I was debating to make a post about whether or not I was going to continue watching Marvel’s movies. In fact, I alluded to the idea in my review of Thor: Love and Thunder. Before I tell you why I’m stepping off Marvel’s MCU train, I want to say that I’ve been a huge fan of Marvel’s MCU since Iron Man came out back in 2008. It was an awesome movie that gave Robert Downey, Jr. the comeback that he deserved. It was an outstanding film that kicked off a number of films that would culminate in one of the industries biggest hits, The Avengers. The Avengers hinted at a villain that gave us a clue where the MCU was headed: Infinity War. So, most of the movies released between 2008 and 2019 were building up to one of the biggest events in film history. It delivered in a way that I never thought possible. Infinity War and by extension, Endgame were smash hits that brought Tony Stark’s story full circle. It was an exciting and emotional moment that I’ll never forget. So the question was, where would the MCU go from there? The answer to that question has been one that’s been elusive since Avengers: Endgame. The big problem is that the quality of the movies and shows has wildly inconsistent. Black Widow was merely average, while Spider-Man: No Way Home was an Avengers-level success. It’s a great movie. Eternals was very different from what we’ve seen before and that’s been a sticking point for a lot of people. I really liked it BECAUSE it was so different. Shang-Chi was also amazing in its own way.
But the problems really began when Bob Chapek took over from Bob Iger as CEO of Disney. Where Iger was content to let his creative minds do their jobs, Chapek is…well…NOT Bob Iger, and we’ve been seeing the results of Chapek’s tenure. Instead of quality films and shows, we’ve ended up with stuff like Hawkeye, Loki, Falcon and the Winter Soldier, and Moon Knight. Those are the Disney Plus shows that have aired in the last couple of years. While I really liked Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, Thor: Love and Thunder was an incoherent mess of a film that was completely unbalanced in terms of tone. San Diego Comic Con takes place this weekend and while it’s not just about comic-book movies, those are definitely a huge part of the event. NOW, we’ve got plans for the upcoming Phase 5 of Marvel’s movies and shows. There’s so much going on with the MCU right now that it’s really hard to keep track of everything going on. While the upcoming She-Hulk TV show looks bonkers, Black Panther: Wakanda Forever looks merely average at this point, with the teaser being released today.
A large part of the problem is that we’re beginning to see the shows and movies start to cross over and that’s not a good thing. For example, in Doctor Strange 2, Wanda Maximoff becomes the villain of the story because she’s trying to find a universe where her children exist so she can be with them, so she hunts down America Chavez, a young woman that can walk between universes. Your average film-goer is going to be confused by Wanda’s motivations unless they’re familiar with the WandaVision show. Producer Kevin Feige had always made it possible that people can jump into ANY MCU movie without being confused about what’s going on. Doctor Strange 2 shakes that up a bit, and I can see that happening more and more as time goes on. Believe it or not, not all of us are interested in the shows. At all. I’m not. Marvel’s upcoming slate of movies and shows is, quite frankly, overwhelming to me. Now, before anybody slams me for hating on the success of the MCU, I want you to know that I don’t want them to fail. I really don’t. But I do wish they would slow down a bit. They are putting out way too much too fast. As a fan of the Infinity Saga, seeing The Multiverse Saga coming into focus makes me worried about the future of the MCU. I was afraid of Marvel going the Multiverse route, and that’s exactly what they’re doing. It’s going to be messy. While I don’t think it’s going to flat-out fail, I fear that we’re going to see a lot more movies that are more Black Widow than Shang-Chi.
Look, if you really love the MCU and where it’s going, don’t let me stop you. If you really like where things are headed, I’m happy for you. I wish I could be that excited for future MCU movies, but I’m not right now. Maybe I’ll come back to it later, but my interests are veering away from the MCU and I think now is probably the best time for me to jump ship. So, yeah, those are the reasons why I’m stepping away from the MCU. I’d be really curious to see how many people are just exhausted as I am with Marvel’s stuff.