After Captain America: Brave New World, even longtime fans devoted to watching Marvel movies are probably a little disillusioned. The film could've turned things around for the cinematic universe after a mostly lackluster four years, except it didn't. Several reshoots later—and what was originally a huge clash between Sam Wilson's quasi-Avengers and the Serpent Society—the movie turned out to be a poorly executed mess.
Similarly, Deadpool and Wolverine has been the only saving grace for the studio in recent years. The MCU hasn't offered anything spectacular since Avengers: Endgame, and without anything new for audiences to latch onto, keeping them invested until Avengers: Doomsday will be a challenge.
The unfortunate reality is that the superhero craze of the 2000s is over, explaining why features that would previously garner positive ratings are coming up short. Iron Man started it out and—in a distant way—put a cap on the story. The titular hero's death neatly wrapped up the narrative that began with his unlikely rise to his unforeseen, yet anticipated, demise.
Since then, there hasn't been a reason to stick around. Marvel Studios continues to debut projects they believe will click; except they've all fumbled the ball. Streaming numbers for the Disney Plus series notwithstanding, hardly anyone is talking about them. Many people simply search online for how the shows pertain to the upcoming movies, which suffices, but answers aren't the same as entertainment.
Audiences used to tune in to Marvel projects because the comic-book stories became interesting when adapted to the big screen. Without watching entire tails unfurl, keeping up is simply obligatory. Hence, the craze is visibly over. We could go back and forth all day, debating whether Disney/ Marvel will pick up steam in the near future, although the truth is in the trends.
When Blade kicked off the first wave of comic book movies in 1999, they became part of mainstream entertainment. Blade led to the X-Men, which made Deadpool and Wolverine possible. Daredevil, Hulk, Elektra, Fantastic Four, and Ghost Rider followed shortly after. Within five years, Fox had inadvertently set the foundation for a cinematic universe. The studio probably couldn't see the bigger picture at the time. Otherwise, Fox would've assembled the Avengers, or their equivalent, which would've been closer to the Marvel Knights.
Regardless, the push for Marvel movies died out back then, too. Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance and Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer failed to impress. Then, Blade: Trinity received negative reviews and barely broke even at the box office. Sound familiar?
About five years passed before Iron Man opened in theaters, reigniting the craze again, which is almost how long it's been since Endgame hit the big screens. This time, unfortunately, nothing grand is on the horizon. Secret Wars and Doomsday are the big-budget titles coming soon, but it's worth remembering that the latter doesn't come out until 2026, and that's assuming no delays interfere with the projected release date. Marvel might be counting on Fantastic Four: First Steps to tide audiences over. Of course, unless the movie includes a cameo of Robert Downey Jr. as Doctor Doom, it'll likely flop much like the 2015 version starring Miles Teller.
Do you think the Marvel craze is over? Or simply on sabbatical?