What's Wrong with Marvel?
According to Tatiana Siegel and Variety Marvel is in crisis.
“Marvel is truly fucked with the whole Kang angle,” says one top dealmaker who has seen the final “Loki” episode. “And they haven’t had an opportunity to rewrite until very recently [because of the WGA strike]. But I don’t see a path to how they move forward with him.”
Beyond the bad press for Majors, the brain trust at Marvel is also grappling with the November release of “The Marvels,” a sequel to 2019’s blockbuster “Captain Marvel” that has been plagued with lengthy reshoots and now appears likely to underwhelm at the box office.
It’s no secret my affinity for superhero comics. I grew up learning to read from them. Like my love for both Star Wars and Star Trek, I dig both the DC and Marvel universes but lean just bit more toward Trek and Stan Lee. And, yes, like so many comic book nerds of the GenX persuasion, I loved the 2008 - 2019 MCU. Then came Endgame and the laws of diminishing returns engaged. It’s no secret to anyone who is a Marvel nerd that things have just gone off the rails so the fact that it has taken a major tentpole star getting arrested for domestic violence for Variety to finally give voice to the troubles is sort of “Yeah. We’ve been saying the suckitude has been fappening for a few years now.”
First, the timeline of increasing failure (despite box office returns):
The Infinity Saga (2008 - 2019)
This was an amazing achievement unlike anything in film history. A series of twenty-three interconnected films telling a massive story arc. Sure, there were a few duds (Thor: The Dark World, Iron Man 2, and Captain Marvel come to mind) but, as each film propelled the complex storyline, each was essential.
The Multiverse Saga (2021 - 2027 planned)
The ice starts getting thinner on things with the introduction of the multiverse just as the comics lost some of their urgency for the same reason. “Save New York City” has more stake than “Save the World” or “Save the Universe” but “Save a Billion Universes” is so far removed from fully giving a shit the model is too big and less personal with each entry. Highlights include Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings and Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 but the turds are more prevalent. This includes the glut of episodic television on Disney+ which started out promising with Wandavision and Loki but devolved into too many, too much, too poorly written. The Eternals is abysmal as was She-Hulk. Thor: Love and Thunder was effectively a slap in the face to any loyal fan up to the opening of the movie.
Second, what happened?
Twenty-three films in a decade or so focused on a singular story, one character at a time, is an unprecedented achievement. Fiege retired (and in some cases, killed off) the major players. This second iteration no longer requires the patience to do that slow build because so much has been established in that first wave yet patience was needed. Rolling out multiple characters in rapid-fire pacing is overwhelming to the audience and the rush to produce that nexus point where we want the big team-up employed writers without the time or knowledge to build the arc of a new story.
The results are obvious. It’s a freaking mess.
One aspect I believe is complete nonsense is the whole “Go Woke, Go Broke” and the idea that because the most recent spate of product is focused on women and black people as heroes, there is no more fealty to the canon of Marvel. Bullshit. Marvel has always dealt with socio-political shifts in the culture, has consistently had superheroes in the midst of shifting societal norms.
Secret Empire written by Nick Spencer and artists Steve McNiven, Leinil Yu, Rod Reis, and Andrea Sorrentino, was an allegory for hidden corruption in government and the rise of fascism. X-Men was all about the civil rights struggles of the 1960s. The mutant allegory highlighted the struggle for equality using superheroes. Civil War was a reaction to 9/11. An attack on America's soil, a nation in shock, and their efforts to preemptively avoid a similar attack. Peter Parker has dealt with teen suicide, homelessness, poverty-stricken neighborhoods. Black Panther was introduced in 1966 and was the first black superhero of any kind.
Marvel has always been woke so calm down with the rhetoric.
The problems faced came long before Johnathan Majors, so invoking that as even a minor reason is in error. The MCU did the same thing that the comics did which was to over promise and under deliver. Too many characters without well written stories, clumsy writing, and a reliance on the multiverse (which is just a way to extend the life of existing characters without embracing the possibility of death). Complexity in character requires patience and solid storytelling. Properties like The Eternals, dropped in full cloth by a director without a fundamental comprehension of why these heroes exist, made for a dud. Tony Stark was plagued by an existential crisis motivated by protecting the planet, Carol Danvers was bothered by dudes telling her to be less emotional. Bruce Banner was haunted by a Mr. Hyde beyond his control, his cousin got the powers easily and didn’t much care about them. Loki is a fun character played by a charismatic actor but how many times does he have to die before we simply stop giving a shit?
This is more about the drive to create more content, faster, with no gaps in between. This creates nothing but opportunities for jumping in to poorly written projects with under developed stakes.
Fiege and Disney need to realize that sometimes less is more.
