Examining Marvel's Flop Era

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On February 23rd, 2023, I said that it was "probably overstating things to say Marvel is in their flop era." Over a year later, I no longer find it an overstatement. Marvel's Flop Era is upon us. This video breaks it down.

Music Featured:

Fingerprint by Mini Vandals
Schizo by Anno Domini Beats
Love Him by Loyalty Freak Music
Tak by Bobby Richards
Setup With an E by Small Colin
Subterranean Howl by ELPHNT
Knowpe by Noir Et Blanc Vie
Both Flanks by Small Colin
Five of a Kind by Density & Time
Sun Awakening by Futuremono

More Eyebrow Cinema:

[nateds]

In 2019 I was like “man I cannot possibly imagine where they could go from here!” And it turns out Marvel was like “Bro, same”

[devanman]

I don't like having RDJ as Doom. Doom is so good he should be an awesome character in his own right, not just some variant of Tony or just an actor we've seen before. Casting RDJ because he's popular just shows a lack of either creativity or simple desperation.

[self-consciousmess]

It’s strange how hard Marvel seems to be betting on the next two Avengers movies considering that I could not tell you who the Avengers are post-Endgame if you put a gun to my head.

[SeanORaigh]

Unironically, I would've been more excited for a return of Nick Cage's ghost rider than for the desperate flailing that is Downey's Doom.

[killerbees]

Even if Marvel didn't plan on Endgame being the end, the general public did. They had a beginning, a middle, and an end. Everything after that feels like it was added later, like Marvel planned out the whole Avengers thing and then was surprised it was so successful, and now are trying to figure out how to match it. TV shows, movies, and comic books are all different mediums, and storytelling works different in each.

[kevtiz]

Marvel missed a a huge opportunity to set up their smaller or less popular heroes during the blip period

[clublazy]

If Dr doom says “um that just happened” I’m flying into the sun with a billion kites

[FlippySuper]

If I remember correctly, the only reason there's less Marvel movies and TV shows in 2024 is because of the actor and writer's strike of last year delaying everything. If that hadn't happened, this year would have been bloated as well. Marvel didn't "pull back" strategically, they were forced into that position, but now they get to brag like they planned it. Not giving them any props for that.

[kaistephenson]

Secret invasion so bad he didn’t even mention it

[s.dervision]

It was very telling when RDJ was revealed as Doom and said, "different mask, same task."

Yeah. No kidding.

[duaneind]

The moment I realize the MCU I fell in love with was over was when Elizabeth Olsen said the writers of Multiverse of Madness hadn’t seen/read the script for Wandavision. Literally it was my Santa’s not real moment after assuming everything would continue to connect.

[CuteSkyler]

Martin Scorcese's full quote is actually what all the Marvel fans are like. Marvel films aren't cinema, they're theme park rides, you sit there while the film plays. He means that you aren't thinking while watching the film, you're just there to have fun, but nothing else. Which is, quite literally, what the fans are saying, they're just fun films, they aren't there to stimulate you intellectually but to waste a two hours with your friends.

[MasterMario]

I remember about a decade ago Steven Spielberg said the superhero movie would go the way of the western. People mocked him for it and said he was wrong. Here we are a decade later and superhero movies don't do as well as they used too. Sure, there will always be a Deadpool and Wolverine that will make a billion dollars but I don't think the MCU will ever be like it was in the mid and late 2010s. Decades always seem to have a trend genre. The 2000s had fantasies with Harry Potter, Lord of the Rings, Narnia, and Pirates. the 2010s had superhero movies with Man of Steel, Avengers, Dark Knight Rises, and Endgame. The 2020s might be video game movies with Sonic and Mario doing as well as they did. Superhero movies will never die. Westerns never died too. But the day of them having hit and hit and everyone talking about them may be over.

[GrandArchPriestOfTheAlgorithm]

Cold take: It's the removal of creatives in favor of executives and their formula, they don't understand.

[lewsmith]

I've said this before, and I'll say it again.

Anyone who feels frustration with the way the Marvel movies are going: Now you get what comic book fans have been experiencing for decades.

[LadyHannahGaGa]

The Black Widow movie felt straight up disrespectful in the fact that it was made after her character had officially died. Marvel dropped the ball with Black Widow's character multiple times; killing off their first female Avenger before she got her own movie, that terrible "I'm a monster cause I can't have kids" line in AOU, having her fall in love with Bruce.

[mirandahynes]

i think the biggest issue is that the movies have moved so far away from being character driven— the great thing about the OG avengers is that we got to see each character individually have their origin story, or their development, and we got truly emotionally attached to them. when you introduce 100 new characters and don’t give any of them much time for the audience to get attached, it’s way harder to do that. audiences need some breathing room

[MultitaskingGuy]

3:00 the even more surprising thing is that they failed to understand that keeping doomsday as secret until it comes out and people see it would’ve made way more sense than showing us that it’s him

[randomperson-ptlv]

disney is just creatively bankrupt and it’s really a shame to see the general public reward disney’s apathy and greed with billion-dollar box offices.

[jjju]

13:35 such a small thing but thank you saying "crunched vfx artists not given enough time" instead of "bad vxf." the reason marvels vfx has been lacking really is because of mistreatment in the vfx industry and overreliance on cheap labor, not just that vfx itself is a lazy way to do things, and that it can never look good.