Even though it takes its name from one of the most important events in the history of Marvel comics and features famous actors such as Samuel L. Jackson, Olivia Colman, Don Cheadle and Emilia Clarke, Secret Invasion it proved to be a real failure for Marvel Studios. The series has become the second least watched among the produced in recent years for Disney + – only ahead Ms. Marvel – and also received negative reviews from both critics and the public (with one of the worst results ever on rotten tomatoes for study).
Now we have to ask ourselves if this is an isolated case or a symptom of something that is not going the way it should. The answer is likely to be the latter, given that The Walt Disney Company has been running for cover for months now, cutting production at Marvel Studios to focus more on quality, after Kevin Feige, head of Marvel Studios, had already stressed that so much was coming out with that it was difficult to maintain the zeitgeist.
As noted by Stuart Heritage on Guardianit remains however Secret Invasion in a bad situation: “Like the last DC movies, all of which suffered from the realization that they were the last, immovable, late before director James Gunn arrived and tidied up, Secret Invasion it is now the MCU’s totem of destruction. When even the producers say there are too many low-quality Marvel shows on Disney+, you just don’t want to watch the latest one.”
“In the end, Secret Invasion it was a failure. But it normal. Failures happen. But this is the MCU, where everything is interconnected, ”the journalist continues. “They say the end Secret Invasion will connect directly to Miracles (this year) and advertising Armored Wars (still no release date), but low viewing figures and negative reviews mean people will approach these films with incomplete data. They won’t make as much sense, all because viewers didn’t have the courage to put up with six hours of bad TV. It’s another sign that the MCU, once exciting and entertaining, has become nothing more than homework. If we were to rely on Secret Invasionunraveling seems final.”
However, Legacy itself takes everything back to a negative phase, emphasizing that the entire Marvel Cinematic Universe is in crisis: Thor: Love and Thunder. In turn, visual film artists complain of being overworked and stressed by directors who don’t seem to know what they want. Meanwhile, former stars such as Elizabeth Olsen, Chris Hemsworth and Robert Downey Jr. are increasingly expressing doubts about their roles to society.
According to Adam B. Vari of diversityInstead, “the same things that made the studio take off in the 2010s have become an unbearable burden in the 2020s.” A reference in particular to the heavy continuity that drags from one movie to the next, running through all the TV series: “Secret Invasion conceived as a fast-paced conspiracy thriller based on events Captain Marvel to analyze how Nick Fury became so formidable. On the contrary, he was weighed down by events The final and the obvious need to cram as many superhero references into the finale as possible. Likewise, while the first two films Ant-Man were relatively self-sufficient heads, Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantum Mania was weighed down by the official launch of Kang Jonathan Majors as the Big Villain of the Multiverse saga.”
A bit like what has happened to comics over the past few decades, so much so that in the past Marvel Comics have often tried to ease their continuity with some editorial operations (think of Secret Wars 2015, which will give the name to one of the future Avengers films) or restarting their characters from scratch (as in 2000 with the Ultimate line, which was then also used as a basis by Hollywood production companies).
In particular, the journalist was outraged by the presence of Valentina Allegra de Fontaine in Black Panther: Wakanda Foreverfrom Damage Control to Ms. Marvel and Guardians of the Galaxy Thor: Love and Thunder, because, in his opinion, they were not necessary, and they really diverted attention from the essence of the stories. Instead, he gives worthy examples Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 AND Spiderman: Into the Universe Sony Pictures, which he says performed well at the box office “because they focused on the emotional lines of their characters rather than serving the larger cinematic universe, and most importantly, both films feel unique and offer a feel that’s great.” from everyone else to the market at the moment.”
In short, it won’t be a matter of superhero “efforts” but just bad blockbusters, as Kelsey Mattson also points out. Colliders. Which, noticing the same problems of its colleagues, however, finds the path taken by Walt Disney and Marvel Studios to correctly reduce production, and then points to the recent Barbenheimer as a valid model: “Less is more, because the authors have the opportunity to breathe , to create something with heart, endurance and art. Plus, fans can’t wait for the next episode instead of scowling at Disney+’s latest marketing bombardment. If all Hollywood studios were visceral, Barbenheimer would be seen as a sign of public awareness. Barbie AND Oppenheimer these are event films with varying levels of creative freedom, and audiences have responded.”
To everyone – some more, some less – the road of Kevin Feige seems to be uphill anyway. “It’s unlikely that Disney’s Marvel will be able to find the goodwill needed to return their films to the status of significant events,” Mattson concludes, referring to, for example, Avengers: Endgame. “However, Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 proved that if the story is good, such a feat is possible. It’s time for one of the world’s biggest money makers to get back to the drawing board and remember the foundations of its success: simplicity, time and passion.”
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