Has the Marvel Bubble Burst?

Words by Azrael Tay / Edited by Mia Stapleton

The Marvels, Loki Season 2, and the state of Marvel Studios in 2023. Even the casts of Loki and The Marvels can’t quite believe what their franchise has become.

Hollywood has seen more than its fair share of change in its storied history, and one of its biggest money-making forces is now on the brink of a total creative and commercial overhaul. 

The once-untouchable Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) is experiencing mostly diminishing returns from audiences with each new project, and major creatives and shareholders within the studio are flocking to save a sinking ship. Variety’s November article, ominously dubbed Crisis at Marvel, paints a telling picture of the state of the studio during a recent annual retreat: scrambling to contend with bloated VFX budgets, bracing for box-office disappointment with The Marvels, and desperately racking their brains over what to do with Jonathan Majors, once positioned to portray the next big bad of its franchise storytelling, yet currently facing domestic abuse charges that have already damaged his reputation and his on-screen persona. There have even been talks to develop an Avengers film with the original cast from the 2012 film returning, and this refusal to leave well enough alone should speak to the rut Marvel Studios has currently found itself in.

Of course, Marvel was once on the top of the franchise-making food chain with what has now been dubbed The Infinity Saga, their ambitious interconnected web of multi-movie storytelling which not only paid off in full by its conclusion but boasted an impressive sense of quality control across a 23-film run– earning the trust and appreciation of fans and general moviegoers worldwide to massive box-office return. Every new film was treated like an event. 

Since then, however, the introduction of new television shows to streaming service Disney+, as well as more spin-off theatrical films, have widened that web to a staggering, confusing degree and to much less of a positive critical success. For every exception– 2021’s box-office king Spider-Man: No Way Home, or this year’s excellent send-off to the Guardians of the Galaxy–  there have been as many mediocre to modest hits that have hardly ensured more longevity to a now fifteen-year-old series: take the well-intentioned eulogy giving way to more franchise-exposition that was Wakanda Forever, or disappointing, lackluster follow-ups like Thor: Love and Thunder or Quantumania – and the less said about this year’s self-important Secret Invasion, the better. 

That brings us to this month’s The Marvels and Loki, which now feel less like Marvel’s triumphant one-two punch to end the year and more like their two new reluctant products off the assembly line. The funny thing is that both of Marvel’s new projects are not bad by the standards the studio has set for themselves. 

The Marvels is, by and large, disposable, fun superhero fare that briskly treats its audience to some mildly innovatively crafted action and a few more uniquely entertaining sequences before making sure not to overstay its welcome, at a much-appreciated 105 minutes. The second season of Loki is a delight on the small screen, shockingly being one of the few Marvel television shows so far to actually operate like one, with episodic storytelling, cliff-hanger episode endings, and an emotionally satisfying finale that brings the series full circle and establishes Tom Hiddleston’s beloved God of Mischief as one of the franchise’s most well-realised and fleshed-out characters to date. 

Yet, both projects feel so beholden to the larger ambitions of the MCU: The Marvels is full of the Easter eggs one might expect at this point, and itself feels like a stepping stone to greater things, while the shadow of Jonathan Majors’ Kang and Marvel’s plans for his overarching supervillainy loom distractingly large over Loki. Audience interest is waning, with The Marvels projected to be one of Marvel’s lowest-grossing films to date– how did the MCU regress into something so obligatory, messy, and bloated, and can anything be done to fix it?

When Marvel Studios first began making movies in its shared universe, with the now comparatively humble goal of bringing together characters from four films into a team-up, the end goal was clear, and it was the gigantic success that was The Avengers. Having to only make two films a year at most, there was a clearer focus on both the story and craft of each film, an almost exact formula to establish each new character while giving each solo film its own personality and visual style. 

The output of Marvel in 2023 is a far cry, a textbook definition of quantity over quality as its crews, its VFX teams, and Kevin Feige himself are beginning to be stretched thin. Maybe what audiences– and Marvel themselves– need is to scale back on the sheer number of projects planned. Have a clear, culminating project in mind for films to lead up to, and craft each one carefully. Reduce the amount of integral MCU content on television, because it seems unfair to expect your audience to do 12 hours of research on Disney+ before heading to the theatre to see your newest film. The studio has needed a wake-up call for some time now, and if The Marvels must be the unfortunate box-office scapegoat, then fans can only hope that Marvel pays attention before their empire crumbles to dust.

The Marvels is in cinemas now. All seasons of Loki are now available to stream on Disney+.

(Image Credit: Marvel.com)