Has Marvel Fallen Off?

Do you love action movies with comedy in them? Well the Marvel franchise might just be the perfect match for you! Unless you’ve read the comics. Ever since Kevin Feige announced that Marvel is now entering phase 4 of its franchise, these movies have been a major let down to not only the Marvel comic lovers of their community, but their long lasting MCU (Marvel Cinematic Universe) fans that they have been forming since the first movie in phase one, Iron Man. 

One reason why Marvel is so popular is because they come out with all these movies and then piece them together to form one big story. While producing all these movies at such a fast pace keeps the fans wanting more, it tends to also rush production and cause holes within the storylines, thus making it harder for new fans to join when they are first introduced to the MCU by a movie like Thor Ragnarok, that’s in the middle of the storyline and have no idea what’s happening, everything is so engraved into each other, with the exception of the new TV show Moon Knight, newer fans can easily get overwhelmed and nobody would blame them. 

When asked ¨What is something in the MCU that can be improved?,¨ Alyssa Parker, a 10th grade student at South Hadley High School, replied ¨They should work on their storyline and stop making dog water¨, referring to the rushed storylines. That seems like a recurring theme in the newer movies, along with TV shows. Marvel has so many movies that they have to describe each movie with a phase just so it can be easier when talking about. Talk about overload. With all these plans for the future, not just the storylines get rushed. An article made by Gizmodo not only gives us insight on the marvel VFX (Visual effects) team, but gives us a new perspective on what is happening with VFX artists everywhere. 

Another student at South Hadley High School, Alannah Mackay, when asked ¨What is something in the MCU that can be improved?¨ replied ¨CGI should be improved,¨ referencing the rushed VFX that the producers of the Marvel Studio have been giving out unrealistic expectations to the Artists working with Marvel in such a short time frame. Now the VFX team is going to be pushed to their limits with the new Multiverse mayhem going on, and already more talk about phase 6. It’s clear to see what’s going to happen in the future if Marvel doesn’t slow it down. Maybe if they just slowed it down and started looking for an ending point, I’m sure we all wouldn’t mind a break from this superhero overload.   

Don’t get me wrong. Who doesn’t love a good comedy? But in Marvel they have a tendency to put humor where it doesn’t belong. For instance, in Thor Love and Thunder, when Jane passes away it doesn’t really have that sad feeling to it because Jane is a character that was inconsistent in the Thor movies. But in Thor Ragnarok we hear that she just broke up with him? Then right when she and Gorr (the main villain in Thor Love and Thunder) are both dying and Gorr needs to make a wish, a lot of people thought he was going to save Jane and have her be back in the Marvel franchise alongside Thor so he could have someone to confide in since all of his family members are dead (keep in mind this: Thor’s Loki is indeed dead). But no, her death gets pushed to the side again and we are met with another new young addition to the MCU, making it impossible for us to feel emotion for Jane because we are quickly met with a new shocking surprise. Marvel has begun to kill off its older characters rather than giving them a proper retirement or just going away to live in peace. 

I enjoy seeing all these new characters in Marvel as much as the next guy but they’re going about it in all the wrong ways. A good story needs tension and resolution to help these characters grow, like confiding in other people around them to not only give them so semblance of closure, but to also give the audience a better understanding of the character. Many fans have fallen in love with the original characters of the MCU and are mad about not having a conclusion to the characters’ stories that they need. Characters like Natasha Romanoff, Tony Stark, and Steve Rogers finally had a fulfilling character arc that led to a sense of happiness that their characters can finally be put to rest, but with their other characters not so much. For instance, Bruce Banner´s transformation into Professor Hulk felt out of character for Bruce considering he hated that side of him. Then come to find out in the new She Hulk Attorney At Law he can’t turn back into Bruce on his own. He needs a special device to change back into Banner? What? Along with other characters, like how Sam Wilson was a person who didn’t get a lot of screen time, but when he did he was a cool, fun-loving guy who just wanted to keep his friends safe. Then later on we learn that he is a character that a lot of people out there can relate to, but as the story goes on, Steve Rogers giving him the shield felt just odd. I did not feel the friendship between Sam and Steve. I mean the only time we really get to see them together is Avengers Civil War with Sam blindly following Steve to the very end and getting Sam locked in the Raft because of a war between all of them which probably could have been avoided.

Marvel has a lot of great ideas for their stories but when it comes down to it, it’s all about the money. Let’s hope that Marvel just might see what they’re doing to their movies, or they might just not do anything about it and continue making these disappointing storylines. When it all comes down to it though, we all need to hope that the new Black Panther Wakanda forever (coming out November 11, 2022) will break the curse.