Has the Marvel Cinematic Universe burnt out?
Photo courtesy of Solomon203/Wikimedia Commons
Marvel under the spotlight: controversies stirring debate among fans and critics. The Marvel Universe shines bright under the public eye.
The Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) is one of the most well-established film franchises of all time. Their movies were a cultural phenomenon at seemingly every release. However, in recent years, it seems that the MCU might have lost favor with many fans. Certainly not as much of a hot topic as it used to be, many are asking themselves if the MCU is even good anymore.
The MCU ended its first saga, the Infinity Saga, with the release of Spider-Man: Far From Home (2019), which came out just a few months after the better-known conclusion, Avengers: Endgame (2019). Since then, the Marvel Universe has been working on its second saga, known as “the Multiverse Saga.”
Kicking off after a slightly delayed start thanks to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Multiverse Saga opened in 2021 with the smash-hit miniseries, WandaVision (2021). It made a promising start, as WandaVision (2021) offered an incredibly unique and compelling story, coming after one of the longest content droughts in Marvel history. This was the first time Marvel began to put out shows to add to the greater timeline in addition to the movies, and fans seemed to be open to that, judging by the miniseries’s positive reception. It was soon followed by another miniseries, The Falcon and the Winter Soldier (2021), and the first season of Loki (2021-2023). Loki (2021-2023) was very well-received, while The Falcon and the Winter Soldier (2021) was not exactly a hit, due in large part to late rewrites and navigating the difficult task of replacing beloved character, Steve Rogers, as Captain America. For the most part, though, the stars aligned to make the start of the Multiverse Saga a good one.
As time went on and more content was released, movies and shows alike, the Multiverse Saga has received some very mixed reactions from fans. Some loyal fans still show up to every release, but others have put out some pretty valid complaints. Some say the Multiverse is too confusing, while others believe that there is simply too much content to possibly keep up with. Many have even begun to complain of “superhero fatigue,” their enthusiasm dulled after seeing endless Marvel trailers each time they go to the movie theater and wishing for some variety in their media. Though, has it really been as bad as everyone seems to think?
Well, yes and no. The thing about the Marvel Cinematic Universe is that it is made up of movies (and now, shows) which are interconnected through event overlap. Its interconnected nature seems to have been lost, and that is exactly what people are complaining about. Events in one project have absolutely no effect on another, which causes some projects to feel very unnecessary. Projects like Loki (2021-2023), Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings (2021), and Moon Knight (2022) feel like they exist in a universe entirely separate from Marvel with their lack of consequences.
Furthermore, the end credit scenes that the studio was once famous for have made promises that have gone unkept for years now, such as Mahershala Ali, the original Blade, appearing in an end credit scene for Eternals (2021) or Hercules being teased at the end of Thor: Love and Thunder (2022), neither of which have been followed up. Even the studio itself has admitted to struggling to connect its projects and trying to do too much. Producer Kevin Feige admitted that “quantity trumped quality” in an interview with Variety, and that they had tried to experiment and expand too much in a way that led to way too many projects. He has promised to cut back going forwards and adds that the shows are not going to be quite as consequential to the movies as they have been.
That being said, just because these movies have not been connected recently, does not mean that they are not quite enjoyable on their own. Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings (2021) is genuinely a very good film, and was quite well-received by critics and audiences alike, of which the same is true for Moon Knight (2022). Both of these projects were pretty well-written, and I have chosen to rewatch them and a couple of others multiple times. It is important to remember that whether something is “good” or not is subjective, and you may enjoy any number of these movies in spite of the shame they may have received—I, for one, am a huge fan of Eternals (2021), despite its large pool of negative reviews.
In more recent years, Marvel has definitely been trying to get what they had back. The most recent films have started to connect more clearly; for example, Captain America: Brave New World (2025) took plot elements from Falcon and the Winter Soldier (2021), Eternals (2021), and even The Incredible Hulk (2008). The much better-received Thunderbolts* (2025) felt like a classic MCU film, practically a new Avengers movie. It incorporated stories from Black Panther: Wakanda Forever (2022) and other films, making the MCU feel more cohesive than it has in a long time.
Maybe the MCU has not been at its finest, but it has not exactly been bad, either. Think about giving it another try—it is paying attention to audiences and has been trying to correct itself. It may just surprise you!