Why The MCU is Dying | Video Essay

don't say it don't you say it left come on the Marvel Cinematic Universe has not exactly been firing on all cylinders lately the conclusion of the infinity Saga in Phase 3 marked an end of sorts for this franchise with phase 4 feeling like some kind of tacked on DLC that just never soared to the heights of what came before yeah there were outliers like Spider-Man no way home but for every no way home there were absolute Abominations like She-Hulk and for love and thunder which basically solidified that the MCU had just completely lost its mind and I said this in the last video where I went into detail on why the MC was falling apart that the MCU feels more like homework than an event these days due to every MCU product just being so aggressively mediocre or just straight up bad as well as the oversaturation of shows and films and after watching Ant-Man quantumania yeah nothing's changed here we are with phase 4 in the rear view mirror and Phase 5 kicking off with Ant-Man quantumania while many people were hoping was a turning point for the MCU to get it back on track to try and recap just some of that magic that made the infinity Saga so great yep spoiler alert it didn't do that quantumania was all over the place Marvel what are you doing this was supposed to be what got things back on track the introduction of the next Thanos yet you've delivered what critics have called the second worst film of the MCU ever now I'm not saying we should always trust critics trust me we really bloody shouldn't but I think they're not that far off the Mark here so today we're gonna dive deep into how we got to this point how the MCU got to a point where it needed a c-level character in Ant-Man to try and save it from its aggressive mediocrity and how that ant-sized savior failed to do so but before we do a word from today's sponsor this video is brought to you by Atlas VPN the best VPN on the market vpns are growing increasingly important as it's becoming harder and harder to keep your information private online and away from prying eyes Atlas VPN not only protects you on line but also blocks all malicious links ads and trackers and lets you know if someone has gotten a hold of your data you can also protect unlimited devices with a single subscription you can also keep your searches private and also save money online when you shop whether that be something like Spotify or Netflix speaking of Netflix one of the best things about Atlas is the fact that I can switch my location to the US so I can enjoy us Netflix because the Netflix in Australia absolutely sucks just the click of a few buttons and boom I'm in the US it's super easy so this way you can unlock your favorite content from all over the world no matter where you are so get on this deal quick because Atlas VPN premium is just a dollar 83 per month plus three months extra as well as a 30-day money-back guarantee protect your privacy and get all the benefits of Atlas VPN at a super low price all you got to do is click the link in the description below to land yourself this deal get on it quick though because it's only for a limited time and thank you to Atlas VPN for sponsoring this video and helping me not panic over YouTube's copy right system now in order to dive deep into why quantumania was such a big disappointment and why it was unfair to put the MCU on its shoulders in the first place let's dive deep on how we even got to this point to the point where you need Ant-Man to save your franchise now look endgame capped off phases one to three and the infinity Saga off incredibly well a super satisfying and dramatic end to over 10 years of Storytelling in its own isolated bubble the infinity Saga is the MCU at its absolute best yeah there were some poop stains like Thor the Dark World sprinkled in there but 95 of the time it was at worst enjoyable and entertaining storytelling I remember after end game came out wondering just how could they possibly top that Tony and Kappa gone Thanos is dead how can the stakes get higher than what they've already been is it possibly time to lay down the gauntlet and let the franchise rest and go out on a high how naive of me you think Hollywood would do that hell no answer phase 4 of the MCU absolute shite compared to what came before but that's okay because it made money gone were the likable characters the interesting stories the comedy that was actually funny all it was now was incompetent and underqualified filmmakers playing with The Leftovers of the infinity Saga with this strong emphasis on pushing modern day Politics on the audience instead of actually telling a good story with likable characters and turning characters that were left from when this franchise was good and turning them into the butt end of a joke making the OG characters look like completely incompetent morons to make their new characters look better is a staple of modern MCU films these new characters with their fast-tracked character development because well it's just a gender swapped version of the character that came before and that's all the character development you need apparently the oversaturation of mediocre content plagued the entirety of phase 4 of the MCU we went from a handful of films per phase in the infinity Saga to a handful of films but also about half a dozen TV shows as well in phase four most of which were mid at best some of them were genuinely complete garbage infinitely more than you the very idea of less is more was nothing more than a foreign concept for Marvel in Phase 4 and it made keeping up with the MCU an absolute slog back in the infinity Saga each film felt like an event you know something that you just simply couldn't miss and I've spoken about this before but I feel like it's important to emphasize this because a lot of people feel this way and that was it was just hard keeping up with the MCU since endgame it was just hard it felt like homework because there was a new show or film coming out every five seconds and I mean you can't not watch it or you might miss what comes later down the line so you know you try your best to watch it anyway despite the fact that the shows are not very good the films are not very good you know you're still an MCU fan so you gotta keep up with it right but it was genuinely a chore just to keep up with The overarching Narrative of phase 4 which brings me on to another issue there was no overarching Narrative of phase four you see the problem here they pumped out endless content with the idea of a shared Cinematic Universe so you feel like you need to keep up with it all but most things to literally mean nothing in the overarching context of the MCU anyway the very idea of a Cinematic Universe is that you can watch everything that comes out because it's connected this was easy and fun to do in the infinity Saga because there wasn't an oversaturation because of that each project felt like it had more thought put into it therefore a better end product phase one of the MCU had six films phase two had six films phase three had 11 films so three phases and 23 films in 11 years not a bad ratio but phase 4 had 17 films and shows in less than two years think about that for a second 17 films and shows in less than two years and people wonder why the quality bar of the MCU has dropped so dramatically the amount of content in the entire MCU since its start in 2008 nearly doubled within less than two years this is the very definition of oversaturation not to mention despite having an overabundance of content it failed to progress any overarching narrative six films in earlier phases said the overall story so much further despite having only a fraction of the films to do so I mean it just felt like the infinity Saga was the main course and phase four is the leftovers and there's a lot of [ __ ] leftovers hello the comic book genre has been hammered to death in the past decade or so we know this but the comic book genre is not creatively bankrupt yet the Batman last year proved that comic book movies can still be good there's no denying it this is a Marvel problem this is an MC EU problem it's honestly a little bit worrying that across 17 films and shows in Phase 4 your best product was a film that showcased the worst and laziest tropes of Hollywood today not to mention it's actually more Sony's film than anything the Unapologetic Nostalgia of no way home was pretty hard to not get wrapped up in but when such a cheap move is your best product that should set off serious alarm Bells so phase 4 as a whole a complete and utter [ __ ] show with some stuff that was decent but most of it on average was just mid as hell which for the MCU is not good enough there was no overarching narrative there was absolutely no Focus character inconsistencies character assassinations oversaturation all of this put a ton of pressure on the next phase of the MCU that being phase five where we are right now which takes us onto Ant-Man and the WASP Quantum Mania ants ants Ant-Man and the WASP Quantum Mania where do I even begin with this one look is it worse than Thor love and thunder or She-Hulk no it's not it's not even close it's probably about on par or even slightly better than films like say eternals or Iron Man 2. not exactly the company you want to be in but not a complete disaster now the Ant-Man films in the past they've been pretty decent the first Ant-Man was a super refreshing palette cleanser the stakes weren't overly high it was just a heist film with Paul Rudd as the lead it wasn't groundbreaking it was just a lower level fun superhero flick that didn't take itself overly seriously and that was the charm of Paul Rudd's Ant-Man as Frant man and the WASP it was definitely a step down from its predecessor but it was a fine again Lower Stakes more contained story and a nice shift in tone considering we were coming off the back of infinity War when that came out and we all needed a little bit of a break from the dramatic after that ending so the Ant-Man films of the past they were very ground level in nature but now in Phase five it's got the entire weight of the MCU on its shoulders it's got a deal with the baggage of the wasted time in phase four and does it handle it no it really doesn't Scott Lang is not cap he's not Iron Man he's not Thor he's not Doctor Strange Ant-Man works in the context of the smaller films the ground level low stakes outings and when it comes to The Ensemble films he works well as a supporting character Ant-Man films are supposed to be the palette cleanser from the big MCU movies not the savior of the entire damn franchise so there is that part of me that's going a little bit easier on this film because it's receiving the after effects of phase 4 which I think is the reason that a lot of people really don't like it and it's not really the film's fault I honestly think the ray reason many people are having this harsh reaction to quantumania is because of phase 4 and phase 4 alone what is the film's Fault is the fact that mostly everything about it falls flat except for its villain so let's talk about Kang Jonathan Majors elevates the [ __ ] out of this script to make Kang one of the more interesting characters we've seen in the MCU post and game in quantumania's just over two hour run time I probably really liked about 10 minutes of the entire film I'm telling you Kang was in every single second of that 10 minutes he is the reason to watch this film after quantumania do I think this guy is going to be as good as Thanos maybe I think we're going to be seeing a lot more of him than we did Thanos though whether that be through variants or what have you but Jonathan Major's man is just an absolute Chad his screen presence is infectious when this guy is on screen you are locked in you definitely buy that this guy is not really to be messed with he doesn't feel like a mustache twirling villain and if if this film couldn't prove that Kang was actually a villain worthy of probably 20 or more films and shows worth of build up than the future prospects of the MCU would just be pointless to get excited for but again the reasons to watch quantumania begin and end with Kang everything else in this film does not really work but if I do have one gripe with Kang in this film it's his power level the dude is the new Thanos he's got to be powerful and he's probably gonna get even more powerful going forward but he got his ass whooped by a sea tier superhero how is Kang supposed to be the next Thanos when he can't beat a dude that looks like he works at Baskin and Robbins over the weekends I feel like Thor or Scarlet Witch could have been tagged into this film and killed Kang on the spot look again I know that Kang is going to evolve into the big bad you know this probably isn't his final form but I'd be disingenuous to not mention that there were a few times where I was like dude Kang's getting his ass whooped by Ant-Man Ant-Man out of everyone despite the fact that this dude is being hyped up as a bigger and badder Thanos like I don't know situation to do what the MCU is pretty afraid to do most of the time and that is kill off its lead character walking out of quantumania yeah Kang's a badass and sure to be a threat down the line but it would have been more impactful if he I don't know killed Scott look I don't want to see my boy Paul Rod leave the MCU because he's about the only actor left that's naturally funny but character and universe wise in establishing the threat of Kang this probably would have been a better option to add more weight to his introduction but yeah that's a gripe I have he'll probably evolve into a bigger threat than he is here I know that but to close off the subject of Kang this is the best way to sum up my experience watching quantumania when Kang wasn't on screen this was me when Kang was on screen this was me that is this film in a nutshell can good everything else not so much so speaking of that not so much let's talk CGI 95 of this film takes place in the quantum realm the problem with this is that Marvel has had a bit of a CGI problem in recent years they've got and way too over reliant on CGI to plug the holes in their filmmaking like if you're sick of Marvel CGI problem this film is going to send you to therapy because 95 of quantum Mania is pure CGI noise and it is not The Escapist experience that you'd be hoping for I get that they're in the quantum realm for majority of the film but come on man this entire film was built inside of VFX artist computer very rarely were there moments in this film were I bought even for a second that these actors weren't standing in a room full of green sheets or on the volume set there are moments in here that genuinely gave me Spy Kids Vibes and Jesus Sharkboy and Lava Girl Vibes if you know you know look I dunk on the Modoc CGI because it looked absolutely awful but given how this character looks in the comics it's probably accurate to be honest but I mean the green screen just stands out like a sore thumb here it completely takes you out of the film about halfway through quantumania you just feel mentally drained by all the visual noise like this film was seriously built in post-production I know most of the big MCU films are but this one felt like it went too far but let's talk the other characters of the film that aren't Kang Scott Scott you know he's fine it's Paul Rudd being Paul Ruddy still likable he's funny he has some jokes that land and you know it's Paul Rudd like he's like a puppy you can't hate him as for Cassie though this character didn't really work they play with the idea that she's an in and out of jail kind just like her dad was but then on the side she's just this scientific genius with her work regarding the quantum realm like it just feels so forced and it didn't really make any sense it's like the writers intentionally shoehorned her attitude and bad girl Persona just so they could try and develop some father-daughter moments to give the film more levity but none of it felt natural at all and Michael Douglas just feels like he's there in this film out of contractual obligation as hang Pym he has a few funny moments but he kind of just has a quippy one liner and then sits in the background for 20 minutes like that's Hank pym's role in this film you've got Michael Douglas there man use him but the character that annoyed me the most in this film is Janet if you've seen the film you know exactly why there are several times in this film that she could legitimately just tell the characters around her what's going on and why but she just doesn't do it and why doesn't she do it so the movie can happen she withholds information from the film's characters just so the plot can progress and it is so frustrating I was actually made aware of this before I even watched the film so when I was watching it I was on the lookout for this and it is so obvious they could have come up with some creative ideas for her to withhold information other than Michelle Pfeiffer just taking really long pauses every time someone asks her what's going on before oop explosions can't have that conversation now I hate it when films do that and it really really bugged me as for Modoc I mean it's Darren cross from the first Ant-Man which is kinda cool I guess I can dunk on how he looks all day long but the dumbest part about Modoc for me is that he is responsible for a lot of the film's tonal inconsistencies we'll have a scene where things are Ultra serious with Kang then Modoc comes along and it turns into an SNL sketch not to mention modox redemption in this film boils down to Cassie telling him to not be a dick and I'm not even joking it's like oi Modoc don't be a dick and he's like oh I never thought of that and then he's redeemed like do Marvel think that Their audience is four years old or something like am I missing something here oh and also where the hell is Michael Pena I needed that man in this film even if it was for five seconds one storytelling scene from him and quantumania goes up one level I miss them a lot today look man Quantum Mania is Just Junk Food Cinema that's all it is and that is just so disappointing given the expectations that were put on this film by not just fans but Marvel as well look some people are probably really gonna like this film it wouldn't surprise me and you know what that's fine I can see why some people would dig quantumania again it's not a complete disaster it's not a She-Hulk or anything like that but it's definitely bottom quarter of the MCU but the fact that the only thing that really works in this film is its villain that's really worrying I can't remember where I saw this but I saw a headline that summed this film up perfectly which said something along the lines of Ant-Man quantumania is junk food when we were expecting a five course meal and I think that's a perfect summary of this film fans felt malnourished after the emptiness of phase four and they were looking for something to really sink their teeth into with quantumania and it just didn't deliver Marvel really needed this film to be an absolute home run and it crawled its way to first base off the back of its villain so where does quantumania leave the MCU going forward what does the future hold with the context of quantumania in the rear view mirror well I can't lie my faith in the MCU going forward has definitely taken another hit off the back of this film because it just proved to me that the MCU cannot recapture the magic from the infinity Saga they've lost it now the future of the MCU is presumably just going to build up toward Kang Dynasty and Secret Wars the thing is if phase 4 is any indication they've gotta change things up this means they actually have to you know have an overarching narrative going forward not just pump out endless shows that mean nothing like with phase 4. Disney plus is going to play a large role in the Multiverse Saga unfortunately because it hasn't really done a whole lot of that so far Loki was good but everything else was mid or genuinely terrible so the approach on Disney plus just has to change going into phases five and six Disney plus is probably the most disappointing streaming platform out there the amount of short season and 35 minute episode [ __ ] that gets pumped onto that platform is just horrendous and people are over it whether it's Marvel or Star Wars there are more misses than hits on that platform and dude Marvel need to start hitting because people have already started to lose faith in the MCU and it's only gonna get worse if we have a repeat of phase four to be honest I think it'd be pretty hard for Kevin feige to ignore the negative response to most of phase 4 so I'd be shocked if the MCU going forward didn't see some big changes but on the same hand I wouldn't be shocked if they kept doing the same [ __ ] that derailed the franchise in the first place I think the future of the MCU is completely up in the air right now I feel like it's going to either derail completely or it's gonna get back on track and sort of similar Heights that it saw with infinity war and end game Disney plus going forward is probably going to be like what we saw in Loki season 1. our protagonist going up against a very variant of Kang I think that's going to be the formula going forward and to be honest that's a better option than having She-Hulk go up against an incel from a Reddit group or whatever the hell that [ __ ] was now as for future MCU installments I can't lie a lot of the stuff coming up in Phase 5 looks very skippable which again is a shame considering how the MCU used to be this machine of releasing things that you just couldn't miss but what have we got we've got Guardians of the Galaxy 3 that looks great we've also got the Marvels coming out I can't wait for that I can barely contain my excitement I bet it's going to be fantastic we've also got Loki season 2 which I think has a lot of Promise the first season was probably the best MCU show so far so that I'm down for I've also got ironheart and Echo you know whatever Agatha coven of Darkness whatever the hell they're calling it this thing could be good so I'm willing to give this one a fair Shake we also have Daredevil yes please blade yes please Deadpool 3 yes fine please like there is a lot of stuff to look forward to but man there's a lot of [ __ ] that makes you wonder why they're even bothering with it so the MCU going forward is going to be an absolute ride quantumania has definitely given me a little less optimism than I had because again it shows that even with phase 4 out of the way they're still prone to misfires but one thing is for sure whether the MCU captures the magic it used to have or it unravels into a complete disaster it's going to be pretty entertaining

Channel: Movie Overload

Views: 1,205,083

Keywords: mcu, video essay, mcu video essay, quantumania, ant man and the wasp quantumania, ant man 3, ant man, marvel video essay, mcu phase 5, marvel, mcu phase 4, phase 4 mcu, kang, antman and wasp quantumania, marvel cinematic universe, mcu disaster, paul rudd, marvel studios, avengers, marvel phase 5, kevin feige, jonathan majors, film, film video essay, movie overload, film analysis, secret wars, film criticism, cassie lang, marvel essay, guardians of the galaxy, loki, antman 3

Id: BBTSgGjixBc

Length: 22min 39sec (1359 seconds)

Published: Fri Feb 24 2023