The Marvel Cinematic Universe has been an invincible superhero movie empire, consistently succeeding where others have failed several times. Unfortunately, it seems that such empire is disintegrating, with current films receiving substantially fewer favorable reviews than earlier releases. It also looks like Marvel movies and TV series have returned to the early 2000s in the worst possible manner.
Spider-Man and the X-Men seem to be the two properties in the MCU that fans and viewers seem to care about in the future, with other brands just missing the buzz. That echoes not just Marvel comic books from the 1990s, but also pre-MCU Marvel superhero films from the 2000s. While it may result in a rebirth for Peter Parker and the merry mutants, it may also result in a complete collapse in interest in Marvel’s other products on the big screen.
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Spider-Man and the X-Men Are Maintaining Interest Within the MCU
Spider-Man has been Marvel’s flagship character since his debut in the Silver Age, and this holds true in cinema as well. Long before the MCU, the Sam Raimi Spider-Man film trilogy stunned fans with a cinematic Wall-Crawler. Despite the lack of a whole universe of other characters to bounce ideas off of, viewers and fans alike were deeply immersed in Spidey’s world, a passion that persists to this day. Spider-Man: No Way Home was the sole MCU Phase Four mega-hit, with both critical and commercial success. This film featured not one, but three Spider-Men, bringing together three decades of films in a film that possibly matched even Avengers: Endgame.
Similarly, fans are eager to see how mutants and the X-Men are ultimately integrated into the MCU. Their presence may occur with Disney’s purchase of Fox, and many speculated that they would begin appearing immediately after Endgame. This was undoubtedly part of the excitement around the Disney+ TV program WandaVision, with several hypotheses circulating as to how the series may confirm Wanda’s mutant background from the comics.
Doctor Strange In the Multiverse of Madness, a real successor to WandaVision that even included an alternative world Professor X, was driven by the same enthusiasm. Unfortunately, mutants are still far from a well-established force, with their existence only being hinted at in the penultimate episode of Ms. Marvel. This discovery has finally made the previously unnoticed series the talk of the town, which speaks to both the power of the X-Men and the weakness of other franchises.
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Casual MCU Fans Are Losing Interest Aside from Crossovers
The enthusiasm that typically surrounds the MCU has been missing since Endgame. Many of the Disney+ series came and went following WandaVision, with just a handful remaining popular years after their debut. As previously stated, the major attraction of Multiverse of Madness and Ms. Marvel’s climax was their probable or unforeseen links to other, more popular franchises like as the X-Men. The automatic interest in any new Marvel property appears to have vanished, with even older characters like Doctor Strange and Thor faltering in the absence of a major crossover on the horizon. Those who are losing interest in the MCU may now do so. are mostly hoping that the next Spider-Man film or X-Men plans will be unveiled so that they will have something to look forward to. Many people have been significantly more critical of current Marvel Studios films than earlier flicks, as indifference seems to be creeping in.
It begs the question if some of the MCU’s heroes were simply “popular” in the sense of being breadcrumbs leading to the next great Avengers. Nothing of the kind is on the horizon, and in the absence of that feeling of urgency, spectators have failed to become excited over fairly prosaic experiences with characters they seem to care little about. That echoes the 2000s, when the only Marvel films that drew significant attention or interest were Spider-Man and X-Men. It seems that the cost of crossovers such as the Avengers films came at the price of the characters in the separate films having the same appeal. Spidey and the X-Men once again control the hearts and minds of Marvel’s diehards, indicating that the MCU brand may not be as powerful as previously thought.
