“Captain Marvel” was a fun departure from standard MCU films, taking place in the past and looping Samuel L. Jackson’s Nick Fury into the story. The film’s plot — not to mention its billion-dollar box office gross — demanded a sequel, but it didn’t arrive for years. In the meantime, Disney released “WandaVision” and “Ms. Marvel” on Disney+, and while “WandaVision” at least did well, both series also became a prerequisite for “The Marvels.”
You could watch “The Marvels” without knowing who the adult Monica Rambeau (Teyonah Parris) or Kamala Khan (Iman Vellani) are, but you’d be pretty lost. The film’s exposition almost demands that you already know those shows before watching the movie, which alienated some viewers. The film was also set after another failed Marvel series, “Secret Invasion,” which didn’t perform well for Disney+, causing more problems.
“The Marvels” is a fun yet unimportant superhero movie starring three protagonists only a handful of viewers know well enough to follow. Brie Larson’s Captain Marvel was fully established, but the other two weren’t. A near-total lack of promotion due to the SAG-AFTRA strike, scenes set on a planet where everyone sings, a B-grade villain, and superhero fatigue didn’t help this $219.8 million box office bomb that only made $206 million at the box office.
The Marvel Cinematic Universe may be the most profitable film franchise ever, but a number of Marvel films both in and out of the MCU have tanked pretty hard. Read More