Alexis Stathopoulos '27
Avengers Endgame, Iron Man, Spider Man: No Way Home, sound familiar? That's because these are the most popular Marvel movies, which made the most money in the box office, and are still a hit on streaming services.
However the most recent one came out in 2021. Of course there are more recent movies such as The Marvels that came out in November of 2023, however it has officially been named the lowest grossing Marvel movie ever, as it only made $197 million world wide, which surpassed Marvel’s all time low of $264 million by The Incredible Hulk in 2008.
In fact, Marvel has not been able to get back their blockbuster numbers since Black Panther: Wakanda Forever came out in 2022. The Marvel universe is losing touch with what their viewers want to see, but why? Has Marvel's main audience grown out of superhero movies?
Marvel was at its peak when Avengers Infinity war and Avengers Endgame came out in 2019, and the main audience was about 18-25 years old. Those viewers would now be in their mid to late 20s, maybe superhero movies just don't make the cut anymore. Especially since most of the original 6 Avengers have either died, or concluded their storylines in the Marvel Universe.
Could it be that people miss their favorite superheroes? Famous characters like Captain America and Iron Man gave nostalgic comfort to older fans, however, now that they are both gone, people are becoming less interested in Marvel.
Another problem with the newest marvel movies is the spiraling narrative that continues to make less and less sense. The multiverse concept was introduced by the series Loki in 2021 and has gotten more and more complicated ever since then. Even for die hard marvel fans, the concept is hard to grasp.
On the Reddit page “Marvel Comics” which has 2.6 million members, fans are able to discuss their opinions on recent movies. When discussing the new multiverse saga, members have come to an agreement that “It’s getting way too messy and all over the place," says Adam Green (Reddit user) and, “I think it essentially killed the MCU,' says anonymous (Reddit user).
This in cohesive narrative is causing even some of the most hardcore fans to jump ship. People miss when movies were more interconnected, creating a more stable storyline where everything led to something else. However, maybe we all just need to accept this new chapter of Marvel.
Finally, the character overload is becoming intense. The influx of characters that has been added to our beloved superhero movies isn't making them any easier to understand. There have been 5 brand new heroes that have joined our marvel journey in 2023 alone, and that's not including all the side characters that come with them.
With the introduction of various superheroes, villains, and alternate versions of characters due to the multiverse concept, viewers might find it challenging to connect with and invest in so many different personalities. In total, there are now about 700 characters in the MCU. So yeah, I think it’s safe to say that it's getting hard to keep track.
Where does the MCU go from here? None of us can be sure, but we can all hope that in the future everything will fall into place and we can all enjoy our favorite superhero movies like we used to.
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