The MCU Is Collapsing

well well well 2022 was certainly an interesting year wasn't it inflation was quoted as saying the roof is not my son but I will raise it just a little bit of War happening Elon bought Twitter the queen passed and it was the year I came across this woman but all this PS in comparison to what's really important the biggest thing to happen in 2022 the year of Our Lord we learn that the time of comic book movies is coming to an end the Golden Age yeah that's over the craziest part of all of this is that it only took a sing single calendar year for it to collapse one year of bad production has buckled the knees of the biggest franchise in cinema history there are a lot of factors in play here from the obvious like ideologically driven stories and characters but that's been talked about a lot there's more to be taken away from the failings of the MCU and that's what I want to uncover in this video now shills and NPCs might lurk with their defense at the ready but every MCU movie open to number one they're still the biggest movies of the Year phase 4 was just a setup phase like phase one these words sound like a PR spin straight from Disney itself you just got to block that crap out you know because make no mistake about it 2022 was an absolutely horrible time for Marvel and DC I mean I've been She-Hulk for you guys and I'm still waiting for my purple heart both Studios have suffered financially but they have their own unique problems too there's so much to cover that this video will specifically be taking a look at Marvel there will be another one discussing DC which deserves its own analysis it's so screwed up as far as the MCU VI is concerned I'm not saying it's going to end in the next year or even 5 years but after the past decade of laying waste at the box office comicbook movies have actually become waste which is one of the reasons why 2022 showed us their dominance over our culture has started to decline pretty significantly does the MCU make up every comic book production well no of course not but the MCU was so influential so massive that the comic book movie genre as a whole will go where the MCU goes whatever happens to this particular franchise will influence how Studios approach adaptations of comic books for better or worse Hollywood's no stranger to Trends and the MCU success was the reason why Studios were desperate to build their own Cinematic Universe over the past decade and Let us laugh at some outstanding failures for every success there were multiple disasters from the mild success of Godzilla's monsterverse to the scrapping of Universal's Dark Universe after Tom Cruz's version of The Mummy completely bombed or the botched attempt at a Cinematic Universe when they tried to combine 21 Jump Street with Men In Black I'm serious at the start of 2021 the MCU was still riding High nothing had come out since endgame in Spider-Man's second MCU movie so people were still excited to see what was coming next endgame was the culmination of over 10 years of film making the conclusion of an experiment involving interconnected franchises to form one overarching narrative truly unprecedented the MCU had been rewarded with some of the biggest money makers in box office history even without Tony Stark or cap in the mix anymore there appeared to be great character to take the passing of the torch for the lead of the MCU we still add Thor who is seeing a Renaissance of popularity with three straight well-received iterations of the character well Labowski Thor was controversial but still point stands we also add Doctor Strange who when paired up with Tony Stark and infinity War proved he could go toe-to-toe in a battle of wits and quips with Iron Man himself and showing the audience who our next charismatic leader could be and we of course had Spider-Man who was recently resigned for future MCU movies at the end of 2019 as long as we have our anchor characters ones that are Central to the overall narrative it's okay if there are some misses right well 2021 put that right to the test this phase 4 started with TV shows on Disney plus receiving a collective okay from audiences the MCU is about the movies and we all know that well the actual cinematic part of phase 4 had a rough start to put it mildly with black widow tanking at the box office pulling in just $390 million and shangi crashing and finishing at just over 400 million oh Lord and then the eternals which cracked 400 million and was a complete bomb at the domestic box office as well as a disaster reception wise with critics and fans bashing it all the hell these aren't just underperforming numbers these are nightmare figures for movies that cost $200 million to make and almost as much to Market but at the time people were still giving things a pass it's a new era of film post 2020 streaming is causing low box office people still don't want to go to the mov movies eternals was just a dud doesn't mean everything else will be yeah those things played a role but more importantly audien has found these movies to be mid to horrible a fact people were gleefully ignoring after all the MCU always had some very big wins like the original Iron Man Avengers Civil War Infinity war and they were surrounded by mids to lows like Ant-Man Iron Man 3 and Thor of the Dark World that seemed to be the case again once Spider-Man no way home came out which made almost $2 billion without seeing any box office from China and at the time was universally acclaimed so all right the MCU still on track next up is Doctor Strange 2 bring that [ __ ] on drct strange is clearly the centerpiece of the MCU now Benedict cerbat is charismatic AF he's beloved and wait they're going to introduce the X-Men professor Charles Xavier the X-Men yo everyone's going to go nuts oh no wait wait what [Music] okay okay okay well their's store Ling Thunder at least right people loved Ragnarok plus he's badass now that one's got to be L lady Thor uh the name is Mighty Thor uh eat my hammer all right well that's certainly a shock to the senses HH couldn't possibly get any work and that's the way it went if the awfulness of Thor love and thunder didn't seal the deal She Hulk sure as hell did Black Widow eternals those weren't random Duds nope they were actually a sign of things to come it's become more and more apparent that Spider-Man is Sony's property for better or worse yeah it's got that MCU Sheen to it aesthetically speaking but now that we've taken in the entirety of phase 4 no way home feels far removed from the rest of the Slate just completely different these are universally derided Productions too I know the algorithm of every social media platform tries to keep us in our own bubbles of echo Chambers but I've done my darn best to step outside my own opinion and take a look from the nerd Villa of Reddit to anyone not paid to say nice things it seems phase 4 was ultimately considered a massive failure let's look at reality here every single Marvel film of 2021 and 2022 made less than a billion dollars and some making less than half that meanwhile pre-phase 4 you had crap films like Captain Marvel making over a billion Doctor Strange 2 was the closest one to a billion but bad word of mouth pulled that down and Thor for never even came close the final nail in the coffin was the you absolutely cannot criticize this movie Black Panther wakanda forever which just as I predicted will not be hitting the billion dollar Mark either how did this happen a few things phase 4 was starting over in a lot of ways with end game feeling so final they're introducing new characters there was massive disruption in the real world that changed the movie goinging experience but these excuses could be countered with phase 4 had all the Goodwill from endgame backing it up along with anchor characters like strange Spider-Man and Thor Spider-Man making nearly $2 billion means people will see a movie if people like it which leads me to conclude people did not and do not connect with these movies they are not good and why aren't they good how do we get from the highs of the Avengers films to witnessing the beginning of the end for the biggest franchise in cinema history well it would be useful to First Take a look at the past to see how we got here to identify what made these movies popular in the first place comic book movies had been around since the' 70s with the success of Richard Donner's Superman and 1989's Batman and a few low-budget turds of comic book adaptations came out in that span but didn't see close to the same success the Batman franchise started large and ended with a whimper Batman and Robin in 1997 was a critical in commercial disaster and derailed the franchise for years to come a few years later though Fox released the first X-Men movie in the summer of 2000 and this marked a turn for the comic book movie genre after the movie proved to be a success with fans and critics and proved to be a money maker this enticed other Studios to try their hands at the IP they'd purchased off of Marvel in the 9s when Marvel filed bankruptcy and sold the film rights to their IPs to various Studios Sony stepped up to the plate in 2002 with Sam Ry Spider-Man and it's crazy to think now but there was a time when movies didn't open to over $100 million or more a dozen times a year because Spider-Man was the first film to ever crossed that Mark in its opening weekend with $114 million and ended its run at the time as the fifth biggest movie in history from here Universal released the the commercial dud and Angley the Hulk the following year and moderate successes and lower cost failures followed with films like Fantastic 4 Ben Affleck Daredevil and Jennifer Garner spin-off Electra movie 2005 marks another milestone in the superhero genre with the game changer Batman Begins a reboot of the Batman franchise and the good times kept rolling with Spider-Man 3 in 2007 which was much hyped and the franchise reclaimed the biggest opening weekend of all time with over $150 million but to say the film was a disappointment and had a multitude to problems would be an understatement Jamie pull that video up yeah Peter Parker hitting chicks that's it oh come on [ __ ] vicious bang I don't know if I actually did that when you see it in slowmo time makes you keep your [ __ ] voice down in July 2008 The Dark Knight set the Benchmark for superhero movies but just a few months earlier in May of that year Robert Downey Jr and Iron Man came out of nowhere Marvel retained the rights to their core Avengers group and had managed to secure financing for its own movie studio and made a huge gamble on the production of Iron Man a well-known hero in comic book circles but not a household name by any stretch and the gamble paid off with massive commercial and critical success from here on out there were two styles of superhero films set by two groundbreakers the dark gritty style of The Dark Knight and the lighter more self-aware tone of Iron Man and what would quickly become known as the MCU after its success Disney would soon buy Marvel for what now seemed like a poultry 4 billion million dollar I'll make that deal how about you you [ __ ] you make that deal I make that deal I don't blame you damn good deal if anyone around 2008 thought superhero movies were doing well their socks were effectively knocked off by the time 2012 rolled around after Iron Man and an origin for Captain America Hulk and Thor out of the way the stage was set for world domination with the Avengers the success both with fans critics and insane box office numbers solidified the MCU as an absolute Game Changer seeing all these Heroes together for the first time was novel and it didn't hurt that the movie was well written rip Jos weeden's career now to figure out where the mcu's gone wrong let's first discuss where it went right how it gained the popularity it did and what made the MCU great the first thing to recognize is novelty the original Iron Man movie was a big success in its own right but the box office of Captain America Thor and Incredible Hulk range from disappointing to acceptable which is no fault of theirs well maybe Hulk because like Iron Man pre2 2008 Thor and cap were not household names yet Geeks can say whatever they want about how popular they were but believe me they weren't it's when they all came together in 2012 with the Avengers that for the first time ever we saw superheroes from separate franchises interact the idea of a Cinematic Universe seemed crazy at the time but they somehow pulled it off by giving the fans what they deserved seeing the characters play off each other their personalities clash and intersect I still remember the first time seeing Hulk try to pick up Thor's hammer and it was absolutely surreal the whole concept was fresh and new and exciting it's what set the stage for box office dominance for years to come and what else made it work how about the fact that they had a plan yes prior to Iron Man's release the goal and scope for Marvel's new Production Studio was to introduce their core Heroes culminating in an Avengers film The Infinity Saga hadn't been conceptualized yet but from the get-go they had a goal in mind get to The Avengers this was all dependent on the success of Iron Man but they were setting it up from the get-go once the Avengers open in 2012 and movie goers saw Thanos it was clear there was an overarching story in mind three phases of films leading up to a confrontation with Thanos and a battle for the Infinity Stones the MCU was also blessed with likable and charismatic actors taking up The Mantel of their Heroes when you combine Pitch Perfect casting with character-driven writing and happen to be building a long form narrative spanning multiple movies you have yourself a recipe for keeping audiences invested in your characters Robert Downey Jr was well what can you say about that hasn't been said a trillion times he was Tony Stark and Chris Heavens was Captain America as the centerpiece of the MCU I think we might have taken them for granted because they're most certainly Miss now Chadwick Boseman was fantastic casting as Black Panther and even though her solo movie was mid at best we still love you scarjo you'll always be my black widow and like I said these great actors were playing great characters it's hard to imagine but there was a time when Iron Man and Captain America weren't aist superheroes and that's just how it was before the MCU but solid character-driven writing with great actors let people see what all the comic book nerds knew for decades but one thing that was almost universally agreed on was that the films failed to build up their villains as much as they did their Heroes For Better or Worse that's definitely what happened the MCU was more focused on their protagonist than anything else but it worked with just a couple well-developed villains in Loki and Thanos through the first three phases the MCU made their previously beist Heroes household names by focusing on them and I've made an entire video about this guy but it's worth repeating that Robert Downey Jr was a key cog to the MCU success Marvel caught lightning in a bottle with RDJ as Tony Stark and made sure to milk that [ __ ] for everything it was worth having him appear on the big screen nine out of the 11 years it took to get through phase 3 including five straight years from 2015 to 2019 the MCU expanded in that time from the Earthbound Heroes all the way to other galaxies but Marvel was smart enough to always somehow have it come back to Stark or involve him in some capacity including the final battle and endgame where out of all heroes participating in the fight it was Tony who made the ultimate sacrifice in defeating Thanos Not only was this level of focus smart for the box office but narratively it keeps things grounded by having a lead figure in an ever expanding universe so with all this perfected marketing World building and planning once phase 3 ended and it was time to move on from our lead Heroes the foundation was already there and everything was going to be fine right I mean we had Spider-Man Doctor Strange Thor black panther perfect to lead us into next era of the MCU and the impending arrival of the X-Men and Fantastic 4 endgame felt like the finale of a story but what could possibly happen in the next chapter was just as tantalizing so what did they do well in one calendar year Disney managed to do a complete 180 and do the exact opposite of what got them there in the first place one thing they simply cannot help is that the novelty's gone there's nothing you can do about that we've seen superheroes joining forces on screen a number of times now and the universe has expanded so much it's expected that people guest star or cross in and out of other sub franchises Infinity War an endgame up the anti from the first Avengers film 7 years prior and that's really all you can do with this particular issue keep upping the antie when the MCU was first created there was a plan get to The Avengers then Thanos but with phase 4 it felt completely and utterly directionless there were different movies and shows handling Multiverse scenarios but it seemed like every project was operating independently of one another with zero of the continuity we've come to expect from the MCU creating contradictions and confusion with how things are supposed to work and the MCU has never been shy about retconning certain things to fit the current place in the narrative but with the passive introduction of Kang in the Loki show and then the eventual naming of him as the main bad guy earlier in 2022 it's clear they were pressing the panic button after complaints about a rudderless ship the MCU had become it was after Thor love and thunder arrived to abysmal reviews and reception from fans that Kevin fogy announced the weekend getaway with the creatives at Marvel Studios in order to plan out the next 10 years of the MCU and I'm sure after they were done being dominated by furries that they came up with some Banger ideas Disney's also been hiring some mid-level actors to replace their previously Pitch Perfect cast it's most likely a mixture of acting and bad writing simu as shangi is okay and don't even get me started with the completely miscast Ensemble of the eternals they even managed to make Angelina Jolie cringe and deucing these actors aren't bad at their jobs so much as they have a 90° Hill to try and run up the characters they're playing are typically boring beist knockout have already established Heroes again I give Shang XI a pass as an original hero and I actually was entertained by his film it's a solid C minus yes these characters are also in the comic books but there's a reason their Comics get cancelled get a second chance get cancelled get a third chance because they're just not very beloved characters they mostly exist to expand diversity which is a noble goal for sure but unfortunately they forgot to craft anything interesting about them other than whatever their race or gender is what Iron Man well he's that so how about girl Iron Man want Captain America well how about we take an established black hero Falcon and give him caps hand me-- Downs want Hulk what about She-Hulk Black Widow how about second Black Widow the always brilliant YouTuber known as just some guy made a video recently discussing Miles Morales and he made a great Point Peter Parker is Spider-Man and we know all about his famous Rogues Gallery we know all about his famous stories Green Goblin tossing Gwen Stacy Craven's last hunt the clone saga hate it as it is but can you name any of Miles morales's classic stories no because he doesn't even have one even though he's been around for over a decade he has plenty of time to get there but so far NADA and that's kind of how every one of these new wish.com Avengers are too with strange Spider-Man and Thor still around the MCU already had beloved characters with charismatic actors to lead the way but instead strange has been relegated to a bystander in his own film Thor has been turned into a complete joke and Spider-Man well his movie rights are owned by Sony so that's a tough one but with strange in particular they completely sidest stepped the idea of having a central character for the overarching narrative like they had with Iron Man and Phase 1 through three which is just maddening strange is ideally suited for this role because of his power set and ability to handle and travel the Multiverse but he was essentially relegated to a supporting role in his own movie and seems to be playing that role wherever he goes it worked great in Spider-Man no way home but his own movie it's pitiful at the end of 2019 the MCU was an absolute juggernaut the likes of which had never been seen at the box office and what they've produced post 2019 tells the story of an arrogant studio thinking they were too big to fail that they could completely change what had gotten them there and the fans would follow them anyway starting a streaming service and own the MCU perfect pump out MCU adjacent TV shows to draw people in as long as you're okay with diluting the product of its specialness and finally experiencing the superhero fatigue people have been anticipating for years I remember 2016 through 19 being an insane time for superhero mov movies and oversaturation crossed my mind but the films were proving every naysay or wrong so 2022 showed up and said hold my beer since Marvel is owned by Disney and since the film industry follows Trends Marvel did the trendy thing and blamed fans for disliking absolute garbage like Doctor Strange eternals Thor four and She-Hulk under the beautiful and pristine shield made of IST and ISM words to put a nice bow on there sinking ship but a franchise made Successful by focusing on their wonderful unique characters in a narrative that was flexible but planned out with a central character that it was being built around decided to do the opposite have the protagonists become carbon copy Bland versions of those wonderful characters set in an incoherent and aimless narrative with no lead character in sight if anyone tells you the MCU has gone off the rails because of ideology I can assure you there are a lot more reasons than that so where do we go from here we already saw Marvel pressing the panic button by convincing Hugh Jackman to come back as Wolverine one last time in Deadpool 3 while I'm ticklish for when done write it still came off as Kevin feige asking himself what they can do to write this ship after the debacle that was 2022 there are rumors that Marvel can't introduce the X-Men or Fantastic 4 until the cast from the fox films contracts run out in 2026 otherwise they have to bring those actors back as the characters until then so it makes sense why they haven't introduced the MCU version of the X-Men yet but I question if Marvel is even excited about bringing in this giant cast of beloved and anticipated characters I mean personally I'm not looking forward to a boring and new neutered Wolverine in secret Wars but the inevitable arrival of the X-Men and Fantastic 4 means the MCU will endure at least for another decade that's why this is the start of the sinking ship the slow drip of death but the time of the comic book movie will someday come to an end especially if those two properties are botched and I dare say that the Heyday for this genre is already over GG's jents

Channel: The Movie Cynic

Views: 1,104,956

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Id: hnhg8MGOdNk

Length: 21min 22sec (1282 seconds)

Published: Fri Jan 06 2023