The Marvels time in theaters has officially come to an end and it produced the lowest-grossing film in the MCU. That honor was originally held by The Incredible Hulk, which had a domestic bow of $134.8 million. The Marvels finished its run collecting a low $84.5 million domestically.
Out of all of the MCU films in 2023, many predicted that The Marvels would be a failure. Granted, no one expected that it would become the lowest-grossing Marvel movie ever made, but that’s more indicative of the brand’s current state. Marvel is not in a good position right now. However, The Marvels suffering a massive box office loss is ultimately a blessing in disguise.
Kevin Feige and Marvel Are Forced To Reevaluate Their Strategy
The Marvels failure to generate revenue doesn’t have much to do with the film itself. For the most part, the critic and audience ratings are better than the first film. The problem is the entire MCU itself; it’s a scrambled mess filled with too many ideas that aren’t connecting. Will we see Shang-Chi again? Will the dead body of Tiamut the Celestial in the Indian Ocean ever get some type of resolution? Why did Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness ignore WandaVision?
These are just some of the questions that have made it clear that everything after Phase Three has not been properly planned. Phases One through Three were far from perfect, but there was cohesion in its storytelling. Audiences weren’t bombarded with so many characters and ideas that didn’t build to the big Avengers finale. Notably, the only MCU film that’s coming out in 2024 is Deadpool III. Fans told Marvel that they will no longer blindly support their films, and the executives are finally listening.
The brand was being diluted with bad to mediocre content that didn’t have a clear direction toward Avengers: Secret Wars. Marvel desperately needs to figure out where they’re going and more importantly, understand that quality should not be taken for granted.
Marvel Now Understands That Quality Is King
Historically speaking, bad films have made bank at the box office. The Transformers franchise has grossed over five billion worldwide; however, it’s agreed that a good majority of the films aren’t good. In fact, the lack of quality that Michael Bay presented throughout his run has drastically affected the brand as a whole. Transformers: Rise of the Beasts and Bumblebee are good films, but fans were burned by the other Transformers movies due to the lack of quality sequels.
Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 made $845.6 million last year. Considering the other flops of 2023, this is a tremendous example of how quality matters. However, there’s no question that Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 would’ve made over a billion several years ago. That’s because Marvel’s brand was heavily damaged to the point where audiences were no longer interested in seeing their films.
The decision to increase content massively backfired because quality was sacrificed due to the overabundance of media that lack true depth beyond an easy cash grab. What makes Kevin Feige so likable is the fact that he’s genuinely a fan of the MCU. That’s why his early films were nearly perfect because you can tell the love and care he put into each movie.
Feige understood the lore of the MCU and made sure to craft a compelling arc that would help translate to mainstream audiences. Since films like Blade and Captain America: Brave New World have been pushed back, Feige understands that their giant success is due to the high level of quality that Phases One through Three produced.
Captain Marvel Just Wasn’t Working
I made it clear from the beginning that the quality of The Marvels wasn’t the main issue. That remains true because the film was dead on arrival even before the first trailer was released. Captain Marvel was a HUGE factor in the sequel flopping. The first film made over a billion dollars, but it was released during the hype of Avengers: Endgame. Captain Marvel has not been received well, and it doesn’t help that Brie Larson isn’t a favorite in the public eye.
Captain Marvel was once tapped as the leader of the current Avengers. The problem is that the character had no development following Captain Marvel. We saw her cameo in several films and shows, but she’s never had a long appearance outside of her film like Doctor Strange in Spider-Man: No Way Home or The Hulk in Thor: Ragnarok. Captain Marvel desperately needed some character growth to give fans a chance to truly like her as the face of the MCU, but Marvel mostly hid her away until the big sequel. The Marvels was a dead film because it featured three leads that nobody cared much about. The fact that it made over $80 million domestically is the only shocking part here.