The Death of the MCU

• Zaina Nauman Afzal
• Jun 8, 2024
• 4 min read

I remember that as children, we would stand eagerly in line for hours to buy tickets to see the latest Marvel franchise movie, and characters like Ironman and Captain America were the subject of all entertainment, toys and media. Up until a few years ago, me and all my friends would ritually watch every movie as soon as it came out, and spend hours micro analyzing for details, hints and discrepancies of parallels across movies. As an avid Marvel fan for most of my life, even I can admit that today my interest in their content has significantly decreased and I am no longer rushing to make sure I have each and every update on every show and movie the way I did before. The MCU has lost the spark that it once held, and despite popular opinion this is not due to us just growing up and losing interest. Marvel fans have always been devoted and loyal, and it takes a lot to stop engaging with their content. Let’s analyze why exactly this has been happening:

Evolution of Media Quality:

When the MCU began with the first Iron Man movie, the idea of superheroes was monopolized by Marvel (later to only be battled by DC), and the CGI and quality was revolutionary for the time in comparison to other movies out simultaneously. There was already an enormous fan base due to the comics and they deemed the movie true to their imagination, immediately providing Marvel with a stepping stool to become the most popular franchise ever. Children were in awe of these heroes with powers. In a time where previously romcoms and animated movies were on the rise, Marvel helped start the Era of the Superhero Genre. Their new ideas dominated the media industry and gained popularity and fan loyalty due to the sheer quality and content of their movies. Even today, anyone will tell you that Marvel flourished with the use of post credit scenes, to the point where people stayed in the cinema till the very end of all credits so as to not miss any content. In today’s world, over 15 years since the MCU began, thousands of movies have been released, increasing in quality over time. Modern technology and movie scripts have caught up with the Marvel ones, and the latter no longer has the cutting edge of unique content over other movies that it had before. There are many other movies with people with powers, aliens, CGI, action and so many qualities that democratize the power Marvel held over their audience. For this reason, fans are no longer restricted to a small set of MCU movies to see the content they yearn to watch and have many more options, making Marvel less popular. 

With the release of Avengers: Endgame in 2019, the Marvel Cinematic Universe peaked. This is a fact everyone can agree on. This movie was a culmination of over 10 years of movies, cliffhangers, and characters arcs. It allowed fans to view the conclusion of many characters’ storylines and their farewell to the MCU, tying up all loose ends into a knot in the form of Marvel’s longest ever movie. There were tears, there was screaming and there was a standing ovation. After this movie, there were a lot of major characters that left the MCU, leading to introduction of new storylines. As soon as Endgame came out it was apparent that the next movie to follow up would not be able to top this one, making the Marvel comedown inevitable.

The MCU lost its A list cast in the blink of an eye. Endgame had the killing off of characters Black Widow and Iron man, and the ending of Captain America’s story. Black Widow had a prequel yet announced she would not be returning to the universe anytime soon (probably as a result of a huge public fight with Disney+ studios) and the actor Chadwick Boseman who played Black Panther sadly passed away in 2020. Tom Holland has said he is taking a break from Hollywood at the moment; all these added up leaves the Marvel universe with quite a large void, that they are attempting to fill with an influx of new actors and character storylines. Even the character set up for the villain in the brand new Avengers, Kang, was arrested for assault, stirring even more commotion. Marvel has brought in a plethora of characters, in the form of movies and shows, and therefore saturated their quality. For the youth who have just started consuming this media and have not seen previous Marvel, there is no connection or loyalty to these heroes that are not only new but lacking in character development, but there is also no incentive to pick them over other movies and shows – Amazon’s show ‘The Boys’ has surpassed almost every Marvel TV show in revenue, viewership and ratings.

With the sheer number of projects the MCU is pumping out as well as apparent budget cuts, the poor quality is showing up onscreen as a result of an unsustainable release schedule. Many blame this on the fact that Marvel’s Entertainment operations were folded into Disney’s larger business unit in March 2023. Additionally, with the amount of complications and miniscule details that have included in the multiple timelines across movies and shows, watching their content becomes more of a chore and less of a form of entertainment, increasing the urge to watch something else instead. There are also movies like Thor: Love and Thunder that were highly criticized for not being what the fans expected at all from a superhero movie, with even lead actor Chris Hemsworth stating the movie wasn’t the hit they were expecting it to be and that he cringes at it

Overall, the decline in hype around Marvel can be attributed to many factors as mentioned above. Audiences are getting sick of viewing repetitive grand fight sequences, and are eagerly (and unrealistically) awaiting the day the MCU returns to their so called glory days. However, certainly no one can deny the hold the universe held over fans of all ages, and the way it revolutionized the film industry at one point in time. Of course, I am aware my opinion may be biased to my experience withe the movies and that there are exceptions to everything, so feel free to give me your thoughts on the matter as well!