The Marvel Cinematic Universe is the most bankable franchise in Hollywood history. It has billions of dollars to its name and has produced over 30 blockbuster sensations, most of which featured star-studded A-list casts. However, the days of the billion-grossing Avengers: Endgame seem so far off now, as the MCU hasn't quite been the same formidable titan since the conclusion of the Infinity Saga.
It all has to do with the end of that storyline, the loss of multiple stars at the same time, the expansion of the MCU via the Disney Plus streaming service and just an overall lack of direction in its newest chapter. The Multiverse Saga is enticing and it is taking its cues from some of Marvel Comics' most thrilling storylines, but it's been a bit harder to follow for the mainstream non-comic book fans, who have struggled to keep up with all of the titles.
Then there is the whole idea of superhero fatigue and whether or not it's actually a real thing. It may well be from the general public looking at the numbers of the majority of recent superhero movies, but it could also just be down to the fact that recent Marvel and DC installments have been pretty lackluster.
But the MCU isn't beyond saving. It's still the most popular franchise in the world and there are plenty of exciting things on the horizon. With that in mind, let's take a look at some of the things that the-powers-that-be need to do to get things back on track.
10. Less is more
Look, nobody loves the MCU more than I do, but even I can admit that Phases Four and Five have been a bit overwhelming. That's not to say that I haven't been keeping up with them - believe me, I have - but I can see how, to the general viewer, it would seem like a bit of a mammoth task.
The introduction of the Disney Plus series have certainly contributed to this. In the beginning, that was a great thing. In 2021, when the world needed escapism during the pandemic, Marvel Studios released WandaVision, The Falcon and the Winter Soldier, Black Widow, Loki, Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings, What If...?, and Eternals all within weeks of each other. Yes, that also took up the whole year. It was wonderful, but at the same time, understandable; because there was a backlog of content due to the production shutdowns/release delays and Marvel needed to get out in front of it.
It ultimately worked, as the vast majority of those titles were well-received and all of them were successful for their respective mediums. But it was still a lot in one calendar year, and as very few of them were actually interconnected, it made Phase Four seem very, for lack of a better term, directionless.
Due to the response of some of the more recent titles in the MCU, Marvel Studios has reportedly developed a "less is more" approach, spreading out the titles that are already confirmed, while possibly being more selective about what gets greenlit. It's a wise strategy because, as the negative response to Secret Invasion and the underperformance of The Marvels show, not every title is a guaranteed success just because it's a part of the MCU.
There are a lot of MCU titles on the horizon, and that's not going to change, but it's a wise choice on the studio's part to slow things down, because contrary to popular belief, you can have too much of a good thing.
9. Make the Multiverse Saga feel less directionless
We couldn't have been more excited about the Multiverse Saga when it kicked off with WandaVision. Of course we didn't know at the time that it was actually going to be the Multiverse Saga, but it didn't take long until we saw the threads of the story they were telling. And it looked like those threads would involve characters like Shang-Chi, Wanda Maximoff, the Eternals, and Loki at the forefront.
Fast forward just three years and that multiversal direction seems, well, gone; dusted faster than Thanos when Iron Man snapped his fingers. WandaVision set up the Scarlet Witch to be one of the MCU's biggest heroes or villains, but her return in Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness saw her go full villain, ignoring her development on the Disney Plus show and seemingly killing her off. Shang-Chi rose up as one Phase Four's bright new heroes and even though we know he'll be back in a sequel, there has been little clarity about when that will take place (or even when the character will return). Loki's redemption arc has been beautiful but even the season 2 finale of the Disney Plus series felt like it has taken him off the board for a while, and who knows what's happening with the Eternals after the mixed response to their first movie.
The Multiverse Saga is large and expansive as it is, but introducing characters to drop them halfway through (or totally ignore them for the foreseeable) makes it all seem a bit worthless. Remember this is the same franchise that produced two Iron Man movies before the first Avengers movie (and already had Thor and Captain America sequels lined up immediately after it, as well as Iorn Man 3). Of course there probably is a larger plan in place, but the lack of clarity surrounding certain characters' returns, upcoming sequels, and what so many of these titles have to do with the wider storyline is making the whole Multiverse Saga come off as directionless.
We don't need to know the whole story because the mystery makes it exciting, but audiences like to know a little about the direction they are going in. Right now, it feels like the MCU has less of a direction than when Phase Four began.
There was another important hero that suddenly feels like he's been forgotten about too...
8. Make Spider-Man 4 a priority
Spider-Man looked like he was set to play a huge role in the immediate aftermath of the Infinity Saga. Spider-Man: Far From Home came directly after Avengers: Endgame while sequel No Way Home was one Phase Four's biggest titles. It seemed as if Peter Parker was set to become the MCU's next "Iron Man", its next leader, both from a storytelling perspective and a marketing standpoint.
It made sense, too. The MCU had lost some of its biggest heroes after Endgame, so who better to lead the franchise going forward than Marvel's biggest superhero ever. Peter had played a bit of an underdog role since his debut in 2016's Captain America: Civil War, so now was his time to take the spotlight.
No Way Home felt like the moment where they could really go full steam ahead with that, and in a way, they did. However, the uncertainty surrounding Spidey's future with MJ and Ned, the Avengers, and the MCU has left all of that up in the air. The good news is that the character will reportedly return for another trilogy of movies, and it appears that these could be more directly Spider-Man-focused (instead of MCU Spider-Man focused). This could attract wider audiences looking for more of a standalone tale.
Taking that into account (and the fact that the most recent Spider-Man movie is the only MCU outing to cross $1 billion since Phase Four began), it's imperative that Marvel Studios and Sony work together to bring Spider-Man 4 to movie theaters as soon as possible. We know it's likely to happen, but at a time when the MCU is struggling, a familiar face like Spider-Man could be exactly what it needs to steer it back on course.
7. Officially greenlight Moon Knight season 2
Prior to the release of his own series, Moon Knight was one of the most famous Marvel Comics characters yet to appear in the MCU. He wasn't as well-known to mainstream audiences, but Marvel fans loved him and they wanted him to make his live-action debut. That finally happened in 2022 with the release of Disney Plus' Moon Knight.
The show was a huge success, kicking off the second phase of the Marvel Studios Disney Plus shows. Fans responded to the show well, especially Oscar Isaac's nuanced performance, and it generated a lot of buzz in the weeks before, during, and after its release. It also told its own contained story, glossing over its place in the Marvel Cinematic Universe and focusing directly on its own mythology, opening the MCU up to a new world of Egyptian gods. It was essentially a Marvel Spotlight show before they coined the banner for Echo.
It's been almost two years since the show premiere and there still haven't been any updates on a second season. The show was so isolated from the rest of the MCU - even more so than Echo - that it's hard to believe we'll see Moon Knight show up in any other titles just yet. Let's not forget that the series technically ended on a cliffhanger.
Again with the whole notion of directionless, it just doesn't make sense that Marvel has yet to reveal what's next for the character when there was such an overwhelmingly positive response to the show and Oscar Isaac's portrayal. A second season has been rumored for almost the whole two years since the show's conclusion, so it would certainly help if there was an announcement made about its future (and the same goes for Ms. Marvel and She-Hulk: Attorney At Law, which are both also rumored to have second seasons in the works).
Marc Spector, Steven Grant, Khonshu, and Jake Lockley proved to be a chaotically popular combination; it would make sense to bring them back and give the fans what they want.
6. Be more sensible when it comes to budgets
While there has been a decline in box office performances of recent Marvel movies, those movies are still among the highest-grossing of the year. Sure, the numbers aren't as high as they once were, but to say there is no longer a demand for these types of movies when they're producing box office totals of anywhere between $500 million and $200 million would be uninformed. Heck, when they get it right, like they did with Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 for example, it can still result in jaw-dropping successes like $800 million.
So yes, there is still a clear demand for Marvel projects, meaning that there is still plenty of life left in the MCU. Now it's all about how to make that life successful, and one easy way of doing that would be to lower the budgets.
Looking at the underperformance of The Marvels, there are some things that can be learned here. The movie, like most MCU projects, had a huge budget somewhere between $200 and $300 million. That's an awful lot to spend on a movie that didn't offer as much to the overall MCU story. Now don't get me wrong, The Marvels was a delight, but it wasn't exactly renowned for its incredible special effects - which is likely where most of the budget went.
Similarly, Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania was seen as an underperformer simply because of its huge budget. The two previous Ant-Man movies cost less to make and, because they didn't rely so much on special effects, they were more enjoyable all around. Granted, they made more money than the third, but even then, Quantumania's earnings would have been less of a disappointment if its budget wasn't so high.
If Marvel Studios goes back to the drawing board and finds unique ways of lowering budgets, particularly for experimental projects like The Marvels (which focused on two newer MCU heroes), then they stand a better chance of being success stories when their box office runs come to an end. And on that note, Disney Plus' Secret Invasion did not need a $200 million budget either.
5. Finally make that Incredible Hulk movie
One of the MCU's biggest missed opportunities is, without question, not making an Incredible Hulk movie led by Mark Ruffalo. If it had been made in the shared universe's prime, that movie would have been a huge success.
The Hulk was one of Marvel's most famous superheroes long before the MCU and yet it doesn't feel like he's had that defining MCU moment. He's also one of the only remaining original Avengers, but fans have not responded positively to him in recent years due to the Professor Hulk iteration of him, and the fact that recent titles have leaned on him for comic relief. There is a disconnect here, and that shouldn't be the case when we're talking about a hero of this caliber.
If Marvel Studios can separate the Hulk and Bruce Banner personas once more and restore the character to his former glory, then there is real opportunity to finally give us that Hulk movie we've been waiting for, especially as the character's most recent appearance in She-Hulk: Attorney At Law certainly suggests he'll get more focus in the near-future.
Of course, we've already had a Hulk movie in the MCU. 2008's The Incredible Hulk was the franchise's second-ever movie and though moderately successful, the saga had not yet found its footing, superhero movies weren't the bankable successes they became in the 2010s and it didn't star Mark Ruffalo in the title role.
While it would have made more sense to do a Hulk movie when the Infinity Saga was in its prime, it could very well be the thing that brings original audiences back to the MCU. A more serious Hulk movie spotlighting one of the original Avengers with Ruffalo in that starring role has real potential. It's just up to Marvel to get it right.
Make it happen.
4. Get The Fantastic Four right
When Disney acquired 20th Century Fox, Marvel Studios regained the movie rights to both the Fantastic Four and the X-Men. While general audiences have been more excited about the prospect of the X-Men joining the MCU, the studio has decided to play the long game with the mutants, instead introducing the Fantastic Four first. Of course, we're getting more nods and references to the X-Men, but as far as movies go, Fantastic Four comes first.
That's an admirable choice considering the foursome of heroes have always had the potential to be huge Marvel stars but never quite became the success that Fox wanted them to be. They were movie stars in their own right, headlining two movies before the MCU was even a thing, and while they were popular enough, the lukewarm response to them and the overwhelmingly negative response to the 2015 reboot, have prevented them from breaking out in the way that the likes of Iron Man and Captain America - and even Fox's X-Men - did
Taking that into account, Marvel Studios' Fantastic Four movie has to hit. Yes, it's important that it be a financial success but the titular heroes have enough star-power to ensure that some of the general audience will go and see it. It needs to be a critical hit to ensure that a lot more people go and see it outside of the core MCU/Fantasic Four fans.
When this movie as announced, it was seen as the platform that the Fantastic Four have been craving over the past decade, with high expectations to boot. Marvel always delivered; why would anyone doubt it? But in recent years, with lackluster reviews and the first ever box office flop for the franchise, it's more imperative than ever that Fantastic Four hits. It has to be a major success so that the studio can justify investing in the less-famous of the two franchises it chose, and it also must have an important role in the Multiverse Saga, jutifying its own existence as a major Phase 6 title.
This needs to be the Fantastic Four movie fans have been waiting for.
3. Build out the Disney Plus shows as their own corner of the MCU
I said earlier that keeping up with Marvel Cinematic Universe since the arrival of the Disney Plus shows has been a commitment, and when I say that I mean it's a commitment. For general audiences, staying up to date on the 23 movies in the Infinity Saga was quite the tall task, but now spreading yourself across almost 50 films and TV shows is something else entirely.
However, there is a solution to that: Make the Disney Plus shows their own standalone saga within the MCU. Like a shared universe within a shared universe. Yes, the events would still take place in the confines of the MCU - which would still allow for cameos and post-credits scenes galore - but they would be their own little subsidiary of it, telling their own story parallel to the movies' Multiverse Saga.
Take Netflix's Defenders saga. Before it was welcomed into the Disney Plus fold as being canon to the MCU, it was very much its own thing, building up its own storyline while making little nods and potential references to the events of the Marvel Studios movies. So couldn't we do the same thing again?
Echo is a great example of this. It features a character who appeared in Hawkeye but has taken her into darker, more serious territory more akin to the Netflix shows. Daredevil: Born Again will likely do the same, channelling its Netflix predecessor to give Marvel Studios that gritty, compelling crime drama fans have been longing for. So why don't we just capitalize on that and build a storyline within the storyline involving more grounded characters like Daredevil, Echo, and the Kingpin. Heck, even throw in Jessica Jones, Luke Cage, and Iron Fist again.
Not only would separating the two mediums allow for fans to be more selective about which projects they need to watch (while also sticking with the MCU as a whole), it could allow the Disney Plus shows to appeal to a wider audience as a general viewer could tune into them without feeling ike they have to have seen all of previous titles leading up to it.
And then, when the next big Avengers movies come, Marvel could finally cross them over, justifying both franchises' existences.
2. More Marvel Spotlight stories
One of the reasons that Marvel's Echo has worked so well is that it's very much a standalone tale. It's set in the MCU, sure, but it's primarily focused on Maya Lopez, her story, her family, and her turbulent relationship with the Kingpin, Wilson Fisk. We're not worried about what Kang is doing in the countless other dimensions, we're focused on Echo and Echo alone.
This character-driven approach is successful, particularly because it proves the effectiveness of the Marvel Spotlight banner. Echo is the first and only series to exist under that one so far, and after seeing it, you understand why it was placed under that banner. Due to that effectiveness, Marvel Studios should continue to use that banner to highlight other underrated or lesser-known heroes because a well-written character-driven narrative can go a long way in bringing those characters into the spotlight.
Not only is the Disney Plus format a great way of continuing this approach, it allows Marvel Studios to cut out the noise and just focus on the characters involved in the story. It explains away why these particular titles exist in the Multiverse Saga when they don't reference the overarching story while also ensuring that they don't require huge budgets, giving them a far better chance of being successful in the long run.
Fans respond well to high quality stories, and Echo is the perfect example of that. It's time to spotlight other heroes by placing the spotlight solely on them - and not how they fit into the Multiverse Saga. The Spotlight banner would allow them to do that without raising any eyebrows.
1. Bring in the X-Men
You knew this one was coming, right? You had to.
Ever since Disney acquired Fox - heck, even before that - fans have been wondering when the X-Men are coming to the MCU. The iconic line-up of Marvel heroes are definitely the most famous Marvel characters not yet adapted in the shared universe and fans are more than ready to see it happen.
We know it's going to happen; we mentioned earlier that Marvel Studios has been teasing this since the beginning of Phase Four now, and it's true. From Evan Peters' fakeout return as his version of Quicksilver from the Fox X-Men movies and the return of Patrick Stewart's Professor X to the first utterance of the word mutants in the MCU, they are coming to screens. It's just a matter of when.
Now that the MCU has reached a bit of a lull, with the lukewarm response to some titles, the lack of direction undermining even the great titles, and the underperformance of others, it needs something to reinvigorate interest. Some feel that the Avengers' victory over Thanos should have ended their story, but Marvel Studios are committed to bringing a new version of the heroes back to the big screen in two more Avengers movies in 2025 and 2026. While that's great and exciting, bringing in the X-Men is the way to up the ante more than ever.
Not only are the X-Men an incredibly popular group of Marvel heroes, they have an established fanbase. While fans of the Fox franchise will no doubt tune in to see how the MCU's reboot matches up to, others will come along to see what will likely be a more comic-accurate adaptation of their favorite characters finally come to life.
While we're always open to more Avengers movies, the X-Men should be the main event going forward. Not only does that justify the decision to carry on the MCU's story after Avengers: Endgame, it starts a whole new one that can build up to the legendary heroes becoming the new face of Marvel Studios. It's time for the mutants to arrive.