Marvel digs into its past to reshape its future
The Marvel Cinematic Universe is in need of an overhaul. To do so, it's falling back on its most reliable talent.
Marvel announced at San Diego Comic-Con on Saturday that the Russo Brothers would be returning to direct the next two “Avengers” movies — and that Robert Downey Jr would be back, this time as Doctor Doom.
The Marvel Cinematic Universe can still churn out hits, evident by this weekend’s “Deadpool and Wolverine.” But it’s also in need of a reset.
“Secret Wars” has the opportunity to usher the MCU into a bold future.
This post contains some spoilers for Marvel’s “Secret Wars” comic.
It’s an age-old cliche of American super hero comics that nobody ever stays dead. That can apply to Marvel itself.
In the early 2000s, after emerging from bankruptcy in the late 1990s and watching its biggest rival DC surpass it in market share, Marvel needed something fresh to reel in new readers, or at least those that had abandoned it. What it settled on was the “Ultimate” universe, a new line of comics that reimagined classic characters like Spider-Man and the X-Men for a new generation and existed side-by-side with Marvel’s core titles. The gamble worked; sales increased and a lot of the current Marvel Cinematic Universe has been inspired by the Ultimate books, right down to casting Samuel L. Jackson as Nick Fury.
The MCU is in a similar state of re-evaluation right now, though not nearly as perilous as its comics counterpart was back then. The MCU got to a point, pre-pandemic, where success was a given. So when the franchise started suffering one too many box-office disappointments, it raised some eyebrows. “The Marvels” last year was the icing on the cake, grossing a measly $206 million worldwide, the lowest box-office gross in the franchise, despite 2019’s “Captain Marvel” earning over $1 billion.
But it wasn’t just the box office: Marvel Studios has been plagued with rare negative publicity. There’s Jonathan Majors, the actor Marvel had propped up to play the franchise’s next big bad in Kang, but was found guilty of assault and harassment in December; Marvel quickly dumped him. Reports of the studio overworking visual-effects houses, leading to shoddy CGI in its most recent movies like “Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania,” didn’t help matters. And Marvel’s “Blade” movie, scheduled for release next year, has been overshadowed by a reportedly troubled production, going through multiple directors and rewrites.
Even Disney CEO Bob Iger seemed to acknowledge that Marvel’s quality had dipped in favor of quantity across its movies and streaming TV shows, saying in May that he’s “working hard with the studio to reduce output and focus more on quality” and that the studio would limit its output of movies and shows.
But when it came time for an overhaul of the MCU, Marvel Studios president Kevin Feige wasn’t ready for an Ultimate-style reboot — at least not yet. Instead, the studio isn’t so much refreshing itself for the future as it is reaching into the past. Not only are “Infinity War” and “Endgame” directors returning for the next two “Avengers” movies — “Doomsday” (formerly “The Kang Dynasty”) and “Secret Wars” — but actor Robert Downey Jr, AKA Iron Man, is coming back for them too, this time as the villainous Doctor Doom (how they are pulling that off remains a mystery; it probably has something to do with the multiverse!). Whether it’s an act of desperation or a savvy pivot (probably a bit of both), Marvel was in need of a fast fix.
It’s fitting that Marvel made that announcement, during San Diego Comic-Con, on the same weekend that its latest (and only movie this year), “Deadpool and Wolverine,” hit theaters, with Hugh Jackman reviving his role as the latter title character. Nobody ever stays dead.
And just like that, the momentum for the MCU suddenly shifted. “Deadpool and Wolverine” earned $205 million in the US over the weekend, the biggest ever for an R-rated movie. It totaled nearly $440 million worldwide. And Marvel is probably breathing a sigh of relief that most people have probably already forgotten about the Kang debacle.
But the reason nobody ever stays dead for long in comic books is because they are constantly being rebooted, rebranded, rehashed, revamped, refreshed, and whatever other “re”-phrase you can think of. And the same fate might still await the MCU.
The 2015 “Secret Wars” comic event told the story, years in the making, of different universes crashing into one another until there was one left, ruled by Doctor Doom. By the end of the story, though, the Ultimate universe had collapsed and the original Marvel universe was restored, albeit with some leftovers from the Ultimate comics, including Miles Morales, who now exists in the same pages as Peter Parker.
One could see the MCU setting itself up for a similar reset after its own “Secret Wars,” not just because that’s where this stage of the story is heading, but because it’s in need of one. There have been hit shows and movies post- “Endgame,” like “No Way Home,” “Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3,” “Loki,” “WandaVision,” and now “Deadpool and “Wolverine.” But the franchise has also seemed aimless at best (are we ever going to see Harry Styles or Brett Goldstein again? Do you even know what I’m referring to?) and lazy at worst, and that’s reflected in the critic and audience reaction.
The four worst-reviewed MCU movies, at least by Rotten Tomatoes’ dubious measurement, have been released post-pandemic: “Quantumania,” “Eternals,” “The Marvels,” and “Love and Thunder.” Those first three also have the the lowest grade among the franchise (B) at Cinemascore, which surveys audiences on a movie’s opening night. Maybe a B doesn’t sound so bad, but it is for movies produced to be raucous crowd-pleasers in a franchise that usually spits out A’s.
The MCU’s Disney+ TV shows largely haven’t inspired much confidence either. We can probably tell that from the reception to “The Marvels,” in which two of the main stars originated in TV shows.
Let’s look at viewership, or at least what we can surmise. According to Nielsen figures, the premiere of “Secret Invasion,” starring Jackson as Fury, garnered 461 million viewing minutes in the US; the week of the finale’s release, the show gained 421 million viewing minutes, suggesting viewers dropped off (to be fair, when doing the math, the finale could have been watched by more people as it’s a shorter episode. But considering every episode was out by that point, I’d assume the numbers should be higher as people caught up).
At any rate, a Marvel event series didn’t seem to generate much buzz, especially compared to the finale of “Loki,” which generated over 750 million viewing minutes the week of its season two finale.
Another characteristic of comic books is that there’s so much content and history that fans can never keep up with everything. It’s much more common for readers to base their pull lists on favorite characters and creators. The MCU was starting to get to that point in its current era. But in Hollywood, that’s not what you want for shows that reportedly cost over $200 million to make (it all reminds me of Disney’s other franchise, “Star Wars,” which I also wrote about).
And so here we are. The Russos are back. Downey is back. And if Bob Iger has anything to say about it, Marvel is pulling back. Marvel has the opportunity with “Secret Wars” to do something drastic, but also familiar for superhero entertainment: start fresh. In a way, it’s fitting that the actor that started it all might be the one to end (and restart) everything. While Marvel’s near-term direction is about the past, the future might — and should — look much different.
RELATED: More from the world of comic books
Since SDCC was over the weekend, I’d be remiss if I didn’t belabor more on comics.
Remember when I said that Marvel had ended its Ultimate line? Well, it recently returned, and they’re regularly some of the best-selling comics on stands (again); an Ultimate comic topped the units-sold charts five of the first six months of the year (the only non-Ultimate book? “Doom” issue 1 in May). Nothing ever stays dead.
Unlike the ‘90s when Marvel was going bankrupt, DC has consistently struggled to keep pace on the sales charts. But it’s betting on a new line of comics starting in October that reimagines its core characters and exists alongside its main titles… Wait, that sounds pretty familiar.
The new “Absolute DC” line will include new comics with fresh jumping on points from all-star creators; the biggest difference from Marvel’s initial Ultimate brand is that the Absolute comics are part of a larger initiative called “DC All-in,” and may not be entirely separate from the main line of comics in the grand scheme.
But the most exciting thing happening in comics right now continues to be another universe: Image Comics and Skybound’s “Energon Universe,” which launched last year and rebooted the Transformers and G.I. Joe comics as part of a unified comic-book franchise. “Transformers” issue 1, written and drawn by Daniel Warren Johnson, sold more copies than any other comic last year, and the series won the Eisner Award — the Oscars of the comic industry — this week for best continuing series.
Beyond the Traverse
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⭐️ “Deadpool and Wolverine” director Shawn Levy confirmed in a Vulture profile that he is in “very active development” on a “Star Wars” movie. Sure.
Don’t forget to read my breakdown of disappointing viewership figures for Disney+’s “Star Wars” shows
⛈️ “The Boys” is getting another spinoff, this time a 1950s-set prequel focused on Stormfront and Soldier Boy
100% agree that they need to do something different going forward. The original Infinity War Saga was unique to cinema at the time, it's why we forgave small quibbles so readily. Marvel needs to remember that they had hiccups during those years, too, such as Incredible Hulk and the second Thor. Hopefully they can put together a vision and stay the course and focus on quality and ingenuity again. I think they'll need to to survive - they can't survive on the numbers comics can. They can't pander to a fervent niche fanbase.
Oh, and one quibble with the article: for BLADE, it's had a troubled *development*, not production. Production only begins when shooting actually starts.
I feel the first TV shows were super strong and then they just tried to do too much and got lost. I'm so happy to see the hype again for Marvel and hope they do less but focus on quality stories.