April 26, 2019. Casual superhero viewers and comic super-fans came together to see the pinnacle of the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU): Avengers: Endgame.
Marvel hasn't seen success on the level of Avengers: Endgame since it came out.
It's hard to beat the second-highest-grossing film of all time. Still, you'd think that a franchise as big as the MCU would be able to continue to captivate viewers after such a huge success, but fans agree that its films have been mostly hit or miss since 2020. What's keeping this media powerhouse from hitting another home run?
Following the Covid-19 pandemic, Marvel has struggled to impress fans. Sure, they've had some successes such as Spider-Man: No Way Home and Thunderbolts*, but they've also had several flops like Eternals and The Marvels. Marvel Television has created some fun shows like WandaVision, but many seem to trip at the finish line.
The entire entertainment industry was shaken by Covid-19. While many studios seem to be back to their standard quality, Marvel hasn't quite made its return.
At first, people were calling it "superhero-fatigue". The DC Extended Universe (DCEU) was also struggling to make waves (although, that franchise never had much staying power in the first place). With all the superhero movies that were being released, audiences were becoming overwhelmed by and tired of the same stories being regurgitated over and over again.
The fatigue didn't last long; films such as Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse and The Batman had spectacular releases.
Meanwhile, the MCU is re-releasing Avengers: Endgame with additional scenes to add context to the upcoming Avengers: Doomsday. They've pivoted their storyline after the actor set to play their main villain, Kang the Conqueror, was found guily of assault.
So, the question is: if other franchises are able to be new and inventive with superheroes, why can't the MCU?
Longtime fans of DC comics will be familiar with the Crisis on Infinite Earths storyline. This multiversal calamity was DC's way of resetting their timeline after the story got too complicated. Marvel Comics has never truly rebooted; they've only combined universes.
I suggest that the MCU take a cue from DC's comic books and do this type of reset. And I don't mean the soft reboot that is supposed to come with Avengers: Secret Wars. I mean a complete reset.
The MCU's main story issue, in my opinion, is their failure to establish new characters to take the place of the retirees. They've introduced some newbies like Kate Bishop as the new Hawkeye, but overall, very few new characters have as much star power as the original Avengers.
A reboot could offer an opportunity to not only allow new characters to make their own paths but also give the MCU a chance to do something inventive. For example, after the death of beloved Black Panther actor Chadwick Boseman, T'Challa's sister, Shuri (Letitia Wright) had to take on the mantle of Black Panther. While Black Panther: Wakanda Forever was a beautiful send-off to Boseman, it didn't do much to advance the plot of the MCU or introduce Shuri. A reboot could allow audiences to get to know Shuri in her own right rather than in the shadow of T'Challa.
The MCU has also struggled to introduce Captain Marvel because her film of the same name came so late in the Infinity Saga's story. This has caused other characters from her story (Ms. Marvel, played by Iman Vellani and Photon, played by Teyonah Paris) to struggle as well.
A reboot could allow the MCU to start over with a blank slate. The truth is, nothing, including stories, is meant to last forever. As Iron Man said, "Part of the journey is the end".
