By Nate Maki | Sports Writer
Did you see “The Marvels” in theaters last November? Yeah, me neither. Marvel Studios used to be a titan of the entertainment industry, but lately, fans have only let out a sigh at each and every trailer. So, what happened?
I believe the recent downfall of Marvel into cricket-chirping status can be split into two key factors:
1. You’re not “inevitable.” Stop trying to end the world.
The main problem you will hear from most Marvel fans is that their movies are a victim of “power creep.”
Power creep is a concept most applied to video games where the stakes and power of the story gradually increase to maintain a sense of tension and consumer interest.
If every “Avengers” movie included Iron Man saving New York, people would eventually lose interest. Instead, the stakes get higher with every movie. Iron Man saves New York, then he’s saving the world, then the universe and finally the multiverse — until you can’t go any bigger.
The real problem arises when you realize that if any of these high-stakes scenarios actually came true, Marvel would stop making money. There’s no way they could make their next million-dollar movie if the heroes failed.
In any movie where beloved million-dollar characters could possibly die, the audience automatically knows the antagonist will not succeed in their plans. All tension in the story is lost, and you have fallen asleep in your theater seat.
The obvious exception to this rule is “Avengers: Infinity War” where (spoiler alert) Thanos actually manages to end half of all life in the universe. The antagonist winning meant a change of pace from their previous movies, which kept the audience on their toes. This resulted in “the sixth highest-grossing movie of all time, quickly followed by the second highest in its resolving sequel, “Avengers: Endgame.” Did Marvel learn from this huge opportunity?
I wish I could say yes.
2. “I could do this all day,” aka “Too much Marvel.”
In the early eras of Marvel, it was revolutionary to have several different movie series come together in the first “Avengers.” It encouraged viewers to watch everything they had to offer, and it made a lot of money. It was the birth of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Nowadays, other studios have tried to emulate this, and cinematic universes are a dime-a-dozen (looking at you, DC Extended Universe).
When everyone was on lockdown in early 2020, Marvel needed to find a way to make money without theaters. And with Disney having just recently created Disney+, it served as the perfect medium for Marvel to put content directly into our homes. Marvel put out eight miniseries on Disney+ within two years.
The only issue is the miniseries were their own cinematic universes, and not everyone was able to keep up. When shows like “WandaVision” crossed over into a Doctor Strange movie in 2022, it became a sequel of both the first Doctor Strange movie as well as a follow-up to that miniseries. You could even make arguments that it was a sequel to “Spiderman: No Way Home” and even “Avengers: Endgame.” As the MCU gets bigger and more expansive, this is only becoming a more prominent issue with the fanbase. It won’t be long before you’re missing most of the context of a Marvel movie before sitting down in the theater.
Marvel Studios has already lost my faith. I sincerely doubt that I’ll be going to see any of the movies in their “major revamp.” In the meantime, I hope Marvel stops trying to make money and starts trying to make art.
