Understood, but remember the handcuffs they wore at the beginning? They branched on their own after they got their foothold. The bank loan they had to take out at first, the insurance for RDJ to even get him, etc. When you have your studio able to do their own thing, that’s when the “look at all these shiny toys we can open now” is what I think happened.
I respect that feige tried to make the mcu more like the comics post endgame. No 'story' for the whole thing, just a couple a different overall plots. Unfortunately that approach doesn't work for film
Here’s one big issue that I have. Now that Sam Wilson is Captain America, he should be the main character in the franchise. I love that Sam is Captain America but he should have appeared in other projects but after The Falcon and the Winter Soldier, he hasn’t appeared in anything else not even for a cameo. His next appearance is Captain America: Brave New World and that’s coming 4 YEARS after his last appearance! Remember when Kevin Feige joked that the MCU was becoming the Wong cinematic universe because Wong was appearing everywhere? I loved that joke because I love Wong as a character; he’s fantastic and funny. But the fact that Wong has appeared more frequently than Captain America is mind boggling. They really underused Sam Wilson and Anthony Mackie. ☹️
That show was awesome. I plan to show it to my kids before I even show them the MCU. It's an excellent primer on Marvel characters and stories, and like you said, does some of those characters and stories better than the MCU did.
Not having an Avengers movie in Phase 4 was still a mistake. The Avengers are the main team of the MCU. Not having the faces of the franchise on lead made people leave.
They needed an Avengers movie with a small new line up to establish its core group again. Now we’re getting two Avengers movies that are going to be so overcrowded.
in no particular order; over saturation of too mant projects, too many new characters, not prioritizing a new avengers film/ new roster; hiring lesser writers, overuse of cgi
Well it’s very obvious that Chadwick Boseman was going to be the face of the MCU but he tragically passed. They were going to try with Majors but then fired him.
I say shove the characters into teams and pick 1-2 main guys for each team. And only they should get their solo movies / series from now on . Maybe a special presentation/one shots for some interesting characters .
For me: 1. Feiege and his team did not come up with a exciting story or plan during the last two avengers films that they could lead too later on after the big hitters left 2. Pandemic and change of CEO did a good amount of damage to the MCU's direction and experimental phase, due to the lack of a story plan from Feige in the last two avengers films 3. The Loss of Chadwick 4. Poor handling of message filled films and diversity, Hiring talent that has no experience in telling certain stories in a smart ways that would make good to great shows and movies, if they want to tell certain stories with a message spend the money to hire really good writers and story tellers that love the genre or respect the genre and that can weave certain messages into the storyline if not then leave it alone. 5. Poor handling of Kang storyline, as much as they want to hide behind Majors court issues lets not pretend that they wrote Kang a good storyline. they didn't he was not threating in any way
IMHO, the key word is focus. When you had, at most, 3 projects a year, you couldn't possibly wind up with a dozen separate dangling plotlines. You can't throw a dozen separate plotlines against the wall and expect to wind up with a solid, satisfying, and coherent saga. It's just too much to juggle. The old MCU even when they were trying new things, always had a clear focus and an obvious throughline, from movie to movie.
I feel this whole multiverse of madness was a good idea with a bunch of projects coming out in bunches but they didn't establish the core heroes and start to bring the multiverse together. That's somewhat of my thoughts on that..
Edit: (I posted this before finishing the video, so some of my thoughts are repeats of your own.) John, I'm in full agreement with you regarding a lack of focal heroes that tie the projects together, as well as establishing a clear direction of where the overarching story is heading. In Phase One, we got Iron Man. In the post credit scene, Nick Fury tells us he's forming the Avengers (our overarching plot has been established). Later that same year, we are introduced to Hulk. In the post credits, we get Tony recruiting Hulk. In just 2 back-to-back films, we've established what the phase is about; recruiting the Avengers. We've also established a focal character; Tony Stark. But, instead of moving on to the next core Avenger recruitment, Marvel instead goes back to Tony with a 2nd solo film, reinforcing him as their focal character, while at the same time, introducing us to the 3rd core Avenger (Natasha), as well as setting up the introduction of the 4th (Thor) for the next film in the post credits. We then get our 4th Mcu film that not only Sets up Thor, but also introduces us to our 5th core Avenger (Clint), AND introduces our 1st villain (Loki). Marvel wasn't releasing more than 2 films a year (sometimes skipping a year), and every single film was either tying directly into the previous one, reinforcing an already established core Avenger, or introducing the next core Avenger. In just 6 years, we got our entire core Avengers team setup, and our 1st Avengers film. But Marvel didn't just start introducing new characters after the 1st Avengers film, they still continued to focus primarily on the core Avengers with 3 solo films; 1 of which had 2 core Avengers. Also, each film introduced the 2nd wave of Avengers characters, or expanded on those already introduced. At the same time, they still expanded the universe with a Guardians film, followed by the 2nd Avengers film. All of this in the span of 3 years. In the first 3 phases, Marvel never went more than 3 years without an Avengers film to focus the overarching story of the MCU. Since Endgame, we've been waiting for 5 years (and counting) for our next Avengers film. I'm hoping that the rumor of Sam recruiting the next team of Avengers is true, because we really need a core team of characters to focus on. The "one and done" method of introducing heroes (and villains) doesn't give anyone a real chance to fall in love with these characters.
Agree most with Kang, thanos first time going against the avengers has thor subdued and goes hand to hand with Hulk and puts the fear of life into him. Kang loses to one of the weakest avengers in his first time actually fighting
Based on alot of what I heard there were some extenuating circumstances like the Pandemic or the strike that I think derailed so many things in regards to connective tissue. Black Panther was going to be one of the new heads but as we know he passed away. They were going to have originally have America Chavez be in No Way Home opening the portals that Tobey and Andrew walk through. This one isn't pandemic or strike related but Dr. Strange was supposed to be the one dropping those hints in WandaVision which would have provided a connective thread with Wanda during MultiVerse of Madness. Having to move shows and movies around out of the original order making things seem disconnected look at Nick Fury during Secret Invasion vs where he was at the end of The Marvels to just name a few.
The problem isn’t them putting out 8 or 9 projects in one year. It’s the content itself. Hawkeye wasn’t about Hawkeye it was about Kate bishop with Hawkeye sprinkled in. The marvels wasn’t Captain marvel it was Kamala khan and Photon with Carol Danvers sprinkled in. Doctor Strange was a continuation of Wanda Vision with Doctor Strange sprinkled in. Moon Knight and Shang Chi needs to be Sprinkled into other movies since they are established now. Phase 1 and 2 and 3 worked because they gave us all our heroes and added more heros within those movies. Daredevil needs to include spiderman, Iron fist, Luke cage. Hero’s need to be interacting at all times because that’s how it is in the comics
The original Avengers who everyone loved are all gone now, they played on nostalgia heavily in both Spider-Man: No Way Home and Deadpool and Wolverine. They're re-casting RDJ within the MCU itself with some people hoping for him to be a different version of Iron Man. Endgame, really was the endgame. They should stick to the basics. Spider-Man will always be popular as will the X-Men.
They mishandled Kang, because they diverted way too much from lore. They should've started with Nathaniel Richards/ iron lad. But no, they introduced him in Loki, I think that's great, but antman was bad... They did so bad with Kang storyline. And not just Kang... Don't forget, gorr the god butcher, Taskmaster, Marvels villain, eternals villain. Even Mandarin was handled bad... What else. Tfatws villain, secret invasion. I didn't even remember who the villain was in she hulk. Echo so bad... They mishandled Wanda in Dr strange 2.... And many more There's none a single project apart from moon knight and xmen 97 that felt a terrifying villain and higher stakes story. None
😎The pre-Phase V era focused on telling a cohesive story with *The Infinity Gauntlet saga,* which had a clear beginning, middle, and end. Its success demonstrated the financial potential of such storytelling. 🕵♂Post-Phase V, it seems the focus shifted towards expanding the MCU into a broader franchise generator. Kevin Feige, who initially had responsibilities primarily within the MCU, was forced (?) to take on more roles related to Marvel Comics as a whole. This shift likely aimed to capitalize on the success of *The Infinity Gauntlet saga* by creating more interconnected stories and expanding the universe even further. 🧠My proposed solutions for post-Phase V are to break down the storytelling into 3 distinct genres, which should help in addressing some of the challenges & diversifying the content. Here's a quick summary of my ideas: 1. *Marvels/Fantastic, High Sci-Fi* : - *Dr. Doom* (multiverse threat) - *Dark Avengers* (government/global threat) - Focus on Marvel Movies 2. *Supernatural, Horror* : - *Wanda -> Children's Crusade* - *Mephisto & vampires -> Midnight Sons* - Combination of Marvel TV and a *Midnight Sons* movie 3. *Urban Heroes, Pulp/Crime Noir* : - *Kingpin, mayor of NY* - *Spiderman & friends* (Young Avengers?) - *Daredevil & Defenders* - Focus on Marvel TV, except for Spiderman to somehow involve a Dark Avenger (Agent Venom?) in his movie 🤓These genres should provide a fresh perspective & cater to different audience preferences. It would also allow for more focused and cohesive storytelling within each genre. An example for Marvel Television: 🌙 *Moonknight Season 2* : Moonknight and the Moonknight Sons....... 😁.....I mean the Midnight Sons. Moonknight in NY setting up his Midnight Mission because NY is actually either Deacon's territory or Dracula's because vampires are literally draining humanity dry as Wall Street raiders, would be a great start for a Moonknight & Blade team-up. Throw in some other monsters-hunters like Elsa Bloodstone, Jack Russel and a witch like Jennifer Kale and the MoonKnight Sons.......I mean Midnight Sons practically writes itself: *THE MIDNIGHT SONS: WALLSTREET'S DARK SECRET* *Setting the Stage* : Moon Knight sets up his Midnight Mission in New York, a city secretly controlled by either Deacon or Dracula. Vampires are literally draining humanity dry as Wall Street raiders. This sets the stage for a team-up between Moon Knight and Blade. They are soon joined by other monster hunters like Elsa Bloodstone, Jack Russell, and the witch Jennifer Kale. The Midnight Mission building becomes the headquarters for the newly formed Midnight Sons. *The Conspiracy Unveiled* : The concept of Wall Street raiders being actual vampires adds a layer of social commentary to the story. The vampires manipulate the stock market, using their influence to control wealth and power, draining humanity both literally and financially. The Midnight Sons uncover a vast conspiracy where the vampires have been behind some of the biggest financial crashes and market manipulations in history. This leads to intense battles not just in the streets, but also in the boardrooms and trading floors of New York. *Elsa Bloodstone's Discovery* : Elsa Bloodstone uncovers a centuries-old vampire conspiracy, revealing how the vampires have been manipulating events and accumulating power over the centuries, leading up to their current control over Wall Street. Her investigation takes her to hidden libraries, ancient ruins, and secret vaults, adding an element of adventure and mystery to the storyline. This centuries-old conspiracy explains why the vampires are so powerful and difficult to defeat. The Midnight Sons must uncover and dismantle this intricate web of influence, facing challenges and traps set by the vampires throughout history. *Jack Russell's Insider Knowledge* : Jack Russell, with his werewolf abilities and connections to the supernatural world, has valuable insider knowledge about the vampires’ activities. He acts as a crucial informant for the Midnight Sons, providing them with vital information about the vampires’ operations and helping them stay one step ahead. His knowledge leads to key breakthroughs in their investigation, such as identifying vampire hideouts or uncovering their financial schemes. *Moon Knight's Infiltration* : Moon Knight uses his detective skills and multiple identities to infiltrate various circles and uncover the vampires’ human allies in powerful positions. These allies are influential figures in finance, politics, and law enforcement, who are either willingly or unknowingly aiding the vampires. Moon Knight, as Marc Spector, attends high-society events and uses his connections to gather information. As Steven Grant, he leverages his business acumen to investigate financial irregularities. And as Jake Lockley, he navigates the city’s underworld to find out who the vampires are working with. *Supernatural Alliances* : The vampires have ties to other supernatural beings, creating a vast and complex network of dark forces that the Midnight Sons must contend with. The vampires have alliances with powerful demons, ancient sorcerers, and other monster clans. These alliances provide the vampires with additional resources, magical artifacts, and formidable allies in their quest for power. The Midnight Sons discover that the vampires are working with a powerful demon to summon an army of undead, leading to epic battles against not just vampires, but also demonic entities and other supernatural creatures. The team would need to strategize and use their unique abilities to counter these diverse threats. Jennifer Kale, with her magical expertise, could be crucial in combating the sorcerers & demons. Moon Knight’s detective skills and multiple identities would help uncover hidden alliances and plots. Blade’s combat prowess and knowledge of vampire weaknesses would be essential in the physical confrontations. *The Final Battle* : The final battle takes place in Wall Street, blending the mystical and the modern. The iconic financial district transforms into a battleground where the Midnight Sons face off against the vampires and their supernatural allies. The skyscrapers and trading floors become arenas for intense combat, with magical barriers and traps hidden within the architecture. The vampires use their influence over the financial world to summon dark forces, while the Midnight Sons navigate the labyrinthine streets and buildings to stop them. The final showdown takes place at the New York Stock Exchange, where the vampires are performing a dark ritual to consolidate their power. The Midnight Sons fight through waves of supernatural enemies, using their unique abilities to counter the vampires’ magic and strength. *Conclusion* : The story highlights the theme of hidden darkness within the heart of the financial world, adding depth and resonance to the narrative. The Midnight Sons' victory not only saves humanity from the vampires' grasp but also exposes the corruption & manipulation that had been festering in Wall Street for centuries. The team emerges stronger and more united, ready to face whatever new threats the supernatural world might throw at them.
Loki moonknight wandavision and Agatha are my ones I’ve watched and enjoyed the others I did to some extent but those are the main ones that come to mind really hope moonknight gets a second season it needs one imo
A big one for me, and this is gonna sound weird to some because for them it seems like something that should by all means be a good thing, but I feel like the MCU, as well as a lot of comic book properties nowadays have become too nerdy, go back and rewatch the Infinity Saga era of the MCU, back then the movies felt relatively grounded, they still had magical sci fi stuff and whatnot but they had characters going through everyday relatable stuff at the same time and they wisely changed certain story elements to fit into a normal everyday world, whereas now you’re dealing with things like the TVA, the coven of witches, etc. and they just feel like the way they’re written is disregarding the non comic book fans more and more, and ironically by doing that it puts you in an even worse position, because now you’re adapting things in a way where fans will skin you alive for not accurately following the comics, when these movies are written to be more grounded like say X-Men: Days Of Future Past fans can be willing to accept differences with the source material in order to make a more cohesive movie, but when you try and go full geek like say The Illuminati in Multiverse Of Madness everyone is gonna watch you like a hawk and scream at you if you don’t do everything 100% correctly, again I don’t know if anyone else feels this way because for some the notion that these movies are going full geek mode is exactly what they want but for me it’s a problem because these comic book movies no longer feel like something that’s made for everyone, they feel like an exclusive club that only the die hard comic book readers can enjoy
Steve rogers appeared in his own movies , the avenger movies and had cameos / mentions in multiple other projects even after he got old and disappeared . If they wanted sam to be the face we wouldn’t even have to ask the question. Bucky has had more of a presence in the Mcu post Endgame
How? I'm honestly still confused why people think Bucky taking the mantle is any different. It's NOT Chris Evans and what exactly has Bucky been in post Endgame besides the Falcon and Winter Soldier TV series. Like explain the latter to me, how did you arrive at that statement logically? This is why people think it's a race thing even tho it's not. It's what you mentioned among other issues but sure... Bucky would be better **I admit the powers might help but it's a CBM... So??? The only argument u can make and I'm giving it to you.
@ I want Sam Wilson as Captain America , i dont think bucky would be better at all . I am saying Marvel doesnt really want to push Sam and thats a problem.
@@ChiefDHater I agree, they don't. But they haven't really pushed any characters which is the problem. They try to give everyone the spotlight with no base foundation like Chris Evans or RDJ. And that lack of focus and the last time we saw sam was in a TV show a few years ago, it's a leadership thing. Introduce more characters instead of getting people to care about the current ones
Marvel set the template for the superhero cinematic universe franchise but didn’t follow it. The MCU was built around Iron Man and the Avengers. They needed a new leader and Avengers movies as the through line to the saga.
I agree about too many projects but let’s not forget that some of those 18 projects were meant to come out in 2020 but the pandemic resulted in all of those projects being pushed to 2021-2022.
I believe I’ve skipped like 5 marvel MCU shows and just didn’t make it to see the marvels… I use to have an urgency and a feeling of high investment in whatever marvel was putting out. I use to keep up to date with all the theory vids & comic people informing us who was who and what could be happening etc… but that whole chapek era of just shitting out so much stuff and it all felt so random and like the momentum really dropped off… I don’t like that I haven’t watched them but I also feel like I’ve missed absolutely nothing too. Also I’m kinda annoyed that there’s very little hero’s or villains with actual powerful superpowers and it feels cluttered with regular highly skilled people or versions of super soldiers… hopefully that changes with the mutants stuff and the fantastic four which I’m extremely excited for
When you look at first 4 MCU movies they induced Black Window in Iron Man 2 and Hawkeye as cameo in Thor then those two characters never had a solo movie before the Avengers and they still had impact on MCU much as Iron Man and Thor and Hulk and Captain America did because they had chance to breathe and make Impact same with Black Panther and even MCU Spiderman they had their chance to make impress on the casual audience before their own movie and characters since Endgame didn't have that it "go out there quick as you can" they didn't have time to impress the casuals audience
I saw a video stating the "investors day" was something forced from the top so the investors knew they would still be making money from Disney during covid
Feels like they shouldn’t rush any Avengers movie until they establish all these new characters. I don’t think there is enough time to establish all these characters before Avengers Doomsday(2026)
They did not have an overarching theme after Infinity War. I heard they kind of happened upon that. Doom will give them a overarching theme now. What will weave the stories? Infinity stones weaved last time. Also some origin stories (Black Panther, GOTG).
7:20 I don’t quite agree with this assessment, of diluting the talent base, there are definitely way more than three ‘worthy’ directors. That said I totally agree with Kevin Feige being overstretched though, I don’t get the sense that he was available enough to coach the new talent on how to direct for Marvel. Also PARTLY disagree on introducing new characters, new faces are vital to keep the franchise alive and growing. The problem is they introduce characters that people get attached to, and then we don’t see them again for years and years. Shang Chi, Moon Knight, Werewolf by night, all received well, but no follow up at all. Focusing on the ‘core’ only is looking backwards, the problem is they don’t give their new characters the love and attention they gave to early characters. New characters are important, but if they’re not established then we don’t have the chance to really fall in love with them.
Just like when they did she hulk introduced her but not the way they should have where she should have started savage like her cousin in the beginning and then moved on to being sensational/lawyer style also where is Rick Jones hulk’s buddy who Bruce banner saved from the experiment with gamma radiation machine and skarr hulk’s son they made him appear in she hulk show at the end and have not done anything with him since we have red hulk coming soon and the return of Betty Ross and so forth but you know where I’m coming from cause you elaborated on this on your show
The first two projects she appeared sucked, so it will take some rehabilitation for that to work. They haven't done well with female heroes post phase 2 or 3 really.
Nobody asked for Iron Man though, he was C list before the MCU started. Marvel absolutely SHOULD continue to experiment, the quality has been the issue not the experimentation. Agatha was phenomenal, and their cheapest series to produce, there’s no way they don’t think of this as a success. It also had big social media engagement and brought in new viewers to the franchise. Echo, I’d agree with you, it was watchable, but served no purpose and no particular demographic. Ironheart, I’m not sure what to expect, but it’s a bit hasty to judge it a year before release.
I feel like Infinity Saga was one story you knew where it was going when you first saw Thanos and each movie was a chapter in that story. Multiverse saga feels like your reading one chapter in 12 different books where you don’t know what connects where with no larger story in sight.
Yeah, I don't think MCU needs a "leader" to resonate with the audience. I think the MCU in order to stay relevant needs to decentralize as opposed to thinking you have to billionaire or super solider or a demigod in order to be a hero. I also don't think MCU sticking to "one tone" is going to help, because the biggest complaints about Marvel for a very long time was the film all "felt the same", so I don't think it's good idea to go back the status quo when Marvel has been trying to move away from the "sameness" of their films.
Yeah, they became the meme that the DCEU fans always used to say they were back when they were actually more serious. Comedy only helps if it's actually funny. Putting cringe, unfunny humor in genre stuff kinda ruins it.
Kang was a wasted opportunity and MCU panicked because it didnt make 1billion and Ant-Man3 was a awesome movie and how about a sequel to Eternals that movie was incredible and DESERVES to get sequels and Kang is one of the most formidable supervillains in Marvel lore now as for RDJ being back as D00M is gonna be huuuuuuuge we are talking Oscar winning territory hell I will go even further to say that RDJ will become more famous as D00M than his years as Iron-Man another thing MCU should do is give us a another Hulk movie!! Stop this bullshit excuse of movie rights issue just make the fuckin’ movie!!! Us fans are sick and goddamned tired of waiting!! Also how about season 2 of Moon-Knight or better yet give him a movie of his own!!
Kang at least should've been a cameo here and there cameo maybe in Spiderman No Way Home as a shape and then cameo in Doctor Strange 2 ect like they did with Thanos cameo in Avengers
The first way they can fix Marvel is for Feige to resign and let some young leadership take over. Feige has stretched himself thin and the quality of the MCU has been piss poor.
@@johncampeaIt led to nothing that’s going to impact the MCU moving forward. It’s not part of the overall story. It did well because Reynolds respected the fans and gave them something that entertained them.
![Kodak Black - Catch Fire [Official Music Video]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/A4ch-olIuZo/mqdefault.jpg)
It should have been Black Panther and Spider-Man as the faces, but not recasting the King really hurt the plans
Understood, but remember the handcuffs they wore at the beginning? They branched on their own after they got their foothold. The bank loan they had to take out at first, the insurance for RDJ to even get him, etc. When you have your studio able to do their own thing, that’s when the “look at all these shiny toys we can open now” is what I think happened.
Marvel movies need to feel like an event again
Kang had so much potential 😢
.
Think about this: kang had 3 different appearances in projects. In all 3 projects, he died.
I respect that feige tried to make the mcu more like the comics post endgame. No 'story' for the whole thing, just a couple a different overall plots. Unfortunately that approach doesn't work for film
Here’s one big issue that I have. Now that Sam Wilson is Captain America, he should be the main character in the franchise. I love that Sam is Captain America but he should have appeared in other projects but after The Falcon and the Winter Soldier, he hasn’t appeared in anything else not even for a cameo. His next appearance is Captain America: Brave New World and that’s coming 4 YEARS after his last appearance!
Remember when Kevin Feige joked that the MCU was becoming the Wong cinematic universe because Wong was appearing everywhere? I loved that joke because I love Wong as a character; he’s fantastic and funny.
But the fact that Wong has appeared more frequently than Captain America is mind boggling. They really underused Sam Wilson and Anthony Mackie. ☹️
The Avengers: Earth’s Mightiest Heroes 🦸♂️ did Kang and Secret 🤫 Invasion better 🏆
1000 percent
Had to rewatch the Secret Invasion arc after the live action series.
That show was so good!
Big facts! That series was so freaking good!
That show was awesome. I plan to show it to my kids before I even show them the MCU. It's an excellent primer on Marvel characters and stories, and like you said, does some of those characters and stories better than the MCU did.
Black Panther was supposed to be the face of the MCU but real life happened 😢
Marvel just have way too much setups that will take years of waiting to see the outcome.
Exactly. Which is why I'm surprised they want to end the Multiverse Saga so quickly. It's going to be a sloppy finale
Not having an Avengers movie in Phase 4 was still a mistake. The Avengers are the main team of the MCU. Not having the faces of the franchise on lead made people leave.
They needed an Avengers movie with a small new line up to establish its core group again. Now we’re getting two Avengers movies that are going to be so overcrowded.
in no particular order; over saturation of too mant projects, too many new characters, not prioritizing a new avengers film/ new roster; hiring lesser writers, overuse of cgi
Marvel needs to hire better writers and directors.
It really is that simple
Well it’s very obvious that Chadwick Boseman was going to be the face of the MCU but he tragically passed. They were going to try with Majors but then fired him.
The face of the MCU is decided by the fans. They were trying to make Captain Marvel that but the fans rejected it
I never thought id hear John say "let em cook"
I say shove the characters into teams and pick 1-2 main guys for each team. And only they should get their solo movies / series from now on .
Maybe a special presentation/one shots for some interesting characters .
For me:
1. Feiege and his team did not come up with a exciting story or plan during the last two avengers films that they could lead too later on after the big hitters left
2. Pandemic and change of CEO did a good amount of damage to the MCU's direction and experimental phase, due to the lack of a story plan from Feige in the last two avengers films
3. The Loss of Chadwick
4. Poor handling of message filled films and diversity, Hiring talent that has no experience in telling certain stories in a smart ways that would make good to great shows and movies, if they want to tell certain stories with a message spend the money to hire really good writers and story tellers that love the genre or respect the genre and that can weave certain messages into the storyline if not then leave it alone.
5. Poor handling of Kang storyline, as much as they want to hide behind Majors court issues lets not pretend that they wrote Kang a good storyline. they didn't he was not threating in any way
IMHO, the key word is focus. When you had, at most, 3 projects a year, you couldn't possibly wind up with a dozen separate dangling plotlines. You can't throw a dozen separate plotlines against the wall and expect to wind up with a solid, satisfying, and coherent saga. It's just too much to juggle. The old MCU even when they were trying new things, always had a clear focus and an obvious throughline, from movie to movie.
💯💯💯
Great in-depth piece on the MCU. Would love more of these on other aspects of the film industry.
I feel this whole multiverse of madness was a good idea with a bunch of projects coming out in bunches but they didn't establish the core heroes and start to bring the multiverse together. That's somewhat of my thoughts on that..
She Hulk should have been either shorts before the movies or one of the post credit scenes
Edit: (I posted this before finishing the video, so some of my thoughts are repeats of your own.)
John, I'm in full agreement with you regarding a lack of focal heroes that tie the projects together, as well as establishing a clear direction of where the overarching story is heading.
In Phase One, we got Iron Man. In the post credit scene, Nick Fury tells us he's forming the Avengers (our overarching plot has been established). Later that same year, we are introduced to Hulk. In the post credits, we get Tony recruiting Hulk.
In just 2 back-to-back films, we've established what the phase is about; recruiting the Avengers. We've also established a focal character; Tony Stark.
But, instead of moving on to the next core Avenger recruitment, Marvel instead goes back to Tony with a 2nd solo film, reinforcing him as their focal character, while at the same time, introducing us to the 3rd core Avenger (Natasha), as well as setting up the introduction of the 4th (Thor) for the next film in the post credits.
We then get our 4th Mcu film that not only Sets up Thor, but also introduces us to our 5th core Avenger (Clint), AND introduces our 1st villain (Loki).
Marvel wasn't releasing more than 2 films a year (sometimes skipping a year), and every single film was either tying directly into the previous one, reinforcing an already established core Avenger, or introducing the next core Avenger. In just 6 years, we got our entire core Avengers team setup, and our 1st Avengers film.
But Marvel didn't just start introducing new characters after the 1st Avengers film, they still continued to focus primarily on the core Avengers with 3 solo films; 1 of which had 2 core Avengers. Also, each film introduced the 2nd wave of Avengers characters, or expanded on those already introduced. At the same time, they still expanded the universe with a Guardians film, followed by the 2nd Avengers film. All of this in the span of 3 years. In the first 3 phases, Marvel never went more than 3 years without an Avengers film to focus the overarching story of the MCU. Since Endgame, we've been waiting for 5 years (and counting) for our next Avengers film. I'm hoping that the rumor of Sam recruiting the next team of Avengers is true, because we really need a core team of characters to focus on. The "one and done" method of introducing heroes (and villains) doesn't give anyone a real chance to fall in love with these characters.
Agree most with Kang, thanos first time going against the avengers has thor subdued and goes hand to hand with Hulk and puts the fear of life into him. Kang loses to one of the weakest avengers in his first time actually fighting
I don't think they're going to recapture lightning in a bottle like they used to. I hope I'm wrong.
Based on alot of what I heard there were some extenuating circumstances like the Pandemic or the strike that I think derailed so many things in regards to connective tissue. Black Panther was going to be one of the new heads but as we know he passed away. They were going to have originally have America Chavez be in No Way Home opening the portals that Tobey and Andrew walk through. This one isn't pandemic or strike related but Dr. Strange was supposed to be the one dropping those hints in WandaVision which would have provided a connective thread with Wanda during MultiVerse of Madness. Having to move shows and movies around out of the original order making things seem disconnected look at Nick Fury during Secret Invasion vs where he was at the end of The Marvels to just name a few.
Every franchise hits a plateau eventually. The MCU hit theirs.
The problem isn’t them putting out 8 or 9 projects in one year. It’s the content itself. Hawkeye wasn’t about Hawkeye it was about Kate bishop with Hawkeye sprinkled in. The marvels wasn’t Captain marvel it was Kamala khan and Photon with Carol Danvers sprinkled in. Doctor Strange was a continuation of Wanda Vision with Doctor Strange sprinkled in. Moon Knight and Shang Chi needs to be Sprinkled into other movies since they are established now. Phase 1 and 2 and 3 worked because they gave us all our heroes and added more heros within those movies. Daredevil needs to include spiderman, Iron fist, Luke cage. Hero’s need to be interacting at all times because that’s how it is in the comics
Original Blade trilogy took 6 years to be made 98 to 2004 whereas we are still waiting for new Blade movie after the Eternals voice over of Blade. 😮
I guess Mr. Whitman *really* wasn't ready for the ebont blade after all 😂
The original Avengers who everyone loved are all gone now, they played on nostalgia heavily in both Spider-Man: No Way Home and Deadpool and Wolverine. They're re-casting RDJ within the MCU itself with some people hoping for him to be a different version of Iron Man. Endgame, really was the endgame. They should stick to the basics. Spider-Man will always be popular as will the X-Men.
They mishandled Kang, because they diverted way too much from lore. They should've started with Nathaniel Richards/ iron lad. But no, they introduced him in Loki, I think that's great, but antman was bad... They did so bad with Kang storyline.
And not just Kang... Don't forget, gorr the god butcher, Taskmaster, Marvels villain, eternals villain. Even Mandarin was handled bad... What else. Tfatws villain, secret invasion. I didn't even remember who the villain was in she hulk. Echo so bad... They mishandled Wanda in Dr strange 2.... And many more
There's none a single project apart from moon knight and xmen 97 that felt a terrifying villain and higher stakes story. None
Quantumania should have ended with kang seemingly killing Ant-Man to establish him as a threat.
Having both doom and kang be the threat of the multiverse saga is being slept on.
Having the already established characters appear in other projects brings that feeling of a lived in world .
😎The pre-Phase V era focused on telling a cohesive story with *The Infinity Gauntlet saga,* which had a clear beginning, middle, and end. Its success demonstrated the financial potential of such storytelling.
🕵♂Post-Phase V, it seems the focus shifted towards expanding the MCU into a broader franchise generator. Kevin Feige, who initially had responsibilities primarily within the MCU, was forced (?) to take on more roles related to Marvel Comics as a whole. This shift likely aimed to capitalize on the success of *The Infinity Gauntlet saga* by creating more interconnected stories and expanding the universe even further.
🧠My proposed solutions for post-Phase V are to break down the storytelling into 3 distinct genres, which should help in addressing some of the challenges & diversifying the content. Here's a quick summary of my ideas:
1. *Marvels/Fantastic, High Sci-Fi* :
- *Dr. Doom* (multiverse threat)
- *Dark Avengers* (government/global threat)
- Focus on Marvel Movies
2. *Supernatural, Horror* :
- *Wanda -> Children's Crusade*
- *Mephisto & vampires -> Midnight Sons*
- Combination of Marvel TV and a *Midnight Sons* movie
3. *Urban Heroes, Pulp/Crime Noir* :
- *Kingpin, mayor of NY*
- *Spiderman & friends* (Young Avengers?)
- *Daredevil & Defenders*
- Focus on Marvel TV, except for Spiderman to somehow involve a Dark Avenger (Agent Venom?) in his movie
🤓These genres should provide a fresh perspective & cater to different audience preferences. It would also allow for more focused and cohesive storytelling within each genre.
An example for Marvel Television:
🌙 *Moonknight Season 2* :
Moonknight and the Moonknight Sons.......
😁.....I mean the Midnight Sons.
Moonknight in NY setting up his Midnight Mission because NY is actually either Deacon's territory or Dracula's because vampires are literally draining humanity dry as Wall Street raiders, would be a great start for a Moonknight & Blade team-up. Throw in some other monsters-hunters like Elsa Bloodstone, Jack Russel and a witch like Jennifer Kale and the MoonKnight Sons.......I mean Midnight Sons practically writes itself:
*THE MIDNIGHT SONS: WALLSTREET'S DARK SECRET*
*Setting the Stage* :
Moon Knight sets up his Midnight Mission in New York, a city secretly controlled by either Deacon or Dracula. Vampires are literally draining humanity dry as Wall Street raiders. This sets the stage for a team-up between Moon Knight and Blade. They are soon joined by other monster hunters like Elsa Bloodstone, Jack Russell, and the witch Jennifer Kale. The Midnight Mission building becomes the headquarters for the newly formed Midnight Sons.
*The Conspiracy Unveiled* :
The concept of Wall Street raiders being actual vampires adds a layer of social commentary to the story. The vampires manipulate the stock market, using their influence to control wealth and power, draining humanity both literally and financially. The Midnight Sons uncover a vast conspiracy where the vampires have been behind some of the biggest financial crashes and market manipulations in history. This leads to intense battles not just in the streets, but also in the boardrooms and trading floors of New York.
*Elsa Bloodstone's Discovery* :
Elsa Bloodstone uncovers a centuries-old vampire conspiracy, revealing how the vampires have been manipulating events and accumulating power over the centuries, leading up to their current control over Wall Street. Her investigation takes her to hidden libraries, ancient ruins, and secret vaults, adding an element of adventure and mystery to the storyline. This centuries-old conspiracy explains why the vampires are so powerful and difficult to defeat. The Midnight Sons must uncover and dismantle this intricate web of influence, facing challenges and traps set by the vampires throughout history.
*Jack Russell's Insider Knowledge* :
Jack Russell, with his werewolf abilities and connections to the supernatural world, has valuable insider knowledge about the vampires’ activities. He acts as a crucial informant for the Midnight Sons, providing them with vital information about the vampires’ operations and helping them stay one step ahead. His knowledge leads to key breakthroughs in their investigation, such as identifying vampire hideouts or uncovering their financial schemes.
*Moon Knight's Infiltration* :
Moon Knight uses his detective skills and multiple identities to infiltrate various circles and uncover the vampires’ human allies in powerful positions. These allies are influential figures in finance, politics, and law enforcement, who are either willingly or unknowingly aiding the vampires. Moon Knight, as Marc Spector, attends high-society events and uses his connections to gather information. As Steven Grant, he leverages his business acumen to investigate financial irregularities. And as Jake Lockley, he navigates the city’s underworld to find out who the vampires are working with.
*Supernatural Alliances* :
The vampires have ties to other supernatural beings, creating a vast and complex network of dark forces that the Midnight Sons must contend with. The vampires have alliances with powerful demons, ancient sorcerers, and other monster clans. These alliances provide the vampires with additional resources, magical artifacts, and formidable allies in their quest for power. The Midnight Sons discover that the vampires are working with a powerful demon to summon an army of undead, leading to epic battles against not just vampires, but also demonic entities and other supernatural creatures.
The team would need to strategize and use their unique abilities to counter these diverse threats. Jennifer Kale, with her magical expertise, could be crucial in combating the sorcerers & demons. Moon Knight’s detective skills and multiple identities would help uncover hidden alliances and plots. Blade’s combat prowess and knowledge of vampire weaknesses would be essential in the physical confrontations.
*The Final Battle* :
The final battle takes place in Wall Street, blending the mystical and the modern. The iconic financial district transforms into a battleground where the Midnight Sons face off against the vampires and their supernatural allies. The skyscrapers and trading floors become arenas for intense combat, with magical barriers and traps hidden within the architecture. The vampires use their influence over the financial world to summon dark forces, while the Midnight Sons navigate the labyrinthine streets and buildings to stop them. The final showdown takes place at the New York Stock Exchange, where the vampires are performing a dark ritual to consolidate their power. The Midnight Sons fight through waves of supernatural enemies, using their unique abilities to counter the vampires’ magic and strength.
*Conclusion* :
The story highlights the theme of hidden darkness within the heart of the financial world, adding depth and resonance to the narrative. The Midnight Sons' victory not only saves humanity from the vampires' grasp but also exposes the corruption & manipulation that had been festering in Wall Street for centuries. The team emerges stronger and more united, ready to face whatever new threats the supernatural world might throw at them.
Loki moonknight wandavision and Agatha are my ones I’ve watched and enjoyed the others I did to some extent but those are the main ones that come to mind really hope moonknight gets a second season it needs one imo
A big one for me, and this is gonna sound weird to some because for them it seems like something that should by all means be a good thing, but I feel like the MCU, as well as a lot of comic book properties nowadays have become too nerdy, go back and rewatch the Infinity Saga era of the MCU, back then the movies felt relatively grounded, they still had magical sci fi stuff and whatnot but they had characters going through everyday relatable stuff at the same time and they wisely changed certain story elements to fit into a normal everyday world, whereas now you’re dealing with things like the TVA, the coven of witches, etc. and they just feel like the way they’re written is disregarding the non comic book fans more and more, and ironically by doing that it puts you in an even worse position, because now you’re adapting things in a way where fans will skin you alive for not accurately following the comics, when these movies are written to be more grounded like say X-Men: Days Of Future Past fans can be willing to accept differences with the source material in order to make a more cohesive movie, but when you try and go full geek like say The Illuminati in Multiverse Of Madness everyone is gonna watch you like a hawk and scream at you if you don’t do everything 100% correctly, again I don’t know if anyone else feels this way because for some the notion that these movies are going full geek mode is exactly what they want but for me it’s a problem because these comic book movies no longer feel like something that’s made for everyone, they feel like an exclusive club that only the die hard comic book readers can enjoy
Interesting take. As a comic fan myself, ive moved on from the MCU, like many other comic fans.
Guess they screwed themselfes from both sides
Multiverse saga is a story that should have started with earth colliding aka incursion
The bob chapek disaster explains 90% of the problem. That guy sucked
Steve rogers appeared in his own movies , the avenger movies and had cameos / mentions in multiple other projects even after he got old and disappeared . If they wanted sam to be the face we wouldn’t even have to ask the question. Bucky has had more of a presence in the Mcu post Endgame
How? I'm honestly still confused why people think Bucky taking the mantle is any different.
It's NOT Chris Evans and what exactly has Bucky been in post Endgame besides the Falcon and Winter Soldier TV series. Like explain the latter to me, how did you arrive at that statement logically?
This is why people think it's a race thing even tho it's not. It's what you mentioned among other issues but sure... Bucky would be better
**I admit the powers might help but it's a CBM... So??? The only argument u can make and I'm giving it to you.
@ I want Sam Wilson as Captain America , i dont think bucky would be better at all . I am saying Marvel doesnt really want to push Sam and thats a problem.
@@ChiefDHater I agree, they don't. But they haven't really pushed any characters which is the problem.
They try to give everyone the spotlight with no base foundation like Chris Evans or RDJ. And that lack of focus and the last time we saw sam was in a TV show a few years ago, it's a leadership thing.
Introduce more characters instead of getting people to care about the current ones
Disney needs to focus on quality over quantity…. Bleeding marvel and SW content 🤷🏼♂️
13:42 You mean Shang-3! 😂
Marvel set the template for the superhero cinematic universe franchise but didn’t follow it. The MCU was built around Iron Man and the Avengers. They needed a new leader and Avengers movies as the through line to the saga.
Its*
Jonathan, do your job.
I agree about too many projects but let’s not forget that some of those 18 projects were meant to come out in 2020 but the pandemic resulted in all of those projects being pushed to 2021-2022.
Ant Man 4 should have ended with Kang making his way out of exile and Ant Man's life and fate left in limbo
I believe I’ve skipped like 5 marvel MCU shows and just didn’t make it to see the marvels… I use to have an urgency and a feeling of high investment in whatever marvel was putting out. I use to keep up to date with all the theory vids & comic people informing us who was who and what could be happening etc… but that whole chapek era of just shitting out so much stuff and it all felt so random and like the momentum really dropped off… I don’t like that I haven’t watched them but I also feel like I’ve missed absolutely nothing too. Also I’m kinda annoyed that there’s very little hero’s or villains with actual powerful superpowers and it feels cluttered with regular highly skilled people or versions of super soldiers… hopefully that changes with the mutants stuff and the fantastic four which I’m extremely excited for
When you look at first 4 MCU movies they induced Black Window in Iron Man 2 and Hawkeye as cameo in Thor then those two characters never had a solo movie before the Avengers and they still had impact on MCU much as Iron Man and Thor and Hulk and Captain America did because they had chance to breathe and make Impact same with Black Panther and even MCU Spiderman they had their chance to make impress on the casual audience before their own movie and characters since Endgame didn't have that it "go out there quick as you can" they didn't have time to impress the casuals audience
8:52 there was an idea…
I saw a video stating the "investors day" was something forced from the top so the investors knew they would still be making money from Disney during covid
Obviously
Feels like they shouldn’t rush any Avengers movie until they establish all these new characters. I don’t think there is enough time to establish all these characters before Avengers Doomsday(2026)
They did not have an overarching theme after Infinity War. I heard they kind of happened upon that. Doom will give them a overarching theme now. What will weave the stories? Infinity stones weaved last time. Also some origin stories (Black Panther, GOTG).
blade balls, hilarious
7:20 I don’t quite agree with this assessment, of diluting the talent base, there are definitely way more than three ‘worthy’ directors. That said I totally agree with Kevin Feige being overstretched though, I don’t get the sense that he was available enough to coach the new talent on how to direct for Marvel.
Also PARTLY disagree on introducing new characters, new faces are vital to keep the franchise alive and growing. The problem is they introduce characters that people get attached to, and then we don’t see them again for years and years. Shang Chi, Moon Knight, Werewolf by night, all received well, but no follow up at all. Focusing on the ‘core’ only is looking backwards, the problem is they don’t give their new characters the love and attention they gave to early characters. New characters are important, but if they’re not established then we don’t have the chance to really fall in love with them.
Not killing off Ant man and wasp in Quantumania was the biggest mistake in phase 4, and I’ll die on that hill!
Just like when they did she hulk introduced her but not the way they should have where she should have started savage like her cousin in the beginning and then moved on to being sensational/lawyer style also where is Rick Jones hulk’s buddy who Bruce banner saved from the experiment with gamma radiation machine and skarr hulk’s son they made him appear in she hulk show at the end and have not done anything with him since we have red hulk coming soon and the return of Betty Ross and so forth but you know where I’m coming from cause you elaborated on this on your show
So are they only supposed introduce 4 xmen for 8 movies first?
Ironically, with far more projects they ended up with far less story.
I think Yelena is definitely being positioned as a face with the MCU especially with Florence Pugh’s star power rising
WHAT? Lol that would be a joke
That makes no sense.
The first two projects she appeared sucked, so it will take some rehabilitation for that to work. They haven't done well with female heroes post phase 2 or 3 really.
@@mithunnair8475 yes it does
She is a worse natasha at the time imo
Reed Richard will be the face of the MCU moving forward
Pedro?
If you want to simplify it, shut down Disney Plus and go back to what it used to be.
Who even *asked* for half of these projects? Echo, Ironheart, Agatha?
Nobody asked for Iron Man though, he was C list before the MCU started. Marvel absolutely SHOULD continue to experiment, the quality has been the issue not the experimentation. Agatha was phenomenal, and their cheapest series to produce, there’s no way they don’t think of this as a success. It also had big social media engagement and brought in new viewers to the franchise. Echo, I’d agree with you, it was watchable, but served no purpose and no particular demographic. Ironheart, I’m not sure what to expect, but it’s a bit hasty to judge it a year before release.
Don’t forget about the Eternals 😂
Now this same philosophy but for Superman next year
I feel like Infinity Saga was one story you knew where it was going when you first saw Thanos and each movie was a chapter in that story.
Multiverse saga feels like your reading one chapter in 12 different books where you don’t know what connects where with no larger story in sight.
Welcome to modern comic books... unfortunately
Yeah, I don't think MCU needs a "leader" to resonate with the audience. I think the MCU in order to stay relevant needs to decentralize as opposed to thinking you have to billionaire or super solider or a demigod in order to be a hero. I also don't think MCU sticking to "one tone" is going to help, because the biggest complaints about Marvel for a very long time was the film all "felt the same", so I don't think it's good idea to go back the status quo when Marvel has been trying to move away from the "sameness" of their films.
We’ve had this topic like 10 times this year alone. There’s gotta be better movie news and topics to cover
I dont give the slightest shit about the new Avengers team. Tom holland is the only one worth keeping
Marvel literally adopting the mentality that nearly broke em in the 90s 🙄 Way to go Marvel😂 More is not necessarily best
The MCU’s shitty cringe “its right behind me isn’t it” style humor is a huge factor too
Yeah, they became the meme that the DCEU fans always used to say they were back when they were actually more serious. Comedy only helps if it's actually funny. Putting cringe, unfunny humor in genre stuff kinda ruins it.
They Starting Slow
Kang is cool , nice job MCU smh
.
Kang was a wasted opportunity and MCU panicked because it didnt make 1billion and Ant-Man3 was a awesome movie and how about a sequel to Eternals that movie was incredible and DESERVES to get sequels and Kang is one of the most formidable supervillains in Marvel lore now as for RDJ being back as D00M is gonna be huuuuuuuge we are talking Oscar winning territory hell I will go even further to say that RDJ will become more famous as D00M than his years as Iron-Man another thing MCU should do is give us a another Hulk movie!! Stop this bullshit excuse of movie rights issue just make the fuckin’ movie!!! Us fans are sick and goddamned tired of waiting!! Also how about season 2 of Moon-Knight or better yet give him a movie of his own!!
Kang at least should've been a cameo here and there cameo maybe in Spiderman No Way Home as a shape and then cameo in Doctor Strange 2 ect like they did with Thanos cameo in Avengers
The first way they can fix Marvel is for Feige to resign and let some young leadership take over. Feige has stretched himself thin and the quality of the MCU has been piss poor.
At this point without Disney series , Marvel will be irrelevant
Just a reminder.... the last Marvel movie made $1.33 BILLION dollars.
@@johncampeaIt led to nothing that’s going to impact the MCU moving forward. It’s not part of the overall story. It did well because Reynolds respected the fans and gave them something that entertained them.