Marvel's Latest Underachiever Exposes Weakness in What Was Once the MCU's Strength

Yahoo

02-03-2025

Marred by a mixed audience reception, 'Captain America: Brave New World' has become the latest film in the Marvel Cinematic Universe to fall well short of the high standard the franchise set for itself during its cultural domination of the 2010s.
Sinking 68% from its opening weekend, 'Brave New World' has a two-weekend total of $145 million domestic and $294 million global, the latter standing 20% behind the global $363 million two-weekend total of 'Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania' in February 2023. There is still a possibility that 'Brave New World' could leg out better in the weeks ahead than 'Quantumania,' but that would mostly be because of a lack of significant March releases for theaters like 'Creed III,' which hastened the decline of 'Ant-Man 3' two years ago.
That an MCU film needs the field cleared of major competition for a chance to salvage its theatrical run shows just how far Disney's biggest moneymaker has fallen — a decline that suggests all but its most devoted fans have lost faith that the interconnected, overarching story of the cinematic universe, once its greatest strength, is leading towards anything compelling. If so, that's a trend that could have implications for its next round of aspiring blockbusters.
'What stories are being built? What will 'Avengers' wrap up?' exhibitor relations analyst Jeff Bock said. 'This is the problem that Marvel is dealing with. They're losing a significant portion of audience investment.'
Marvel hasn't been without major recent success, of course. But a closer examination of which films have worked and which ones haven't shows the longterm issues Marvel Studios faces, and possibly point to a contrasting outlook for its pair of summer releases, 'Thunderbolts*' and 'The Fantastic 4: First Steps.'
While the 2022 MCU films 'Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness' and 'Thor: Love and Thunder' were not particularly well-received by fans, there was enough goodwill from the 2021 hit 'Spider-Man: No Way Home' and the streaming miniseries 'WandaVision' to sustain them for strong box-office runs.
The problems set in with 'Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania,' a film intended to introduce Jonathan Majors as the MCU's new top villain, Kang the Conqueror. When audience reception to the sequel was as lukewarm as it was for 'Love and Thunder' and 'Multiverse of Madness,' the fan narrative began to arise that the MCU no longer had the tight efficiency it possessed during the buildup to 'Avengers: Infinity War,' with new heroes being introduced and swiftly connected to the larger narrative while Thanos' universe-endangering threat loomed ever closer.
In short, the overarching Marvel storyline lost the plot, and some fans gave up trying to keep up with the narrative — and in turn stopped viewing each new MCU release as essential viewing.
Much later in 2023, Marvel suffered even more of a black eye with 'The Marvels,' the first film in the franchise to fail to gross $100 million in North America. The sequel to 'Captain Marvel' was set to have Brie Larson's Carol Danvers team up with two heroines from Marvel's Disney+ streaming series: Kamala Khan from the critically acclaimed but poorly viewed 'Ms. Marvel' and Monica Rambeau, one of the supporting characters of 'WandaVision.'
With mixed reviews and a plot that did little to show these characters' importance in the larger scheme of things, audiences decided that this trio of heroes wasn't interesting enough to buy a movie ticket, and 'The Marvels' fell by the wayside.
Alongside these two busts were a pair of major successes: 'Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3,' which was Disney's top grosser in 2023 with $845.5 million; and 'Deadpool & Wolverine,' which set a new R-rated record with $1.33 billion last year.
Unlike 'Marvels' or 'Quantumania,' these films were more focused on providing tidy ends to long-running franchises and were focused on plots that, while leaving doors open for some characters to return, were largely siloed off from the rest of the MCU.
'Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3,' the final Marvel film for director James Gunn before departing to DC Studios, was primarily sold to fans as a farewell to the team of galactic misfits they first met back in 2014. While some characters like Chris Pratt's Star-Lord might come back in an 'Avengers' film, there were no major teases for what those characters might be doing in the future like in so many past MCU installments.
'Deadpool & Wolverine' also drew on fans' longtime desire to see Deadpool join the MCU, but the film was less interested in building up hype for Ryan Reynolds' potential role in 'Avengers: Doomsday' than loading up its runtime with references to the 20th Century Fox Marvel continuity 'Deadpool' was once a part of. The post-'Endgame' saga of the MCU was set aside, and audiences were more than fine with that as they flocked to theaters for the late-summer hit.
With 'Captain America: Brave New World' struggling to win over general audiences on its own or provide intriguing hints as to the future of the MCU, more pressure has been put on 'Thunderbolts*' and 'Fantastic Four' to deliver not just for Disney's box-office grosses but to stoke interest in 'Avengers: Doomsday,' which is set to roll cameras in a few months for release in May 2026.
Given the current approval rating of the MCU's Multiverse Saga, the outlook may be brighter for 'Fantastic Four' than for 'Thunderbolts.' The latter film stars Sebastian Stan as MCU veteran Bucky Barnes, who is still struggling to shed his public image as the Winter Soldier and is tasked to lead a team of antiheroes alongside Yelena Belova (Florence Pugh), who made her debut in 'Black Widow.'
The rest of the Thunderbolts consists of former antagonists from past Marvel films and Disney+ shows, while the idea of building a team of 'Suicide Squad'-esque expendables is one that originated on the streaming show 'Falcon and the Winter Soldier,' with the introduction of Julia Louis-Dreyfus' character, Valentina Allegra de Fontaine.
'Falcon and the Winter Soldier' was one of the most-watched Disney+ Marvel shows, but given that audiences will need to have seen that series as well as 'Black Widow' and 'Ant-Man and the Wasp' to recognize all the members of the Thunderbolts, some moviegoers may pass on Marvel's next film if it feels too much like homework.
Conversely, 'Fantastic Four' got a strong response from the release of its first trailer, which garnered 208 million views in its first 24 hours. That trailer feels more reminiscent of the early MCU films, selling the movie less on the promise of paying off or tying into previously established plot threads and instead introducing new takes on the Fantastic Four more inspired by that team's 1960s Stan Lee-Jack Kirby heyday than previous cinematic takes.
While the film will help set things up for 'Avengers: Doomsday,' that's not a core part of the marketing. All that is being offered is a fun, hopeful summer thrill ride that can cater to casual and hardcore fans alike.
''Brave New World' and 'Thunderbolts*' already feel like relics, while 'Fantastic Four' feels like it's building fresh new worlds that fans haven't seen before from the MCU,' Bock said.
Marvel's downgrade from unstoppable to inconsistent can be traced to factors both within and outside of Disney's control. The death of 'Black Panther' star Chadwick Boseman and the removal of Majors from the franchise following his misdemeanor assault conviction forced Marvel Studios to make substantial changes from their initial post-'Avengers: Endgame' plans.
'Avengers: Doomsday' may serve as an opportunity to wipe the slate clean — or at least partially so — and move forward with new story arcs. Or at least turn back the clock, especially with Robert Downey Jr. and 'Avengers: Infinity War' and 'Endgame' directors Joe and Anthony Russo back in the saddle.
But Disney and Marvel still have a ways to get to that point, and could face more stumbles before rediscovering their stride.
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