Marvel is once again dominating the box office with Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania. As you might expect, it’s yet another live-action cartoon that is missing the drama promised by the epic trailers. So far, critics have saddled it with a rotten 48 percent on Rotten Tomatoes. Although audiences have been much more forgiving, giving it an 84 percent fresh rating as of Saturday, fans are nonetheless underwhelmed by Marvel’s latest shenanigans, something that is becoming a staple of the MCU as of late.
Phase Four has become infamous in the comic circles for its mediocrity. Between Eternals, Black Widow, Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, Thor: Love and Thunder, and now Quantumania, the cinematic offerings have been lacking. Fans are not shy about voicing their opinions on Marvel’s increasing push into the irreverent and silly. It’s enough to make the longtime Marvel Comics readers’ heads explode.
The telling sign will be Quantumania’s overall box office performance. Being an MCU entry, it’s automatically escorted to the number one spot at the weekend box office based on the Marvel logo alone. As we discovered with Black Adam’s initially staggering figures that soon petered out, those opening day stats can be misleading. If Quantumania’s ticket sales follow Love and Thunder and take a swan dive in the next couple of weeks, it could be enough to spark Kevin Feige to rethink the current MCU template.
What kind of change, exactly? Given the success of Werewolf By Night and Black Panther: Wakanda Forever, it would seem the fans are making it clear what they want — drama and horror.
It’s time for a change
Since Endgame put a bow on The Infinity Saga, Marvel has fully branded itself as the house of superhero comedy. The studio’s standard formula that has a bigger focus on laughs than action is growing increasingly stale. It’s not to say there’s not a place and an audience for that in the MCU. When the formula works, it makes billions of dollars at the global box office by appealing the widest audience possible. The problem is that it’s become too predictable and lost its ingenuity.
When Marvel’s The Avengers went headfirst into the comedic realm, Joss Whedon struck gold, thus making the template for so many future projects. James Gunn took the comedy to the next level with Guardians of the Galaxy, which opened the door for Scott Lang’s legitimately hilarious adventure in Ant-Man. Now Disney, Kevin Feige, and the rest of the Marvel Studios brain-trust aren’t giving fans anything else to choose from. The result is the middling reception for the likes of Multiverse of Madness, Love and Thunder, and Quantumania.
From the outside looking in, it’s easy to dismiss all superhero stories as meaningless kids’ fare starring ridiculous characters wearing even more ridiculous costumes. Readers know otherwise. The appeal of comics has always been variety, with the medium offering something for everyone. Whether you’re looking for campy escapism, blood-soaked horror, high-concept science-fiction, or literary drama, you’ll find a title that suits your tastes.
Audiences are ready for something new and unique. Marvel Comics has the deep lore and broad range of characters and stories from practically every genre that the studio could deliver so much more than it has. That’s what the studio is missing, but there is a solution, and Marvel already has the perfect avenue to further push the limits of its projects: Blade.
Help us, Wade Wilson. You’re our only hope.
Fans of Wesley Snipes’ 1998 Blade want the reboot to have the R-rating, blood, and horror elements of the original.
Given that Marvel wants to maintain its firm grasp on the family-friendly box office, there’s a slim chance at best that the MCU reboot will be more than PG-13. Then again, maybe Deadpool 3 could prove to Disney that an R-rated Marvel movie is worth the investment. Just this week, Feige reiterated that the franchise will keep its mature rating, making it the first Marvel movie with the capital R. That could be great news for Blade and the future of the MCU. If Deadpool is a hit, that could give Marvel incentive to push the boundaries.
While most Marvel movies are better off under the PG-13 banner, there are plenty of properties that need the added maturity, such as Blade. The original was horror fused with martial arts action, both of which were relatively new to mainstream superhero films. It subverted the audience’s expectations of what a comic book adaptation could be, and it paved the way for Fox’s X-Men films that would reinvigorate the superhero cinematic landscape that eventually gave rise to the MCU.
When it comes to superheroes, it’s all about keeping things fresh and listening to the audience. Superman: The Movie did just that in 1978 before over-saturating the franchise with campy stories and paper-thin villains. As the movies became increasingly worse, fans pulled away, which ultimately shelved the cinematic Man of Steel for 19 years. Just when the genre seemed dead, along came Tim Burton’s 1989 Batman, proving that, indeed, superheroes were box office gold, but it didn’t last. What killed that franchise? Joel Schumacher’s injection of an overabundance of camp. It wasn’t until ‘98’s Blade and 2000’s X-Men that comic book adaptations were once more seen as profitable, thus opening the door for Marvel’s characters to steal the spotlight.
With the current selection of MCU products, we’re more or less back in the Schumacher Batman era. Reboot Blade with a dramatic, horror-centric story, and history could indeed repeat itself in the best possible way.
Werewolf By Night
As Disney has guided Marvel more toward kid-friendly content, the chance for true horror seems further out of reach with each new MCU entry. Certainly, we saw elements of the genre in Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, but it was given a campy spin that kept the audience from taking it too seriously. The end result was a widely panned film that reminded fans why Sam Raimi maybe shouldn’t direct another superhero film anytime soon.
Fans got their first taste of what horror could be under the Marvel banner with Werewolf By Night. Clearly, this was an experiment, given that the studios’ dip into the genre was a one-hour Disney Plus special rather than a full-length feature film. That’s the equivalent of dipping your toes into the pool before taking the plunge. However, the water could be warm after the encouraging fan and critical reception to WBN.
From Swamp Thing to Spawn
Whether Disney wants to believe it or not, fans want horror-centric comic book adaptations, and there could be a coming shift in that direction. Neil Gaiman’s masterful The Sandman’s mix of fantasy, drama, and horror translated perfectly to the small screen. It has been a massive hit for Netflix, and helps set the standard for what comics offer movie and television studios.
Although there’s much to debate in regards to James Gunn’s initial moves as the co-chair of DC Studios, his Chapter One opening slate has the variety that Marvel is lacking. Whereas The Brave and the Bold and Superman: Legacy will be more family friendly, he’s confirmed that Waller will be an R-rated HBO Max series. There’s also the Wonder Woman prequel series, Paradise Lost, which Gunn described as being Game of Thrones set in Themyscira. Anytime you compare an HBO Max series to GOT, the implication is that it will be mature content.
What’s gone to the wayside of the Batman and Superman news is that Swamp Thing will be a horror movie. Gunn has said the goal is to keep all the movies PG-13 where possible, so even without the R-rating, it can still be true horror. Don’t forget the short-lived Swamp Thing series for the ill-fated DC app, which leaned heavily into horror, and fans almost unanimously loved it.
Let’s not overlook what could be the most important piece to the puzzle: Spawn. Todd McFarlane has been teasing a new movie for years, one that he still insists that he will write and direct. Not only that, but the “Toddfather” has repeatedly said that Spawn’s next cinematic venture would be full-fledged, R-rated horror.
Let’s assume that McFarlane’s dream project sees the light of day. If both Spawn and Swamp Thing are successes, then it could be the catalyst to seeing more horror when it comes to superhero stories, even in the Disney-controlled MCU. That would be a refreshing change, even if it’s watered down to be a little less gory and violent.
An unlikely savior
With new management in charge, it appears Disney may be on the brink of loosening the reins on Marvel Studios. Under the previous CEO, we saw an increase in the number of movies and shows, but a decrease in overall quality. Bob Iger has pledged to put more creative control back in the hands of the creatives behind Disney’s famous brands, which should be a good thing for Marvel. If we’re lucky, Iger and Feige might even let their filmmakers dabble in horror.
