The future of the MCU Phase 4 & 5 seems bleak and there are ample reasons for it. Here’s why we think that MCU might face a backlash at the box office in the coming years.
Ever since “Tony Stark was captured by the Ten Rings” in 2008, MCU has been ruling the box office with brute force. While the movies have contributed little to the cinematic art form, one cannot deny the huge impact it has had on people going to the movies to have larger than life experiences. Whether it be only a unique edition like Doctor Strange or the Avengers series, at least one Marvel film has been on the top-10 list of highest grosser. DC, its main rival, has been struggling to keep up, but the future may have something else in store for MCU.
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MCU Heading into New Realms
The big reason behind Marvel’s dominance at the box office till now has been due to the well-known superheroes along with popular storylines weaved beautifully. Moreover, the MCU put into effect the cinematic-universe formula on the largest scale yet. This was something that people had never anticipated to this extent.
Watch: MCU Phase 4 And Phase 5 Announcement
However, things are going to change with MCU Phase 4 & 5. New characters and storylines will reveal themselves in the future of MCU, and we will discover new territories. On one side Marvel has an intergalactic side with titles like Guardians, a monster-verse brewing with titles like Blade and multiverse with Doctor Strange and WandaVision — it’s going to be hard to catch up.
All this will be, for the most part, unknown to the audience as only die-hard Marvel fans will know about new characters from the Marvel comics. And not to mention, new characters means character development begins all over again before culminating in the final “assemble”. Can the studio be able to weave the same connection again between fans and new characters?
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Marvel Needs Time to Assemble After the Pandemic
There can be no doubt that Marvel Studios has suffered a lot due to the pandemic. A whole year of a gap between movie and series releases is no small feat. Storylines were set, production had begun for some, while they were about to begin for others when the pandemic struck. This pushed back the releases for more than a year or two. And this gap can take the shape of people, if not the Marvel fans, losing the enthusiasm. And we cannot overlook the loss of profits that the production giant faced.
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A Vague Direction for Marvel
Till Endgame, everything had a clear direction. All of us knew how things were working out, with each film character slowly being introduced to the others, having cameos in other films, etc. Every Avengers film has had a clear way of culmination. However, after Endgame, things are going to change. Tony Stark and Steve Rogers are no longer there. New and unexplored characters will debut, like Mighty Thor, She-Hulk, Hawkeye’s Kate Bishop, Ms. Marvel, the Eternals, and much more. This lack of clarity and inability of fans to follow everything could result in quite some damage in the future of MCU Phase 4 & 5.
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MCU and It’s Future on Disney+
A lot of focus has been put by Marvel on Disney+. We already have WandaVision, The Falcon, and the Winter Soldier, and Hawkeye series in the pipeline. And there is no doubt that more will be coming soon, including Secret Invasion, Ironheart, Armor Wars, and I Am Groot. Now, while Disney+ is a new platform for Marvel to explore and make use of, it could lead them away from making larger-than-life movies for the theatres. The interconnectedness of various titles on Disney+ and movies might make it harder for fans to see everything and keep a track of it. When theatres reopen next year, and they will, the expansive plan might backfire on the MCU’s future phases.
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Future Character Development in MCU
We have to hand it to Marvel for giving us some of the best character developments in the first three phases. Be it Tony Stark’s carefree nature in Iron-Man to his humane realizations in Civil War to his sacrifice in Endgame, or of Steve’s worthiness, along with their relationship and that of all others, it has been a truly appealing growth of them all.
But since now we will see new characters, a new challenge for Marvel is to have “worthy” character developments. More so because now the fans have an expectation, that Marvel will have to live up to. It cannot rush things but at the same time has to make sure that we don’t get bored in understanding the characters. And this will also play a role in its box office dominance.
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The MCU Fatigue
For the last 12 years, the MCU has been ruling the box office and it won’t be surprising if the fans get bored of this cinematic experience and look for something more. Maybe, this is why Marvel is trying to rope in the series formula as well. So, while movies may come each after say 4 or 5 months, a single series can hold on to the audience’s attention for a month or two easily and keep the hype going. In any case, MCU needs to keep this in mind as well for the future.
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DC Is Catching Up
This is something that Marvel should not disregard at all. Although the last few DC movies have not been up to the mark, the future of DC looks prepared. Justice League: Snyder’s Cut, Wonder Woman 1984, Black Adam, The Suicide Squad, Flash, and finally The Batman (most anticipated of all, with Robert Pattinson putting on the cape) are all in line and reports prove that they are going to change the face of DC forever. We also have Aquaman 2 and Shazam: Fury of the Gods and more are on the way too. So, if you think that only Marvel is all prepped up, you are wrong.
Nevertheless, what we do know about Marvel is that we do not about Marvel; meaning that we do not know what tricks it has up its sleeve. And Marvel should use it to its advantage to further improve the future of MCU.
