The MCU is Dying: Why Does it Matter?
By Jacob Butler
Photo by Erik Mclean on Unsplash
Captain America: Brave New World has been in theatres for a few weeks now, and has been doing fairly poorly by Marvel standards, with both a lackluster opening and one of the highest box office drop-offs in Marvel history. It also received poor critical reception and is one of the lowest rated Marvel movies on Rotten Tomatoes and Metacritic. In fact, the only reason Captain America: Brave New World isn’t seen as the MCU’s biggest failure, is that other recent Marvel films, like The Marvels and Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania, managed to do even worse. The MCU used to be one of the most successful franchises in film history, and while it still has its occasional success, like with Deadpool and Wolverine, many of their films have been facing unprecedented critical and commercial failure, and it seems Marvel Studios is very aware of this. Louis D’Esposito, co-president of Marvel Studios, claims, “It’s been a rough time”, in regards to the recent slew of failures, and some are calling for Kevin Feige, Marvel Studios president, to leave the MCU as a result.
There’s no debate as to how the MCU has fallen from its former heights, but the question remains: why? What led to this degradation of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, and what does this mean going forward?
There have been many theories as to what caused the steady destruction of the MCU. Some blame the fact that there are too many projects for any one person to keep track of. Others claim that the MCU’s focus on the multiverse ruins their stories’ stakes, and while those ideas are certainly relevant to the critical reception of certain MCU films, they’re by no means the only factors that determine their failure. One significant reason the MCU is struggling comes from how its film budgets are far too high. While recent films like Captain America: Brave New World, did make a good amount of money compared to your average film, the production reportedly cost 180 million, and that’s without accounting for the costs of reshoots and advertisements. This means that it has to make a phenomenal amount of money just to break even. In contrast, while films like The Monkey have made less at the box office, they also cost significantly less, allowing them to make a far greater return on investment.
Another important factor impacting how modern MCU films are received is how they choose to spend their time and money. For example, the MCU has become known for its terrible use of CGI. Not only does it look bad, but it also costs them hundreds of millions of dollars per movie. This is likely caused by a plethora of factors, but perhaps the most relevant is their mistreatment of VFX companies, and mismanagement of the overall production. Many Marvel productions continuously change what they ask for in terms of VFX work while providing very limited time for the companies they hire to turn over quality work. This practice, paired with Marvel’s tendency towards reshoots, means that they end up spending significant amounts of money on special effects that don’t end up looking the best, and that’s only one example of the mismanagement of Marvel’s resources.
Marvel also has a tendency to intentionally hire inexperienced directors to create their films. This allows the studio to maintain a certain level of creative control, as the less experienced a director is, the less likely they are to argue with the studio that gave them such an incredible opportunity. The same is true for writers, as the MCU’s leadership structure ensures that producers have significantly more say in the production than any writers they hire. While this may allow Marvel to have more overall control over the products they make, it also ensures that their films and shows are rarely written or directed by the most experienced or qualified people. This likely contributes to the critical failure of many of their films and series, and given that word of mouth is extremely valuable for a film's box office, it could greatly contribute to their economic failure as well.
Needless to say, there are many reasons why the MCU is struggling at the moment, but why does it matter? What makes the downfall of the MCU worth talking about? Well, for starters, it’s not falling alone. The MCU is one of many entertainment juggernauts that have been put in a precarious position recently. The DC Extended Universe, for example, had a similar decline in box office sales, leading to its eventual reboot at the hands of James Gunn. The same is true for Star Wars, which has also seen a steady decline in viewership, to the point that Disney plans to “pull back” on the brand. The decline of these franchises means that these big studios, like Disney and Warner Brothers, can no longer rely solely on their intellectual properties. Studios that for the longest time were seen as too big to fail are now bleeding money, marking a fairly significant cultural shift. Entertainment monopolies are losing their influence, and people are starting to notice.
Perhaps more important than the cultural implications of this decline, though, is the reminder of what power we hold as consumers. It’s easy to look at entertainment superpowers like Star Wars or Marvel and feel like your voice means nothing, like these companies and franchises will succeed with or without your support, but it's moments like this that show the truth: the success or failure of these companies relies heavily on people like you. Being conscientious of what content you consume, as well as advocating for content you like and admonishing content you dislike, can have a massive impact on those products. No matter how powerful or influential a company is, your voice can always make a difference; don’t ever let them forget that.