Jul 22, 2025 06:16 PM
It’s official: Marvel doesn’t know what’s wrong with itself (excerpt): The first step, they say, is admitting you have a problem. And at the very least, Marvel Studios has done that. The company responsible for the most commercially successful film franchise of all time (the Marvel Cinematic Universe, or MCU) is now half a decade deep into – depending who you ask – either a gluey creative slump or terminal decline.
Such is the obviousness of Marvel’s woes that the company has no choice but to address them. Over the weekend, Kevin Feige – the studio’s head honcho and perhaps the most famous working producer in Hollywood – spoke with The Hollywood Reporter, offering fresh details about Marvel’s trajectory, and the reasons for its lapse. Much of what he says is, broadly speaking, true. But the real problem lies in what remains unacknowledged... (MORE - details)
Here's Why the MCU Has 'Failed,' According to Kevin Feige (excerpts): In a recent interview, Feige spoke of the intense over-expansion the MCU saw its past years, and how Marvel movies ended up starting to feel like homework for many. Let’s dive into the Marvel Head’s perspective of where the MCU has failed, and what it’s doing to course correct.
Feige shares simply that looking back at all the MCU’s output in recent years, he can see “That’s too much.” In total, over the last six years, Marvel has produced 127 hours of content. (Vs. the 50 they created in the eight years before that.) And while some of that content has been incredible, in Feige’s eyes work like WandaVision and Loki, “It’s the expansion that is certainly what devalued” the output. In putting out so much, the MCU failed to make anything specifically a priority and, instead, overwhelmed its audiences.
[...] And it was fun, but ultimately, just A LOT to take in. Feige agrees that this was absolutely one of the failures of the MCU’s plan in these past years. He shares, “It’s that expansion that I think led people to say, ‘Do I have to see all of these? It used to be fun, but now do I have to know everything about all of these?’ And I think The Marvels hit it hardest where people are like, ‘OK, I recognize her from a billion-dollar movie. But who are those other two? I guess they were in some TV show. I’ll skip it.’”
Feige goes on to say that he recognizes how featuring characters who had only appeared in Marvel Disney+ TV series may have harmed the movie. “Some of them were still feeling the residual effects of that notion of, ‘I guess I had to have seen these other shows to understand who this is.’ I think if you actually saw the movie, that wouldn’t be the case, and we make the movie so that’s not the case. But I think we still have to make sure the audience understands that.”
So, where does Marvel go from here as it works to rectify the places where the MCU has failed? Well, for one, less content is on the horizon...
[...] Additionally, the MCU aims to be more flexible in the type of content it creates. Feige offers that tonal malleability is a key to Marvel’s success. And that means more R-rated movies and television shows are heading to the MCU. We’ve already seen this in movies like Deadpool & Wolverine and shows like Daredevil: Born Again, but the MCU is losing that sheen of family friendly wholesomness it wore like a supersuit for a very long time. Feige notes that characters can be deployed in different ways and intents... (MORE - missing details)
Such is the obviousness of Marvel’s woes that the company has no choice but to address them. Over the weekend, Kevin Feige – the studio’s head honcho and perhaps the most famous working producer in Hollywood – spoke with The Hollywood Reporter, offering fresh details about Marvel’s trajectory, and the reasons for its lapse. Much of what he says is, broadly speaking, true. But the real problem lies in what remains unacknowledged... (MORE - details)
Here's Why the MCU Has 'Failed,' According to Kevin Feige (excerpts): In a recent interview, Feige spoke of the intense over-expansion the MCU saw its past years, and how Marvel movies ended up starting to feel like homework for many. Let’s dive into the Marvel Head’s perspective of where the MCU has failed, and what it’s doing to course correct.
Feige shares simply that looking back at all the MCU’s output in recent years, he can see “That’s too much.” In total, over the last six years, Marvel has produced 127 hours of content. (Vs. the 50 they created in the eight years before that.) And while some of that content has been incredible, in Feige’s eyes work like WandaVision and Loki, “It’s the expansion that is certainly what devalued” the output. In putting out so much, the MCU failed to make anything specifically a priority and, instead, overwhelmed its audiences.
[...] And it was fun, but ultimately, just A LOT to take in. Feige agrees that this was absolutely one of the failures of the MCU’s plan in these past years. He shares, “It’s that expansion that I think led people to say, ‘Do I have to see all of these? It used to be fun, but now do I have to know everything about all of these?’ And I think The Marvels hit it hardest where people are like, ‘OK, I recognize her from a billion-dollar movie. But who are those other two? I guess they were in some TV show. I’ll skip it.’”
Feige goes on to say that he recognizes how featuring characters who had only appeared in Marvel Disney+ TV series may have harmed the movie. “Some of them were still feeling the residual effects of that notion of, ‘I guess I had to have seen these other shows to understand who this is.’ I think if you actually saw the movie, that wouldn’t be the case, and we make the movie so that’s not the case. But I think we still have to make sure the audience understands that.”
So, where does Marvel go from here as it works to rectify the places where the MCU has failed? Well, for one, less content is on the horizon...
[...] Additionally, the MCU aims to be more flexible in the type of content it creates. Feige offers that tonal malleability is a key to Marvel’s success. And that means more R-rated movies and television shows are heading to the MCU. We’ve already seen this in movies like Deadpool & Wolverine and shows like Daredevil: Born Again, but the MCU is losing that sheen of family friendly wholesomness it wore like a supersuit for a very long time. Feige notes that characters can be deployed in different ways and intents... (MORE - missing details)