Highlights
- The MCU is facing difficulties in attracting fans to theaters, demonstrated by the underwhelming response to recent movies like The Marvels.
- Captain America 4 is experiencing delays and reported issues, with extensive reshoots and major set pieces being cut from the film.
- The mediocre performance of The Marvels highlights the importance of maintaining high quality in the expanding MCU, as fans are becoming increasingly dissatisfied with subpar movies and shows.
While fans eagerly await the latest installment into the Captain America franchise, Captain America 4: Brave New World, things don’t seem to be going so great behind the scenes. In truth, it seems like the MCU as a whole is really struggling to fire up fans and get them to come out to theatres. As demonstrated by The Marvels, moviegoers aren’t willing to go out to see any average MCU movie that comes out anymore. Quality is key, and that couldn’t be more true for Anthony Mackie’s Sam Wilson in his first big-screen adventure as the character.
Marvel seems to be in a bit of a creative scramble right now, something that is shown through the recent behind-the-scenes drama of the Daredevil: Born Again Disney+ series, and the Jonothan Majors Kang debacle. The entire universe needs a major flip in direction to get things back on track. The problem is, with recent developments, it seems like Marvel may be losing faith in the new Captain America.
MCU: The Original Avengers Returning Is Bad For The Franchise
The MCU isn't the comics, and Marvel should keep it that way.
Captain America 4's Delay & Reported Issues
Captain America: | ||
|---|---|---|
Previous Movies: | Rotten Tomatoes Score: | Box Office: |
Captain America: The First Avenger | 80% | $370.6 million |
Captain America: The Winter Soldier | 90% | $714.4 million |
Captain America: Civil War | 91% | $1.153 billion |
While it is thanks in part to the massive writers' strike, that isn’t the only reason why Captain America 4 is set to have a massive delay, among many other changes. Instead of releasing in its original July 2024 timeslot, the movie has been pushed back to February 2025, a massive shift in the timeline. While this delay means this will be the longest break for Captain America in MCU history, it is the story behind the delay that is much more troubling. As previously noted, it isn’t simply a writer’s strike that caused this movie to revel in a lengthy delay.
Supposedly, the movies have already been shown to test audiences, and the reaction was anything but good. It’s hard to speculate on what kind of reaction from viewers would have required major changes, but it’s safe to say that the movie is having all kinds of troubles. One might think that the film being able to finish up production before the writer’s strike derailed the industry would have been a good thing, but it seems like the movie could have used a step back in order to take stock of what the team had accomplished thus far. All of this is on the back of previous rumors of delay issues that had to do with Anthony Mackie’s busy schedule.
Captain America 4 Set For Extensive Reshoots
If the reshoot rumors are true, Captain America 4 has not been received well by anyone who’s seen what’s completed thus far. The fact that the film is said to be going back to production for extensive reshoots is never a good thing. While it isn’t uncommon for Marvel movies to go into reshoots, especially considering productions often block out time for reshoots, it is the word extensive that should have a lot of fans alarmed. Extensive indicates that much of the movie either was not working or simply wasn’t up to the standards of the MCU. Whether those standards are the current ones set or a hopefully higher set that has recently been put in place is unknown.
It is alleged that as many as three major set pieces in the movie are being cut from the movie altogether, meaning something went seriously wrong somewhere in the creative process. With that much being cut and reshoots likely still addressing issues for what is being left in the film, it is safe to say that whatever the test audiences were able to see will be incredibly different from the finished product. Fans can only hope that whatever the issues that needed cutting and complete reworking were, they can be addressed and this new era for Captain America can be a hit.
The Marvels Teaching A Hard Lesson
While some may not like to hear it, The Marvels is easily one of the MCU’s biggest failures to date. With a budget ranging well over $200 million, The Marvels needed to be a bonafide hit to be considered a success, but sadly, the support for the movie was middling at best. There are a lot of arguments to be had about why exactly The Marvels has been such a flop, and while it is far from a terrible movie, it isn’t anywhere near the best of the MCU. It’s the movie-going public’s reaction (or lack thereof) to The Marvels that has signaled something big to Marvel: fans don’t want to show up for mediocrity.
A film can be fun, and the crew can even have fun making it, but that does not translate into an enjoyable movie-going experience for the general audience. As the MCU continues to expand, the production, direction, and writing of the massively connected universe needs to get better, not stay the same (or arguably drop off a cliff). The Marvels isn’t alone in this flopping criticism, as many recent MCU swings have been regarded as big misses, with the same being able to be said in Ant-Man And The Wasp: Quantumania.
If the Marvel creatives are smart – which considering the previous success of the MCU, it’s safe to say they are – then they’ve been paying incredibly close attention to the reception of The Marvels. While expectations for The Marvels weren’t as high as a film like Avengers: Endgame, there are still baseline expectations the average MCU has for movies. The bubble of fans going to see any and every MCU film has clearly burst as they continue to be unhappy with both movies and shows. The lesson being learned certainly can’t be a fun one for Marvel Studios, but it is an important one that will secure the quality for future films like Deadpool 3, Fantastic Four, and the eventual X-Men movie.
MCU
The Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) is a sprawling movie and television franchise that weaves together individual stories of superheroes including Captain America, Thor, Spider-Man, Hulk, Black Widow, and many more. The first film in the franchise, Iron Man, was released in 2008. The MCU has garnered critical praise and financial success, earning billions at the box office and becoming a cultural phenomenon.
