It’s a commonly held belief now thatthe MCU has seen better days. Hell, that’s putting it lightly; the Marvel Cinematic Universe pretty much stinks, and even its successes likeGuardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3are tinged with a faint feeling of disappointment.
There are a number of reasons why: bad scripts, mediocre VFX, a general sense of narrative aimlessness, and too many variants and multiverses for anyone to follow while still keeping their sanity intact. Nobody knew for sure what the heck was wrong with the MCU exactly … until now. In a scathing expose,Variety’s Tatiana Siegel paints an illuminating and messy pictureof a once-invulnerable studio besieged by a multitude of problems, both internal and external, that have tarnished its brand and have left many fans, myself included, jaded about its future. Among the many revelations are the following:
The Marvels could be the MCU’s The Flash
RememberThe Flash, that now-forgotten 2023 would-be summer blockbuster that was hyped to be one of the best superhero movies ever and instead was a terrible movie plagued by endless reshoots and questionable test screenings? Well, Marvel may have its own equivalent inThe Marvels. As Variety reports, the movie, which cost a whopping $250 million, had four weeks of reshoots and a middling test screening this past summer in Texas.
What’s worse is that the director, Nia DaCosta, already moved on to work another film whileThe Marvelswas in postproduction. That’s simply unheard of for a director of a big tentpole, which suggests she either wanted to forget the experience as quickly as possible or Marvel wanted to retool it without her. Or maybe it’s something else altogether. In any scenario, the outlook isn’t good for the forthcoming Marvel movie.
The She-Hulk pilot cost $25 million
Yes, you read that right. A show set largely in Los Angeles, with a small cast and a relatively low-stakes storyline, had a pilot that cost $25 million. That’s even more than an episode ofGame of Thrones, which has to construct an entire world filled with dragons and incest out of thin air. What’s worse is thatShe-Hulk: Attorney at Lawwas generally criticized forlooking cheap, “shoddy,” and not up to the usual Marvel standard. Ouch.
The terrible VFX issues ran a lot deeper than originally thought
We’ve all seen the memes of the floating head fromThor: Love and Thunderand the numerous wonky shots fromAnt-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania. And yes, part of the problem was the fact that many of the VFX artists were overwhelmed with work. But as Variety reveals, the problem stemmed from Marvel President Kevin Feige himself.
As one insider is quoted in the article: “The so-called bad VFX we see was because of half-baked scripts. That is not Victoria [Alonso, the recently fired head of VFX]. That is Kevin. And even above Kevin. Those issues should be addressed in preproduction. The timeline is not allowing the Marvel executives to sit with the material.”
Marvel may solve its Kang problem with Doctor Doom
Most people know by now the legal issues involvingJonathan Majors, the actor who plays KanginLokiand other Marvel projects. What people don’t know is that Marvel has a backup plan: Doctor Doom. The Fantastic Four villain is seen as a logical replacement should Majors leave the Kang role or if Marvel decides to go in another direction.
The OG Avengers may return to the MCU sooner than you think
It was inevitable that the original Avengers would return at some point. They are too beloved as pop culture characters, and too lucrative of an asset, to be shelved completely by Disney. And while a couple of them are technically dead (R.I.P.Robert Downey Jr.’s Iron Manand Scarlett Johansson’s Black Widow), that hasn’t stopped Marvel from trying to make it happen.
While Variety cautions that the studio hasn’t locked down anyone yet, the fact that they are even considering it this early, just four years afterAvengers: Endgame, is indicative of the chaotic, somewhat depressed state the MCU is in right now. LikeMarried with Children‘s Al Bundy, they want to relive their glory days already, and who can blame them?
Find out more MCU gossip, including news about the upcoming Blade movie, inVariety.
