More than 100 million people went out to see "Avengers: Endgame” when it came out in theaters. The height of the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) was such an exciting time, and people did everything they could to avoid spoilers, especially after the massive cliffhanger of "Avengers: Infinity War." Fans fought for tickets on opening weekend to be the first to find out who would return from "The Blip," a massive incident initiated by the villain Thanos.
"Avengers: Endgame" made over $300 million at the box office on opening weekend. Marvel's most recent movie, Madame Webb, made $15 million. This is not to say that DC is doing any better, as its biggest box office pull in 2023 was "Aquaman" at $124 million.
Since the height of Marvel, movie reviews and turnout rates have plummeted. Even though producers have introduced more characters and diversity, viewers are less interested than they used to be. One reason for this is that Marvel killed many of its main characters in "Avengers: Endgame." Many people watch these movies because they fall in love with the characters and family dynamics of the MCU. Tony Stark was a genius who created a superhero suit to escape a villain. He became one of the best Marvel characters with a wholesome character arc. The fans watched Stark mature, marry and become part of the Avenger family. Marvel was extremely popular during the age of Iron Man, Captain America, Black Widow, Thor, Hawkeye and many other recognizable superheroes. When you rid fans' favorite movies, you start having trouble getting people to go out to see your movies.
Movies with women particularly have done so poorly because there are not enough of them. Movie companies have been making male-dominated superhero movies for decades, even when they have incredibly competent female superheroes. For example, Brie Larson's Captain Marvel was supposed to be the most powerful superhero in the universe, but during "Avengers: Endgame," she was nowhere to be found. Marvel introduced a character with the capacity to save the world and almost completely omitted her from the biggest superhero movie to date. Many fans hate Captain Marvel for this flaw, but it was the fault of movie makers who wanted their male leads to be the star-studded heroes.
The only question is: why add her to the MCU before "Avengers: Endgame" if she was not going to be there to help? Because of this controversy, fans had high expectations for her next movie, "The Marvels." Ultimately, it did not perform well, likely because of poor marketing and the history of contempt surrounding the first Captain Marvel film.
The only thing keeping Marvel together are the Spider-Man movies starring Tom Holland. Even though the MCU and Sony share ownership of Spider-Man, Sony also owns many of the Spider-Man characters, including Gwen Stacey, Miles Morales and The Green Goblin. Without having all the rights to its star characters, Marvel cannot return without getting approval and working with another company, which takes time and may cause concept disputes.
This also hurt Marvel because its fans became outraged when they heard Spider-Man was now co-owned with Sony and might have to leave the MCU. Even if Sony has good ideas, these collaborations will take time and not be solely Marvel, which has forced Marvel to earn back its fans' trust by teaming up with Sony for the production of "Spider-Man into the Spider-Verse."
Even though Marvel has been leading the superhero movie industry for a few decades, it is not the only company making them. DC and Marvel have been competing ever since the comic books came out, so the movie industry is no different. DC has one problem: it has been losing to Marvel for years but has the chance to swing back. Marvel has more "fresh" characters. In new movies like "Eternals,“ "Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings” and the Guardians of the Galaxy saga, the characters are diverse and have different backgrounds and abilities.
However, DC's characters are more iconic. Batman and Superman are two big names in the movie industry. DC has made multiple Batman movies and is not showing signs of slowing down. Superman has also been a fan favorite since his first comic book in 1938. A 2020 poll claimed that Marvel's characters were generally more popular than DC's, but this was before Marvel started to decrease in viewership. This idea gives hope to the DC universe, as the company can now lean into the characters its fans know and love.
Truly, fans will likely be happier if they get more creative movies and TV shows. Marvel has taken several risks, like putting a musical number in the middle of an action movie, but it is not connecting to its viewers as well as before. If the MCU does not address this soon, it will lose all direction and people will stop caring altogether.
Marvel and DC need to work hard to bring back their old fanbases. It does not matter what these stories are in the form of TV or movies as long as they have exciting, complex characters that fans can root for. The new heroes may not be as nostalgic to the older generation, but at least fans would have something better to watch.
