Whether you happen to believe in the notion of "superhero fatigue" or not, there's no denying that recent big screen releases have suffered significant dips in box office revenue - and quality, if the critical receptions are any indication.
The Flash will go down as the biggest flop in the 100-year history of Warner Bros., and the studio's previous DCEU effort, Shazam! Fury of the Gods, didn't really fare much better, despite its predecessor being widely hailed as one of the better DC Comics-based films in the franchise.
WB/DC has come in for a lot of flak recently, but 2023 hasn't exactly been Marvel's year, either!
Although Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 was well-received and has emerged as the highest-grossing comic book movie of the year so far, Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania not only failed to meet box office expectations, but ended up becoming the worst-reviewed MCU movie yet.
Now, with 57% on Rotten Tomatoes (this week's season finale has dropped to 13%), 2023 has also delivered Marvel Studios' most negatively-reviewed streaming series in Secret Invasion.
Are these projects really bad enough to deserve such responses? That's obviously debatable, but superhero fatigue or not, it seems clear that fans and critics alike are starting to demand more from their comic book-based content.
Can The Marvels turns things around? There is a chance the Captain Marvel sequel will end up being delayed due to the ongoing SAG-AFTRA and WGA strikes, but even if it doesn't, the trailers haven't exactly been met with an overwhelmingly positive response.
What do you think? Have fans and critics been overly harsh of late, or have these projects been missing the mark? Drop us a comment down below.
"In Marvel Studios’ new series Secret Invasion, set in the present day MCU, Nick Fury learns of a clandestine invasion of Earth by a faction of shapeshifting Skrulls. Fury joins his allies, including Everett Ross, Maria Hill and the Skrull Talos, who has made a life for himself on Earth. Together they race against time to thwart an imminent Skrull invasion and save humanity."
The series stars Samuel L. Jackson, Ben Mendelsohn, Cobie Smulders, Martin Freeman, Kingsley Ben-Adir, Charlayne Woodard, Killian Scott, Samuel Adewunmi, Dermot Mulroney, Christopher McDonald, Katie Finneran, with Emilia Clarke, Olivia Colman, and Don Cheadle.
Ali Selim directs and executive-produces, along with fellow executive producers Kevin Feige, Jonathan Schwartz, Louis D’Esposito, Victoria Alonso, Brad Winderbaum, Samuel L. Jackson, Ali Selim, Kyle Bradstreet and Brian Tucker. Kyle Bradstreet is also the head writer, and Jennifer L. Booth, Allana Williams and Brant Englestein serve as co-executive producers.
If you want to know my thoughts on Secret Invasion, and much more besides, you can have a listen to the first episode of the Roll Credits podcast below.