10 HUGE Problems Facing The Future Of The MCU
1. It Has Become A Victim Of Its Own Hype
Anything that gets sufficiently popular ultimately ends up suffering a backlash of some kind, and in the MCU's case it's tough not to view it as a victim of its own success and the never-ending cycles of hype surrounding each new movie.
While on one hand Spider-Man: No Way Home largely delivered upon fan-serving expectations with its three generations of the web-slinger, Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness ended up wildly disappointing those convinced they'd get to see truly wild sights like Tom Cruise playing a variant of Tony Stark.
Though the rumour mill and hype cycle absolutely benefits each MCU movie short-term, when this translates to unrealistic expectations and eventual disappointment, it's not good for the brand overall.
One can only imagine how this will reach a fever pitch for Secret Wars, with fans expecting every last possible superhero they can imagine to make a cameo, enough that it's almost impossible for it to meet those expectations.
How can Marvel combat this? It's tough - trying to manage expectations would be a good start, which in turn could foster better word-of-mouth in the long run.
Using empty hype to score an astronomical opening weekend box office is short-sighted, given that the subsequent underwhelming response tends to cut off a movie's box office "legs," reducing business overall and leaving more casual fans to wait for Disney+.
But outside of the business aspect, the MCU is pretty much a runaway freight train at this point - even with so many recent disappointments, it will be incredibly difficult to stop fans from expecting way too much from the next two Avengers movies.