In 2008, Marvel released its first film, “Iron Man,” initiating one of the most successful movie franchises ever. Historically, Marvel movies have been successful on opening weekends at the box office, with the Marvel Cinematic Universe holding four of the top 10 spots in the highest-grossing films of all time. However, Marvel’s latest movie, “The Marvels,” earned a record low of $46 million in its opening weekend, leaving many people wondering: What happened?

Since the release of “Avengers: Endgame” in 2019, MCU films have fallen in both the box office and ratings. For the first three phases of Marvel, the movies built up to the final battle with Thanos, but once that plotline finished, Marvel failed to get their viewers as deeply invested in another story. 

Disney+ has been a contributing factor to this problem. Because a large part of the MCU’s appeal is its complex interconnected storylines, many people feel obligated to watch the films and TV shows in order of release, and with new series constantly being released on Disney+, people have been drowning in content. In the first 12 years of the MCU, only 23 movies were released, compared to the whopping 18 Marvel projects that were released in the past three years alone. People are finding it hard to keep up, especially when some projects are becoming too formulaic. 

While overproduction is a big problem for Marvel, it’s not the only reason ratings and box office numbers have dropped. When the MCU began in 2008, all of the lead heroes in solo films were white men. This trend continued until 2018 when “Black Panther” was released, shortly followed by the first female-led Marvel film “Captain Marvel” in 2019, starting the trend of diversity in Marvel films. In 2021, “Black Widow” became the first MCU film to be directed solely by a woman, “Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings” became the first MCU film to star an Asian American hero, and “Eternals” had many “firsts” being the first MCU film to be directed by a female Asian director, feature a gay character, and feature a deaf character. 

While Marvel has received praise for increasing inclusivity, it has also made them subject to criticism. One of the most notable instances is the review-bombing “Captain Marvel” received before its debut. Although the movie was not released until March, Rotten Tomatoes had many negative reviews posted before January of users saying they weren’t interested in seeing the movie because of its “identity politics” and “progressive agenda”. Due to the overwhelming volume of reviews, Rotten Tomatoes changed its system so comments could only be made on the audience rating section after the movie had premiered. 

Since the end of the Infinity Saga, Marvel has faced some significant challenges. However, with “The Marvels” making the X-men cannon and launching the Young Avengers, it will be interesting to see if Marvel can find their footing and climb back up in the box office.

This piece was originally published in Zephyrus’ print edition on January 25, 2024.