It would be the biggest understatement in Marvel Cinematic Universe history to say that Phase Four wasn’t anywhere near as beloved as its predecessors, with the post-Infinity Saga slate causing plenty of consternation among the fandom that Kevin Feige and his team had finally bitten off more than they could chew.
While there were undoubtedly triumphs along the way, there was just as much (if not more) that rubbed people the wrong way. Eternals became the first installment in MCU history to end up with a Rotten score on Rotten Tomatoes, while Black Panther: Wakanda Forever arrested the worrying slide of three consecutive films landing the superhero behemoth’s lowest CinemaScores.
Then there’s the deliberation over not renewing any Disney Plus shows except Loki for second seasons, and we’re not even going to get into the incessantly polarizing nature of She-Hulk: Attorney at Law. Thankfully, though, there may be a reason for the doubters to rejoice – after it was reported that the Multiverse Saga will take the criticism on board to try and streamline things into a more qualitative than quantitative approach. As you can imagine, the doubters are pretty happy about it.
At one stage not too long ago, Marvel Studios had upwards of 30 projects across film and television all in active stages of development at the same time, which is absolutely nuts. The focus should always be on delivering the finest possible content, but the rapid acceleration on multiple fronts has led many to wonder if the MCU is beginning to run out of gas.
People will still watch, let’s not kid ourselves by pretending otherwise, but fatigue desperately needs to be avoided at all costs.