023 debacle, but more needs to change. So, will the Marvel Studios Hall H panel at the San Diego Comic-Con 2024 be enough to quell our worries?
Personally, I think it’ll all come down to how they choose to approach it and deliver the (surely) hopeful message instead of simply throwing like a dozen new projects at us. It’s no secret the last thing both casual audiences and diehard MCU fanatics want right now is yet another flimsy timeline or release schedule full of logos and dates set before they have even locked down writers. How has that worked out for Blade and the next set of Avengers movies, huh?
There was a time, following The Avengers’ (2012) success, when Marvel Studios was just getting started with its universe-building ambitions. At the time, Kevin Feige and his collaborators hit some road bumps in the shape of largely inconsequential sequels before things kicked into high gear. With Phase 5 well underway and the Multiverse Saga around its midway (I guess?) point, excitement surrounding the MCU is at an all-time low after several blunders and a serious case of “too much of a good thing” cooling down even the biggest diehards’ optimism.
Mind you, the post-Endgame MCU has landed a number of big wins with audiences and critics alike in the shape of winners like Spider-Man: No Way Home, the second Doctor Strange (in spite of some heated debates), or Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3, the end of a sub-saga that has always stood on its own due to James Gunn’s strong authorial voice. Hell, even the second Black Panther was a significant release as problems were starting to pile up for the studio.
Even in the overcrowded realm of Marvel Studios’ TV productions for Disney Plus, Loki ended its two-season run with its head high and convincing even skeptics that some good could come out of the overly aggressive approach to “franchise shows” that Bob Chapek’s leadership encouraged at most of Disney’s studios. Both Marvel honcho Kevin Feige and returning Disney CEO Bob Iger claim the MCU will slow down quite a bit to regain its breath and build up strength again. Should we believe them, though?
Going into Marvel Studios’ long-anticipated return to SDCC, in which they’re expected to amply discuss what their plans for The Fantastic Four are and try to sell us on the ill-fated fourth Captain America (among other things), anyone who’s been paying attention to the trades knows that at least 2025 is looking pretty wild when it comes to the MCU’s output across theaters and TV. Even if we’ll be seeing less stuff from Marvel Studios (and less often) in the future, there’s a “content bottleneck” that needs to be sorted out first.
We can rule out Blade as a theatrical release making its current 2025 date. Having just lost its second director and undergoing even more rewrites, we can only hope for early 2026 at this moment. That still leaves us with three movies hitting next year: Captain America: Brave New World, Thunderbolts* (yes, that’s the official title), and Phase 6’s debut in the shape of The Fantastic Four. Meanwhile, Disney+ is expected to get at least Daredevil: Born Again and Ironheart, the latter of which has been in the can for a while now.
Related: Are Wade Wilson and Vanessa Still a Couple in Deadpool 3?
If Feige and Co. want people to care about the MCU as a whole again (and not just about individual names like Deadpool, Wolverine, Loki, or the Guardians of the Galaxy), the proposed “less is more” approach to its future needs to also be reflected in the way in which the upcoming projects are discussed. At some point around the end of Phase 2, things got more outlandish, and we (yes, we’re partially at fault here, too) started caring more about the logos and dates than about the actual details and creative visions (if present) attached to each project.
The post-Endgame MCU has highlighted how quality takes a dip the moment IP value and “content volume” become more important than the stories themselves, with most of them (good or bad) struggling to have a lasting impact on anyone unless they’re led by comic book legends such as Spider-Man. Even if I can’t personally wait to see what the folks at Marvel are up to with the main timeline’s X-Men, it’s hard to muster up genuine excitement when we’ve yet to meet the rebooted Fantastic Four and don’t even know what’s happening with Earth’s Mightiest Heroes at the moment.
It would be easy to let this all go and put some distance between myself and the MCU. Hell, I understand why so many people are doing that. But I’ve been genuinely happy with some of the recent movies and shows Marvel Studios has put out. This situation is so frustrating because the entire thing doesn’t suddenly suck. Instead, it’s just become a bit aimless and irregular for longer than desirable. The creatives can still do some killer stuff when they’re given the space and, more importantly, the time to cook, yet that has slowly become an anomaly.
Looking back at the bulk of theatrical and Disney+ releases that Marvel has put out in the last three years, I’m surprised by the amount of stuff I genuinely liked and simply had forgotten about because of how tiring and pointless the universe itself has become. We’ve got a bunch of stingers that have gone nowhere, and it’s been a long time since we last saw Shang-Chi and other characters that supposedly are important to the larger saga. On a case-by-case basis, things don’t look as bleak, but the MCU has never felt more disconnected from both the audience and itself. At this rate, Avengers 5 will be about everyone catching up, welcoming new members, and little else. Where has time gone? Is this Kang’s doing?
We’re now simply looking for results instead of big titles and empty promises. I can only hope that later this month, Marvel focuses on trying to convince us that things have changed and will get better in 2025 instead of teasing a future that’s still in flux. It’s hard to look forward to a destination when the journey isn’t enjoyable on its own, which kind of explains why I’d completely forgotten about Agatha All Along until I was putting the finishing touches on this piece.
Published: Jul 25, 2024 05:00 pm