Marvel has been seeing a bit of a decline recently…
Phase 4 has been kind of all over the place, and despite bangers like No Way Home, Falcon and the Winter Soldier, Wanda Vision, and MoonKnight, the past few years of MCU movies have been tarnished with horrible movies. And any whispers that Phase 5 would be drastically better have been silenced with the release of the INCREDIBLY MID Ant Man 3 film.
Honestly, Marvel has been rolling downhill and unraveling since it’s peak.
And in my opinion, that peak was Spider-Man: No Way Home. Now, some of you may say it was Avengers: Endgame, but after Endgame, we got Loki, Wanda-Vision as well as Falcon and the Winter Soldier.
All good additions to the MCU,
But the only good thing we got AFTER No Way Home was 5 good episodes of MoonKnight.
And No Way Home was peak cinema, but everything after that just seemed to go downhill, and Ant Man 3 is kinda the nail in the coffin in my opinion.
When Phase 3 started with Civil War it seemed like Marvel could do no wrong. They were in The Zone, dropping banger after banger, Civil War was Legendary, Guardians of the Galaxy Volume 2 wasn’t as good as the first one, but it was still very good. Spider-Man: Homecoming was yet again another certified classic, Thor: Ragnarök was comedic gold, The Black Panther film quickly became a staple of the culture and is TO THIS DAY, is the Marvel movie with the HIGHEST Rotten Tomatoes Score.
And Avengers: Infinity War was a masterpiece.
Captain Marvel was Marvel’s only turnover in it’s 81 point game, dropping Avengers: Endgame immediately after, which was the greatest Crossover Movie of all time. Some people say Marvel peaked right here, but not really. After Endgame, Marvel finished the phase strong with Spider-Man: No way home.
Despite a 1 year delay, Marvel came out with Wanda Vision, making one of the greatest superhero shows in only 9 episodes. Marvel continued it’s winning streak with Falcon and the Winter Soldier, which is probably the most powerful Marvel show ever made. Then we got Loki, and at this point, it honestly seemed like Marvel could do no wrong.
Then we got Black Widow.
Black Widow.
It got a 79 on rotten tomatoes and a 68 on metacritic…
But Shang Chi: Legend of the 10 Rings was A BANGER!
91% on rotten tomatoes and nearly 90 percent of all fans liked it!
At this point, every Marvel seemed worth going to in the theaters because Marvel was ON FIRE.
All the doubts about Marvel declining after Endgame were SILENCED, with Phase 4 starting as strong as the last.
I was in the theater watching every marvel movie that came out!
Venom: Let there be Carnage is kinda technically an MCU movie. And despite getting 57% on Rotten Tomatoes, and it missing a 2nd act, it was LOVED by fans, including me, who was sitting in the theater watching it.
Then came what I consider PEAK Marvel.
When Marvel’s Quality Story Telling, fan service, and overall popularity all reached their pinnacle at the same time, creating what I consider the greatest Marvel movie of all time.
Spider-Man No Way Home!
For the first time at my usually dull movie theater, the ENTIRE room was PACKED full of people all trying to enjoy the most hyped and anticipated movie of the year BEFORE any spoilers surfaced online.
And IT MADE TWO HUNDRED FIFTY MILLION DOLLARS in the box office!
IN ONE WEEK!
253,000,000!
And it ended up making NEARLY 2 BILLION!!!
That’s where it started to go downhill, however.
MoonKnight released onto Disney+ in spring, and was yet again another good show by Marvel!
But it was also the last good show by Marvel…
2 months later, Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness came out, and everyone knew it was gonna be another banger. After the hype from No Way Home, a Multiverse Movie was a no-brainer. Rumors of X-Men and Fantastic 4 crossovers surfaced, and it was being directed by Sam Rami, the Director of the ICONIC 2000’s Spider-Man films.
This movie was SET UP to be EVEN BIGGER than No Way Home.
But then Marvel Choked.
60% on Metacritic, 77 on rotten tomatoes and 74% positive fan reception.
I don’t know A SINGLE PERSON who enjoyed that film.
Up until that point, I had been going to watch every Marvel movie in the theaters RELIGIOUSLY.
But I walked out of that theater DISSAPOINTED.
I felt ripped off, like the 12 bucks I spent was A WASTE OF MONEY.
Despite this flop, I was very excited for, but cautiously analyzing the release of Thor: Love and Thunder.
The hype for this movie was very high after 2017’s incredibly acclaimed Thor 3, which had the same director.
But, well…
Yes, that is a frame from AN ACTUAL scene IN THIS FILM
I AM NOT KIDDING
I WISH I WAS
That picture basically summarizes the entire movie.
LOW QUALITY
And She Hulk?
Let’s not even talk about She Hulk…
I think it was SUPPOSED to be a comedic series, but at this point I’m not even sure, so for now let’s just label it as GARBAJ.
After Phase 4 started so strong, it unraveled over the course of just ONE YEAR. At that point I told myself I wasn’t gonna watch another Marvel film in the theaters, I figured it was just a waste of money.
Oh, but then this happened:
Despite Marvel’s bad record, this was a film that had to be watched, for the culture and for Chadwick Boseman.
This film got an 85% in both fan reception and rotten tomato critics ratings!
It seemed like EVERYONE loved it!
Marvel Phase 4 was shaping out to be a bust, but Wakanda Forever left us with hope for a better Phase 5
And no better place to start than with Ant Man: Quantamania, which featured Kang The Conqueror, one of the most powerful beings in Marvel Comics and a classic Avengers Villain.
Ant Man 3 could set up an incredible Phase 5, introducing new characters to prepare for the next Avengers Movie, like Wakanda Forever did for Iron Heart. But with a villain as important as Kang, the character could get an even better introduction.
And with the momentum built from Wakanda Forever, Marvel gave us…
a Cinematic-
DUMP
I TRIED to defend this movie, but ITS THE WORST RATED MARVEL MOVIE EVER
JUST READ THIS
I DIDN’T EVEN KNOW SCORES COULD GET BELOW 50!!!!
The Ant Man movies just seem to be getting progressively worse!
There was only Two things good about the previous 2 Ant Man films!
Paul Rudd, and Michael Peña‘s Luis
BUT THEN ANT MAN 3 DIDN’T HAVE LUIS!
Which probably explains why Ant Man 3 is half as good as the first two, and twice as bad…
Now MARVEL IS DYING!
We haven’t gotten two good movies consecutively since like-2 years ago!
Meanwhile DC’s came out with (in order)
Zack Snyder’s Justice League
The Suicide Squad
The Batman
Black Adam
All of which were REALLY WELL RECIEVED.
DC’s on a winning streak, while Marvel’s out here releasing at least 8 major movies/shows a year, and still missing 7/8 times!
Well, the next Marvel movie coming out is Guardians of the Galaxy Volume 3, the final instalment in the legendary trilogy.
Something tells me Marvel’s going to either tone down, or dramatically IMPROVE the comedy aspects of the film, especially since the last 3 flops that Marvel had were all failed comedies.
There’s also been massive complaints about the CGI, so don’t be surprised if Marvel delays the film’s release to improve the CGI, or at the very least, you may hear news of the studio’s hiring more CGI artists.
James Gunn is coming off of the critically acclaimed “The Suicide Squad”, so this movie should be pretty good.
I think the Marvel fan base is starting to chill out and lower their expectations after having such high expectations for movies like Ant Man 3 , Thor 4, and Dr Strange 2, only for them to be disappointed.
So don’t have high expectations for Guardians of The Galaxy Volume 3, but don’t be surprised if ends up being 2023’s best Marvel movie.
But let me know, down in the comments below, what you thought of the past few marvel movies. And if you have any predictions for the future of Marvel, head over to the Forums in the Fan Page section of brickflicks616.com , and get the convo started!