Marvel has hit blunder after blunder for the past three years, but this year’s main — and only — major motion picture could be its redeemer.
It’s been 8 years since the first Deadpool movie came out, and Ryan Reynolds is back for one final run as the iconic red-and-black-clad antihero. Can the MCU be rescued after its worst year yet?
It’s no secret that the Marvel Cinematic Universe is struggling to maintain its fanbase and viewership. In the years leading up to the pandemic, Marvel Comics experienced a consistently expanding following; around 100 million people worldwide showing up at their local movie theaters upon the release of Avengers: Endgame in 2019. However, Marvel Studios took a hard hit during the Covid-19 pandemic in 2020. Production was consequently halted and movie-goers chose to avoid the risks of going out to their local cinemas, most of which were closed anyway, and movie studios struggled to reinvigorate their disillusioned audiences with the rising popularity of streaming networks.
In 2021, in an attempt to regain its hyper-successful pre-pandemic momentum, Marvel produced four films that year, instead of their usual three. In theory, the idea of having more superhero movies to look forward to seemed only positive, yet a problem arose that later became increasingly evident: the quality of their writing was sacrificed for a higher output, and fans therefore felt oversaturated with unsatisfactory content.
As a result — based on production costs and box office winnings alone — the ten films Marvel has produced in the last three years have made the company only $4.65 billion; a little under half of the 2017-2019 period’s total of $9.74 billion. On top of that, the average Rotten Tomatoes ratings for these films decreased from 90% in 2017 to 63.33% in 2023. Ultimately, this led to Marvel Comics hitting rock-bottom with Madame Web, the latest release that chalked up a flunking $25.8 million in opening domestic box office sales, a record low for the Sony Spider-Man Universe (SSU). It’s hard to believe such an outcome came from the same company that produced the now second highest grossing film in history. Now, two questions are left begging for answers: What did Marvel’s past successes do right that their recent films haven’t? And what can they do to bring back their heyday following and the once sky-high MCU enthusiasm?
The answer: a soft reboot. In other words, 2024’s Deadpool & Wolverine (ideally).
Hear me out: one of the main reasons why No Way Home, Marvel Studios’ most successful film in the past three years, attracted so many former fans was its use of nostalgia and sentimentality. Bringing back Toby Maguire and Andrew Garfield was probably the best move Marvel could have made. This reinvigorated their respective fanbases and tied down loose ends in their individual plot lines. It further awakened their inner child when fans saw their childhood heroes on the big screen once again, resulting in a heart-warming and often-emotionally impactful viewing for many long-term Spider-Man fans.
The upcoming iteration of Deadpool could prove to be exactly that, but for it to save the MCU — as many have said it has the potential to do — it would need to bring back many significant characters: primarily, it would have to somehow introduce the fan-favorite former-20th-Century Fox “X-Men” icons (Wolverine, Beast, Professor X, Storm, etc.) into the tumultuous clutter that currently is the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
On October 2023, amidst the SAG-AFTRA writers’ strike, all other tentative projects were put on hold and Deadpool 3 became Marvel’s #1 priority. Then once the strike ended on Nov 9th, the writing, acting and production finally got its rushed start; Marvel decided to focus all of its energy on this one film, and it’ll be the only major motion picture that the studio produces this year.
So yes, a lot is riding on July 26th’s Deadpool & Wolverine’s success.
In the recently revealed official trailer, Deadpool proclaims himself as the “Messiah – Marvel Jesus”, and we’re cued to believe that he’s speaking metaphorically to the audience as well as the people on the screen before him. He will be the savior the MCU needs both in the canon timeline and in his role as Marvel Studios’ last real hope in reawakening its fanbase, but why? If you’ve seen the trailer, you know that he intends to “clean up” — or rather burn down — the mess that Disney has made and do right by the comics on which the entire Marvel film franchise is based. He’s an R-rated character, and although Disney has admittedly hesitated in producing an R-rated film, we can see in the trailer’s pegging joke and F-bomb that they acquiesced and made the crucial decision to stay true to the Deadpool comics and films. By doing so, they are successfully catering to all the now-adult audiences that grew up with the Marvel Comics films and are able to create the self-conscious and self-actualizing film that Marvel needs.
In order to redeem itself as a worthy piece in the entertainment industry, Marvel needs a character that can criticize, satirize and comment on the studio’s blunders, and who better to do so than the 4th-wall-breaking, rebellious, careless antihero Deadpool? And finally, to bring back its nostalgic fans that continuously beg for acknowledgement, who do we see as his partner-in-crime as he cleans up the timeline? That’s right, it’s Hugh Jackman, the one and only Wolverine — now in the comics-original yellow and blue suit.
Nostalgia’s a hell of a drug, and Marvel knows its power.
As @GabesEditz wrote on the official trailer’s comment section on YouTube, “This is the only MCU movie coming out this year, so this either makes it or breaks it.”
