In the span of two years, the once well-respected entertainment company, Marvel, has fallen from grace. After the release of 2019’s highly successful phase three finale Avengers: Endgame, currently the second highest-grossing movie of all time, their following films have seen a significant decline in popularity and reputation.
Although Marvel had their successes after Avengers: Endgame, such as the enormously popular Spider-Man: No Way Home (currently the seventh highest-grossing movie of all time), in recent light, the failures have far outweighed the successes.
Released in 2021, Black Widow fell short of many fan expectations, being overly long and confusing. The movie was not necessarily a failure, but it was the start of the decline of Marvel’s movies.
“You started noticing a dip in quality ever since COVID started coming about,” Lambert senior and Marvel fan Sidharth Bharatwaj commented.
The decline in Marvel’s movies became far more apparent with the release of Eternals, which became regarded as one of the worst Marvel movies of all time. It currently sits at 47% rotten tomatoes, the second lowest-rated Marvel movie. Fans became tired of the overly complicated plot, too many predictable moments and an overall bland performance from the actors.
Marvel’s release of Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness in 2022 didn’t improve their chances for redemption either.
“The movie itself was a waste of potential,” Bharatwaj explained. “I think that it was still fun to watch to an extent, but [it] definitely shows the trend of Marvel trying new things and straying from the old. [It’s] good to try new things but not when the community avidly dislikes the new things.”
The following movies went down the hole of subpar CGI, overdone concepts and unoriginality.
- Thor: Love and Thunder: infamous for its horrible CGI moments and overdone comedy.
- Ant-Man and The Wasp: Quantumania: currently sits at 46% rotten tomatoes, making it the lowest-rated Marvel movie of all time
- Marvel’s most recent movie, The Marvels: Was full of negative reviews, alongside a terrible storyline, script and villain that led to another unoriginal and predictable movie. The Marvels became Marvel’s lowest-grossing movie in the 15 years of the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
Furthermore, controversies regarding Marvel’s overworked VFX artists came to light with numerous anonymous artists speaking out. More than ever, it was evident that Marvel was focused on continuously pumping out movies, disregarding quality for quantity. This explains the poor quality of the recent movies.
“They’re making enough money to not really care about whether it looks good or not,” Bharadwaj said.
With the upcoming release of Deadpool & Wolverine, many fans have set their eyes on the movie, with the previous individual Deadpool and Wolverine movies being commercially successful.
“I think this is a huge chance for Marvel to change what people have been saying since it’s their first true R-rated movie and leans into the adult audience more than the children,” Bharatwaj explained. “If they manage to do this wrong, it’ll set the franchise back a long time in terms of potential sales.”
With a large fan base ready for a new movie featuring both beloved characters, Marvel’s expectations will be higher than ever. Fans can expect Deadpool and Wolverine to be coming to theaters on July 26, 2024.
