10 Things Marvel Should Learn From The MCU’s IMDB Ratings

Marvel Studios can learn several crucial lessons from the IMDB ratings from previous projects in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. In the fifteen years since 2008’s Iron Man, Marvel Studios has created the most expansive and successful superhero franchise, comprising over forty projects across film, TV, animation, and a variety of other media. While some of the MCU’s projects have been hailed as some of the strongest superhero films of all time, particularly the Avengers: Infinity War and Avengers: Endgame double-whammy, others haven’t performed as well, but Marvel Studios can learn some valuable lessons from every one of their projects, even those that didn’t fare as well with audiences.

Compiling all the MCU’s projects into one easily digestible list, Reddit user verissimoallan revealed the IMDB ratings for all 44 films and TV series. These range from She-Hulk: Attorney at Law’s 5.3 rating to Avengers: Infinity War and Endgame’s massive 8.4. These ratings bring into focus the audience’s perspectives on several MCU projects, which could help to inform Marvel Studios about what exactly audiences like or dislike, and which storylines and characters perhaps need more focus in the franchise’s future. With several superhero franchises coming under more scrutiny in recent years, the MCU’s IMDB ratings can teach Marvel Studios’ upcoming movies some important lessons.

10 MCU Audiences Love Crossover Projects

The top of the MCU’s IMDB list is full of Avengers projects, with Infinity War and Endgame taking the top spots, though 2012’s The Avengers and 2016’s Captain America: Civil War aren’t far behind. The lowest-rated crossover film is 2015’s Avengers: Age of Ultron, racking up a total of 7.3, which is still impressive. While there are several solo projects also high on the list, the fact that so many Avengers films are also at the top suggests that the MCU’s audiences love a good crossover event. With these stories being sparse in the MCU’s Multiverse Saga, perhaps Marvel Studios should be putting more emphasis on bringing their heroes together.

Related: Avengers: The Kang Dynasty – New Avengers Cast, Story Details & Everything We Know

9 Overt Comedy Doesn’t Always Work For The MCU

Marvel Studios has always prided itself on its combination of drama, action, and comedy, helping them to deliver the most grounded and realistic projects possible while also creating entertaining storylines. However, this is something of a double-edged sword, as too much reliance on comedy can damage a film’s performance and reputation. Most notably, 2022’s Thor: Love and Thunder suffered because of its use of exaggerated comedy, while 2017’s Thor: Ragnarok acted like a breath of fresh air. If Marvel Studios puts more emphasis on character-driven stories, rather than forcing unneeded jokes into their films, it’s likely future projects will perform better.

8 The Guardians Of The Galaxy Need To Continue In The MCU’s Future

James Gunn’s Guardians of the Galaxy franchise has been proven to be one of the MCU’s most successful film series, with the 2014 and 2023 installments hitting 8.0 on the ratings list, and 2017’s Vol. 2 not far behind at 7.6. Even though Vol. 3 established a new line-up for the Guardians team, their future hasn’t yet been confirmed. However, the fact that previous Guardians of the Galaxy films have performed so well means that Marvel Studios would be stupid not to develop their story further – even without James Gunn. Chris Pratt has been confirmed to be returning, but the rest of the team should certainly follow suit.

7 Older MCU Heroes Need More Development

It’s not entirely surprising that a lot of the MCU’s newer heroes’ projects are towards the bottom of the ratings list, with several older projects rising to the top. This perhaps suggests that audiences are still holding the franchise’s older heroes up as the strongest characters in the MCU, meaning Marvel Studios should probably put more attention on their more established characters. This includes Loki, the Scarlet Witch, Hawkeye, Doctor Strange, and Spider-Man, and each of these heroes has barely scratched the surface of their storylines in the Marvel Comics source material, so their futures in the live-action MCU should be bright and lengthy.

6 Marvel Studios Needs To Be Wary Of “Superhero Fatigue”

In the wake of 2019’s Avengers: Endgame, Marvel Studios expanded onto Disney+, and while this expansion of the MCU was great in many respects, it led to a massive increase in content being produced. 2021 and 2022 were two of the MCU’s most jam-packed years, and this has contributed to a rise in “superhero fatigue” that has been expressed by many regular fans. This is evident in the IMDB rating list, as many of the projects at the bottom were released as part of the MCU’s Phases 4 and 5. Marvel Studios has recently delayed several MCU projects in Phase 5, perhaps helping to negate this issue.

5 MCU’s Disney+ Series’ Need To Be Better Quality

The fact that so many new stories are being produced for Disney+ also means that visual effects staff and writers at Marvel Studios have been stretched thin. This has meant that several recent projects have been lacking the quality that made a lot of prior MCU projects so believable, and this has translated into the MCU’s IMDB ratings. Marvel Studios’ Disney+ series are dotted sporadically over the list, though several are towards the bottom, including Ms. Marvel, She-Hulk: Attorney at Law, and Secret Invasion. This proves that Marvel Studios needs to pay more attention to the quality of every specific project, rather than pushing out as much content as possible.

The highest-rated project that focuses on a new hero introduced in the MCU’s Phase 4 is Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings, clocking in at 16th on the list with a rating of 7.4. While this certainly isn’t disappointing, Marvel Studios needs to be delivering stronger introductions for their newer heroes so that they can match the success of the more established characters higher up the list. The MCU’s future is going to be left in the hands of these new characters, so the fact that these fresh stories aren’t performing as well as hoped could spell bad news for upcoming projects in Phases 5, 6, and beyond.

3 The Hulk Must Get More Attention In The MCU’s Future

Despite being one of the MCU’s original superheroes, Bruce Banner’s only solo project, 2008’s The Incredible Hulk, sits towards the bottom of the list, with a rating of only 6.6. Marvel Studios has been incapable of creating further solo Hulk-focused films as the film rights lie with Universal Pictures, but there has been recent speculation that the Hulk’s rights could revert to Marvel, which means the Hulk needs to get better treatment in the MCU’s future. The Hulk is arguably one of the MCU’s most-wasted heroes, and his related characters, including cousin She-Hulk, have also not performed as well as hoped, so Marvel Studios must change this in the future.

Aside from films in The Avengers and Guardians of the Galaxy franchises, Loki and Spider-Man’s stories are some of the highest-rated projects in the MCU, perhaps suggesting these two characters could be key to the franchise’s future success. Loki, the God of Mischief’s solo series, is third on the list with a rating of 8.2, which matches the blockbuster multiverse adventure Spider-Man: No Way Home. Spider-Man 4 has already been confirmed to be in development, and Loki season 2 is releasing on October 6, 2023, and this should just be the beginning of Marvel Studios’ focus on these promising, fan-favorite heroes.

1 Marvel Studios’ IMDB Ratings Need To Be Taken With A Pinch Of Salt

While the IMDB ratings list shared on Reddit gives a rough insight into how audiences perceive each Marvel Studios project, these ratings shouldn’t also be followed like gospel. Several MCU series’ on Disney+ have been review-bombed by disgruntled “fans,” especially Moon Knight, Ms. Marvel, and She-Hulk: Attorney at Law. This has been for a variety of reasons, with some suggesting this may be attributed to the more overt messages of superhero equality displayed in these shows, but this doesn’t accurately represent the actual performance and quality of the stories. While Marvel Studios can learn a lot from this list, this shouldn’t solely determine the future of the Marvel Cinematic Universe.

Key Release Dates

 Marvel Studios can learn lessons from MCU’s past.  Read More