2008. 2012. 2019. These and many others will go down in film history as banner years for Marvel Studios — years that established, cemented, and proved beyond all doubt that the MCU was the biggest franchise in the world. 2023, though? Not so much.
It’s no secret that, since 2020, Marvel has been on much less surer footing than it was during the golden Infinity Saga era, but even by the end of 2022 there was still much hope and excitement for the future. Compare that to where things stand at the end of 2023, where even the existence of Avengers 5 — surely the safest bet on Marvel’s slate — is shrouded in doubt and mystery.
So, to put it plainly, what the heck happened? To be fair, various external events impacted on Marvel’s year in ways it could not have foreseen, but wherever the fault lies, these 10 mistakes are what caused the franchise to transform in just 12 months from the MCU to the MC-eww.
10. Hiring Jonathan Majors as Kang
Let’s just get the obvious one out of the way first. At the start of the year, choosing to hang the Kang Dynasty on Jonathan Majors looked to be a smart bet. Quantumania bombed (more on that in a moment), but his intense performance in it certainly wowed fans. And then things took a shocking turn. In March, Majors was arrested for domestic violence charges and he faces up to a year in prison if his ongoing trial goes against him. Majors’ career has otherwise dried up, but as far as we know, he remains attached to Marvel for the remainder of the Multiverse Saga. It seems that, as long as the actor keeps on being Kang, the MCU will continually be overshadowed by ugly off-screen events.
9. Making Ant-Man all-important
Unfortunately, Quantumania had enough problems on its plate before all the Majors drama came to light. Although trailers were enticing, once we got to see the threequel it became abundantly clear that attempting to crowbar Ant-Man, the little Marvel hero who could, into a leading Iron Man/Captain America-style character whose job it is to kick off Phase Five, was a terrible idea. The whole appeal of the first two films is their, well, small-scale storytelling, divorced from the wider franchise. Quantumania, meanwhile, creaks under the strain of upholding the entire Multiverse Saga on its shoulders. Ants may be able to lift 10 times their own weight, but not this much.
8. Producer Victoria Alonso fired amid mysterious circumstances
2023 seemed to bring one PR disaster after another for Marvel, and the same month of Majors’ arrest saw long-term studio producer Victoria Alonso suddenly let go from the company. Officially, Alonso was thrown under the bus for producing a movie for Amazon, and allegedly breaking her noncompete agreement, but other rumors swirled that her pro-LGBTQ+ stance was at odds with Disney’s amid the whole “Don’t Say Gay” debacle. Whatever the truth of it, the loss of Alonso — widely viewed as Kevin Feige’s right-hand woman — signaled to the world that things were not going entirely smoothly behind the scenes at the House of Ideas.
7. Revenge of the VFX artists
Audiences’ growing dissatisfaction with CGI in Marvel movies reached a head in 2023, thanks to the release of Quantumania — with its sludgy rendering of the Quantum Realm environment and the general uncanniness of M.O.D.O.K. garnering much criticism. In a shocking expose, VFX artists hit back to defend their reputations, revealing the harsh working conditions they’ve been put under and poor management on Marvel’s part (Alonso was implicated in this too). Ultimately, Marvel’s VFX artists officially unionized, which should hopefully see an uptick in their working experience as well as ensure a better quality of visuals on screen.
6. Letting James Gunn go
Perhaps this isn’t a problem that necessarily arose in 2023, but this year certainly brought Marvel’s folly into sharper focus. James Gunn’s Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 is easily the most acclaimed MCU movie of the year — it earned the most money, the best reviews, and it’s even landed itself a Golden Globe nomination. Unfortunately, Gunn’s not around to capitalize on this success and help Marvel save itself as he’s busy becoming Kevin Feige’s chief rival over at DC, building on a relationship he established with Warner Bros. following Disney’s attempt at firing him back in 2018. We’ll have to see how the Superman: Legacy vs. Thunderbolts battle goes in July 2025 before we can say how bad a mistake this was, but the odds are certainly in Superman’s favor.
5. The entire Secret Invasion finale
The egregious errors littered through Secret Invasion‘s infamous finale could fill an entire other listicle (oh, wait, they already have). From the nonsensical resolution to the awful CGI used in the Super-Skrull fight (again, not blaming you, VFX team!) to the awkward disconnection from The Marvels, Secret Invasion‘s last hour turned what was once a hugely promising noir thriller series into yet another embarrassment for a saga that already has far too many as it is. No wonder, in the wake of its release, Marvel was announced to be tearing down its current TV-making process and starting again from scratch.
4. The un-timely debut of Victor Timely
Thank God (Loki) for Loki season 2. Like Guardians 3, it was a rare treat beloved by pretty much the whole wide fandom. Although critics and casual viewers were left more than a little confused, the finale — in particular — was one of the strongest, smartest pieces of Marvel production we’ve had since Phase Three. And yet there’s one, well, major decision that ended up biting the show in the behind. At a time when the franchise really needed to distance itself from him, Jonathan Majors returned as Kang variant Victor Timely (albeit a role filmed before his arrest). Due to no fault of its own, the discourse around Loki‘s second season became somewhat dominated by Majors’ inclusion. Especially as Tom Hiddleston wasn’t around to be the show’s poster boy.
3. Ignoring the SAG-AFTRA strike
We can’t blame Marvel Studios specifically for both the WGA and SAG-AFTRA strikes that plagued Hollywood in 2023, but it’s up for argument if it handled the situation as best it could. Its 2024 and 2025 releases falling back like dominoes couldn’t be helped, but Marvel’s decision to drop Loki season 2 and, in particular, The Marvels in the fall, which meant the actors couldn’t help promote them, surely is at least partially the reason for the former’s vanishing viewing figures and the latter’s much-publicized box office bombing. Warner Bros., for example, knew enough to hold up Dune: Part Two until next spring, where it likely stands a stronger chance of performing. Who knows what could’ve happened to The Marvels if it had been released at a different time?
2. Marketing The Marvels
Saying the effects of the SAG strikes are the only reason for The Marvels‘ failure would be disingenuous, though, as clearly its status as the lowest-grossing MCU movie of all time is the result of various contributing factors. The movie’s marketing is definitely one of the biggest. For months, Marvel seemed happy to promote this one as a carefree, mid-level Marvel film that was mostly just a bit of fun. That might’ve worked back in the 2010s, but that wasn’t cutting it with the much more discerning moviegoers of the 2020s. When tracking was looking dangerously low, Marvel performed a sharp pivot, desperately attempting to hook us in with sepia-colored Avengers: Endgame clips and even spoiling the post-credits scene (usually a big no-no). But it was too late, the damage was done. Now we’re left to wonder if Marvel’s forgotten the magic of marketing its way to billion-dollar success.
1. Letting the world take the MCU for granted
The ultimate problem that’s plagued the MCU in 2023, however, is that Marvel fatigue ⏤ once a mere myth peddled by its doomsaying critics ⏤ genuinely does seem to be a real thing. This is something that’s been building for years, perhaps ever since Avengers: Endgame, but it’s fair to say that 2023 is the year that people really started drifting away from the franchise en masse. The tragedy is that Marvel has blindly assumed that the public’s love for the universe would continue automatically, so by pumping out content on both the big and small screens, the studio allowed for people to take the MCU’s existence for granted. With only one film coming in 2024, Marvel now has a prime opportunity to take stock and allow audiences to actually miss the MCU and get hungry for more again. Even if Deadpool 3 does promise to be a full meal on its own…
Published: Dec 14, 2023 01:45 pm