Marvel’s latest release, Captain America: Brave New World starring Anthony Mackie and Harrison Ford, is the product of Marvel’s slow descent from glory over these past few years. The dialogue included horrible, cringe inducing lines that were made worse by the attempt at self awareness of the cringeness, the CGI was somehow worse, and the plot was so predictable that it made the entire audience feel like they were holding a crystal ball.

Overall, the experience of watching Captain America: Brave New World consisted of squirming in your theatre chair attempting to put as much distance as possible between you and the screen.

Where did Marvel go Wrong?

Safe to say, the last “good” movie in the Marvel Cinematic Universe can be considered to be Spiderman: No Way Home from 2021. Although the majority of the hype for that movie did come from the guest appearances of Andrew Garfield and Tobey Maguire, it was still a decently solid movie, with believable CGI effects and a realistic dialogue. However, 2019’s Avengers: Endgame can also be considered the death of the MCU where many beloved and important characters such as Iron Man, Black Widow, and Captain America were killed off.

These characters were the face of Marvel, the original cast that many Marvel fans still hold dear in their memories. While Marvel has attempted to replace or shine light onto different characters with smaller roles in the cinematic universe, the result simply isn’t the same. You don’t exactly see kids coming to ring the doorbell on Halloween dressed as Ant-Man.

Kids dressing up as beloved Marvel characters for Halloween

Image Credit: Steven Libralon from Unsplash

People just don’t get excited at the mention of a new Marvel movie anymore. Now, it’s just “another Marvel movie,” one that can go without watching. Back in its prime days, the queue for the best seats for the new Avengers movie was out the door.

Marvel movies were usually able to snag the top spots on the list of highest grossing films for the year. In 2023, Barbie, Oppenheimer, and even The Super Mario Bros. Movie with Chris Pratt outgrossed both Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania and Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3.

Take the Quiz: Which Squid Game Player Are You?

Ever wondered which player you’d be if you found yourself in the Squid Game universe? Take this quiz to find out which character matches your perso...

Oversaturation of Superheroes

Many blame the downfall of the MCU on the rise of Disney+. Especially during the pandemic, the output of MCU related T.V. series was astounding. Though many enjoyed the first few series, rendering Loki and WandaVision a hit, the sheer amount, decline in quality, and increase in complex plotlines rendered that avenue of the MCU a failure so massive that Marvel Studios head Kevin Feige had to step in and promise a slowdown in series content.

Perhaps Marvel’s recipe of disaster lies in their unsatiated need to have everything end in an CGI action packed battle of good versus evil. Even promising series such as WandaVision which center around a feeling of T.V sitcoms ended with a big, epic, magical battle that just didn’t suit the overall nuance and tragedy of the show. Moon Knight, which managed to snag two of the greatest working actors – Oscar Isaac and Ethan Hawke – culminated in a confrontational bore.

Bigger isn't Always Better

Marvel is trying to expand every single aspect of the cinematic universe, losing viewers in the process. It seems that every single Marvel movie requires extensive research beforehand to figure out what has happened in the previous installments, and the whole concept of the multiverse and parallel timelines only adds to the confusion. A portion of the audience that used to be casual Marvel movie goers are now completely lost, making for a not so enjoyable experience.

With the decline of Marvel comes the decline of their visual effects. It’s disappointing that a billion-dollar superhero company can’t manage to make their superpowers look good, or their villains to look menacing, or even their backgrounds to look realistic. A reason for this could be the sheer amount of quantity Marvel is trying to push out, leading to rushed and poor quality visuals. In that case, Marvel should start adhering to words of wisdom as old as time: quality over quantity.

As a whole, Marvel has been on the decline in recent years, but it doesn’t mean that they are unsalvageable. The world hasn’t lost its appetite for superhero movies, evidenced by the popularity of Sony’s animated Spider-Man: Across the Spider-verse, it just simply wants to consume quality superhero content. Should Marvel be able to break out of the formulaic confines it’s created for itself and spend time on projects one at a time, there is hope for a revival of the cinematic universe.