Why The Marvels Flopped
8. You Need To Do Homework Before Watching It
An increasing problem for the MCU these days is the perception that audiences need to do "homework" before jumping in - that is, swotting up on a bunch of movies and especially Disney+ shows in order to understand what's going on.
Even accepting that The Marvels provides an on-ramp for viewers who don't know much of Monica and Kamala, they may nevertheless feel that they're missing out by not watching, say, WandaVision and Ms. Marvel.
Rather than commit to spending 10 hours watching these shows in order to be fully invested in a new movie, it's so much easier to just... not watch any of these things. Nobody wants a night out at the movies to feel like something they have to prepare for.
While hardcore Marvel fans will always keep abreast of everything that's new, casual moviegoers - who make up the vast majority of any film's box office - have started to see "keeping up" as a chore, and it certainly doesn't help that the quality's been so wildly inconsistent as of late. Speaking of which...