How Marvel Studios Can Regain Audience's Trust

At the time of this article, Spider-Man Brand New Day has taken the box office by storm (you can read my spoiler free review here). We are also coming off of the Hall H panel at Comic Con where we received announcements for the first two movies that will be coming out after Avengers: Secret Wars. On my Friday podcast (episode 19, it’s a good listen) I gave my reaction to those announcements which was a mixture of surprise and cautious optimism. And while there is some hype for Avengers: Doomsday, it still does not feel like the time Infinity War and Endgame were released. There has been some talk the past few years as to whether Marvel Studios will ever get back to where they were or will audience reactions see them relegated to the background in another ten years’ time. I'm here to say there is a path of redemption available, but it's up to them to take it.

Before I proceed with my thoughts on Marvel Studio’s future, I want to examine the past seven years of projects to diagnose the issues that have gotten them to this point. In that time span they released thirty-seven combined movies and TV shows. For reference, between Iron Man and Endgame there were twenty-two films along with seven streaming/network shows. Mind you that time period is eleven years so the studio increased their output to an average of six projects a year after Endgame compared to the roughly two-three they were doing before. If you also look at the top twenty highest grossing MCU movies of all-time (here is my reference), only five of those are from after Endgame and all of them are sequels so none of the new characters seemingly excited general audiences.

With the increase in productions came drastic dips in quality, something the MCU had not really dealt with before in my opinion. Now sure, you had instances like Iron Man 2 and Thor: The Dark World but even those movies were more meh than objectively bad. They also performed decently at the box office (which is not a mark of quality I grant you) but after Endgame there were moments where I found myself genuinely wondering how a movie got greenlit and made, Thor Love and Thunder being the biggest offender. Even the TV shows quickly started to feel like no one had actually checked in with the showrunners (ahem Secret Invasion). Heck, you had Daredevil Born Again film eight episodes of a season before the actors had to tell Feige it wasn't working. This resulted in new showrunners being brought on and episodes getting stitched together for the first season from new and old footage. Was there anyone watching the dailies and thinking that something wasn't right?

That is not to say that I think that everything that came out was bad. I may be one of the few people that enjoyed movies like Eternals and Dr. Strange: Multiverse of Madness (though I acknowledge their flaws) and both Fantastic Four and Thunderbolts felt more like the Marvel Studios of old. The TV show Hawkeye may one of my favorite things to come out of this era because it feels so much like the comic it is based on (plus it's set during Christmas which I am a sucker for). There was still some of that Marvel magic there, but it seemed to be buried underneath mediocre scripts and filming practices.

More often than not, we still heard stories about productions not knowing what canon was, working with unfinished scripts or doing things that seemingly set up a future plot point only to never bring it up again. Remember Hulk’s son in She-Hulk? Yeah, neither does Marvel (not that I am complaining mind you). Or how about Dr. Strange meeting Clea at the end of Multiverse of Madness? Haven't heard any mention of that. The ending to Ant Man Quantomania, the movie that was going introduce audiences to the new Avengers level threat, was reshot a month before release and it was painfully obvious. It seemed that Marvel, and Disney along with them, were running by the seat of their pants and hoping that having that Marvel Studios logo at the beginning of projects would be enough to keep audiences engaged.

Then we come to the Kang and Doom of it all. I give the studio a bit of grace for this as it was not entirely their fault. My issue comes more with the lack up build up to Doom after the pivot which was in the works as early as late 2023. I have entire article on my feelings regarding Doom that you can read here. I know Feige and others have said there was not much buildup to Thanos and the infinity stones but I have to respectfully disagree. By the time we got to Infinity War we already knew where all but one stone was, that Thanos was coming for them, that he knew who the Avengers were, he was behind Loki’s invasion of New York, and that he was a big known threat in the galaxy. We know nothing about Doom other than rumors and speculation. The fact that Feige had to come out and confirm that Reed and Doom have a relationship is very telling in this regard.

I know all this may sound a bit harsh but my frustration stems from having seen what the MCU can do when everyone is at the top of their game. Avengers Infinity War and Endgame earned the hype and excitement in a way that Doomsday has not in my opinion. But does this mean they are doomed (pun intended)? I do not think so and here is why.

I think that Marvel has learned that releasing an average of six projects a year is not a formula for success as we have seen them pull back in recent years, which has led to better quality in projects like Daredevil Born Again Season 2, Thunderbolts, Fantastic Four, and Spider-Man. We also saw at Comic Con that they announced only two movies for 2028 while one is set for 2027 (Secret Wars) which tells me they do not want to overload their schedule the way they were doing so before. We also only have two shows announced in VisionQuest later this year and Daredevil next year. Ghost Rider and Black Panther 3 have the potential to be smaller and more personal stories rather than an end of the world threat which is also something I think that will help them stand out.

Another good sign is they seem have the movies in active development before announcing them (what a concept). Too much of that occurred the last several years which made it hard for people to trust them because they couldn't even be sure if the film was coming out. They should take a page out of James Gunn’s play book and have a finished script before shooting which should be obvious, but they were literally writing Doomsday as they were filming it so it needs to be stated. Then there are the mutants.

The show X-Men 97 is just incredible and happens to made by Marvel Studios. It feels like the people who made it love the comics (and have actually read them) and is written very maturely as well. I will have a full review in the next week or two but this show gives me hope that when the X-Men are rebooted in the MCU we could be in for something special if the show is any indicator. There are so many characters with rich backstories to tell as well as storylines that Fox never touched that Marvel could use in the MCU for years before running out of ideas. Plus you could have some kind of build up to a grand climax in an Avengers movie or something of that ilk which has been sorely lacking after Endgame. Between the focus on quality and bringing the X-Men back in new and interesting ways, I could see audiences really regaining their confidence in the MCU once more.

In the end what Marvel needs to do is remember what got them on top in the first place, good characters and good stories. Don’t just tell us we should like a particular character, show us why we should like and care about them. Have filmmakers who have passion for the project they are working on instead of ones that see this as a way to get their name out there or as just a paycheck. If they do all that, I think audiences will begin trusting them like they once did. We will see what the MCU has in store for us next when Avengers: Doomsday hits theaters in December.

As always thank you for reading and if you wish to become a paid member for the extra perks or just to support my work, click the upgrade button on the page here! I will be back Friday with my news podcast!

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