Marvelous Mistakes

    From the outside looking in, it seems like the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) was a total mess during “Phase 4”. While loyal fans are still showing up for the MCU, between insufficient box office results and ex-employees revealing questionable working conditions, it makes me wonder, is it possible for the behemoth that is the Marvel Cinematic Universe, to fail or become obsolete?

   

    Short answer: probably not. Fans are extremely loyal to the brand. Even with some bad additions, I believe that Marvel is simply too big to fail. 

    

    For background, in November 2022, Bob Chapek, Disney’s CEO from 2020-2022 was fired. Many people blame Chapek for Disney’s recent failures, particularly within the MCU. In the time that Chapek worked for Disney, the MCU rushed to release 7 movies and 8 television series. 

    

    However, Chapek may not be to blame, anonymous VFX artists who worked for the MCU, before Chapek, claimed that while working on “Avengers: Infinity War” and “Endgame”, the company pushed the release date up a month without warning the artists. One employee claimed that they were working 10+ hours a day, and couldn’t take a day off for five weeks straight. The CGI has certainly suffered and the newest additions are turning into internet memes. 

A Twitter post from @ybtoren, joking about the poor CGI quality in contrast to the large budget of "Thor: Love and Thunder" (2022)

     With plenty of issues surrounding Phase 4, it's not surprising that the MCU has also been struggling at the box office. After “Dr. Strange 2” was released in May of 2022, from the opening weekend to the second (Friday-Friday) the earnings dropped by 82%. 

    

    Ultimately, despite its shortcomings, I don’t think the MCU can ever truly fail as long as fans are willing to keep watching. But it does make me wonder: what, if anything, could take down the MCU?