Warning: This article contains spoilers for the Loki season 2 finale.
Hand on heart, this particular Marvel fan was thoroughly entertained by The Marvels, warts and all (the film’s warts, not mine), but sadly the moviegoing public at large doesn’t seem to agree, as those dire box office predictions about its financial performance are proving accurate.
As if that didn’t bode poorly enough for the further adventures of the Multiverse Saga, Marvel’s upcoming slate taking another tumble is causing more tears, although maybe it could be good thing…
The Marvels Thursday box office earns less than ‘Eternals,’ which says it all
The Marvels was all set to have one of the weakest opening weekends of any Marvel movie, so it’s not exactly a surprise to seeing it playing out, but it still hurts. Its Thursday preview figures are in, and it brought home a slim $6.5 million. For comparison, recent DC flop The Flash accrued $9.7 million for its own previews. Likewise, the MCU’s own infamous misfire Eternals earned a whole three mil more with $9.5 million back in Fall 2021. Basically, brace yourselves for some tough full weekend figures come Monday.
MCU release date shake-up leaves Marvel with just a single movie coming in 2024
Something else we knew was coming but still hits hard? Following the end of the strikes, Marvel has officially updated its slate, causing various different upcoming releases to topple backwards. Captain America 4 is the worst hit, moving from July 2024 to February 2025, with Thunderbolts similarly shifting from December 2024 to July 2025. This means that Deadpool 3 stands alone as the only Marvel Studios movie to come out in its calendar year. This is the first time this has happened since 2020’s Black Widow. It sounds awful on paper, but perhaps this is exactly what the MCU needs to make audiences invested again. Absence makes the heart grow fonder, right?
Loki is literally lifting up the whole Marvel universe on his own following season 2’s finale
You know what we didn’t necessarily expect? The Loki season 2 finale to be this good. Suffice it to say, the episode went and confirmed that Tom Hiddleston’s trickster is the most important character in the entire MCU and the safety of the multiverse and the continuation of the timeline rests on his back. I mean, we kinda knew that anyway, but now it’s actually a matter of canon. Unfortunately, it doesn’t look like season 3 is a-go, at least not anytime soon, so we might have to wait until Avengers 5 and 6 to see him again, if we ever do. Still, Marvel fans have always treated the God of Mischief like a real deity — and now, at least, he officially is.
