If Phase Four is the beginning of the end for the MCU, the numbers say otherwise

Marvel fatigue has been looming over Disney for some time now, but the entertainment empire has done their best to retain audience engagement and critical acclaim throughout Phase Four of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Despite some misses, the average Rotten Tomatoes ratings for the franchise’s most recent productions are largely positive.

Leading the race is Ms. Marvel, with a whopping 97 percent rating on the Tomatometer, which compiles reviews from critics across the board. The majority of Phase Four outings have steadied above the 80 percent line, with 2022’s Thor: Love and Thunder and 2021’s Eternals receiving the least amount of love with 64 percent and 47 percent ratings, respectively.

This post-Infinity Saga stretch of the MCU has been chiefly defined by Marvel Studios’ investment in television series for Disney Plus, which started off great with WandaVision, but has been splitting opinions ever since. As for the silver screen, all eyes turned towards the introduction of the Multiverse, which has opened the doors for past MCU stars like Tobey Maguire, and Andrew Garfield as Spider-Man, Ryan Reynolds as Deadpool, or Charlie Cox as Daredevil to join in on the carefully built multimedia universe.

With such an ambitious plan to tackle, and now mostly without the help of original MCU legends, such as Robert Downey Jr., Chris Evans, and Scarlett Johansson, the pressure was on for Kevin Feige and co. to keep this super-powered universe alive.

According to this round-up of Rotten Tomatoes scores from Culture Crave, it looks like the production company has largely succeeded, even if there is some discrepancy between the critic and the audience scores. In She-Hulk: Attorney At Law, whose critique of online trolls has resulted in aggressive review-bombing, the 85 percent rating on the Tomatometer is contrasted by a bleak 34 percent audience score. In the opposite direction, Eternals‘ ruthless 47 percent rating from critics is softened by a 77 percent audience score.

Check out We Got This Covered’s ranking of all Marvel Phase Four movies so far.