Since the release of “Avengers Endgame” in 2019, Marvel Studios in partnership with Disney have released 11 films. Out of the 11 films, only four were any good: “Spiderman Far from Home,” “Black Widow,” “Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings,” and “Spider-Man: No Way Home.”
Marvel is known for fantastic films featuring epic battles of good and evil, but recently they’ve been rushing the production of new films. This is polluting the MCU with stubborn replacement characters and sloppily made movies.
From the release of “Iron Man” in 2008 to “Endgame” in 2019, Marvel had a host of original characters and villains. But after Thanos was defeated, the storyline died. All antagonist forces dusted away, leaving the multiverse without a villain.
Since the release of “No Way Home,” Marvel has repeatedly come out with awful movies and shows that attempt to continue a story and a universe that was over a long time ago. That’s not to say there weren’t some treasures, but the continuous lack of relatable characters and trying to rebuild the Avengers isn’t working anymore.
Up until “Endgame,” every Avengers movie was building up to Thanos, whether or not the audience knew it. First it was through Loki, then Ultron, and when we finally met Thanos in “Avengers Infinity War,” viewers finally realized how big of a threat he was to our heroes. He was just hiding behind previous enemies for several films.
In the first “Avengers” movie, Loki’s attack on New York is aided by the Chitauri, which is a species of alien that Thanos has employed. We learn they are Thanos’s henchmen in “Avengers: Endgame.”
Ultron is the product of Tony’s PTSD after New York because he feels his world is unsafe. The idea around Ultron was to be a shield around the world. That didn’t work, and robots almost took over the globe.
We finally meet Thanos in “Infinity War.” Sending Loki to retrieve an Infinity Stone didn’t work, so now he’s coming to fetch them himself.
Thanos was ultimately defeated by the end of “Endgame,” leaving the Avengers disbanded, scattered across the galaxy, and in some cases, dead. The audience’s question remains as to what happens next, but Marvel’s approach is to attempt to rebuild the Avengers.
“Black Panther: Wakanda Forever” introduces us to the character of “Ironheart” very briefly, a 19 year old tech genius named Riri Williams. She built a wannabe Iron Man suit and is set up to become the next Tony Stark throughout the rest of the movie.
In 2021, Marvel released the TV series “Hawkeye,” which sets up the storyline for young archer Kate Bishop, to replace the character of Hawkeye through mentorship from Clint Barton. “Black Widow” introduces Natasha’s sister, Yelena Belova. After the events of “Endgame” she appears in “Hawkeye,” effectively taking the place of her sister.
“The Falcon and the Winter Soldier” was released in March of 2021, introducing a world without Captain America. Sam Wilson is given the chance to be his replacement, but he turns it down, leaving a random guy named John Walker to take the shield.
For the final substitution that Marvel has offered for the original six Avengers comes “She-Hulk.” It’s quite possibly the worst TV series Marvel has come out with yet, and Jennifer Walters’ Hulk is the most obvious and sloppily written replacement.
From the beginning, “She-Hulk” is overpowered; she’s able to control her hulk self right off the bat, even surprising her cousin Bruce Banner with her self control abilities.
It took Banner from “The Incredible Hulk” to Endgame to learn how to cooperate with his hulk, it doesn’t make any sense why they’d give Walter so much control over hers right off the bat.
Marvel has yet to come out with a permanent renewal for Thor. They went through the entire movie of “Thor: Love and Thunder” where the audience all thought Jane would be it, but the ending was both a disappointment and a relief for viewers.
At this point, Marvel has replaced 5 of the 6 original Avengers. That doesn’t mean they did it well, just that it happened.
Simply put, “Eternals” had too many characters.
In total, there were twelve characters that the writers decided to kill off as the film progressed on, ending with an over-exaggerated enemy and Harry Styles dressed like a fox.
“Wakanda Forever” had so much potential but they ruined it with lack of character preparation.
When Shuri took over T’Challa’s place as Black Panther, the film doesn’t show any work that the character of Shuri has put in to physically become the protector of Wakanda.
The Heart-Shaped Herb, a flower that is taken after someone is declared king or queen, is supposed to put the consumer in that shape, but even T’Challa was muscular before he took it.
Shuri is physically unprepared to take that mantle and wasn’t even supposed to in the first place.
And the only time the villain of the film, Namor, is actually a threat is when he kidnaps Ironheart and floods Wakanda.
“Shang-Chi” was a winner, not directly tying into the MCU with anything other than the terrorist organization The Ten Rings introduced in “Iron Man 3.” The story is captivating, leading the viewers through a film filled to the brim with Avengers level fight scenes but rich in Chinese history and culture.
For instance, the opening fight scene on the bus is one of the best in MCU history. Ta Lo, the town Shaun’s mother is from, is home to many mythical creatures from Chinese mythology.
“The Multiverse of Madness” peaked in the first ten minutes of the movie. “Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3” was about a raccoon who wasn’t even conscious for most of it. “Quantamania” doesn’t really contribute to the overall MCU besides introducing us to Scott Lang’s daughter, Cassie, who hasn’t even proven herself to be useful.
Although the film introduces us to the MCU’s new villain, Kang the Conqueror, at this point in the franchise we’ve already seen him in Loki. Reintroducing him to the audience is pointless, especially since he’s already been defeated.
Even though it took the MCU films 11 years – from “Iron Man” in 2008 to “Endgame” in 2019 – to fully tie in together and get the audience to the end of the story, this new release of films are just repeats.
Marvel is trying to re-make the films that made them fame and money, but by rushing the releases, they’re producing movies that lack good characters and a compelling story. They’re even going as far trying to replace the original 6 Avengers.
Even if they do manage to tie together by the end of another 11 year period, they’re just mirroring what has already been done.
The MCU has passed its peak. The Avengers defeated Thanos, and instead of Marvel attempting to redo storylines, they should have focused on tying up loose ends.
