There was a time when Marvel Studios could do no wrong, but that changed when Eternals became the first MCU movie to earn a "Rotten" score on Rotten Tomatoes.
The brand is no longer critic-proof, and the likes of Secret Invasion and Ant-Man and The Wasp: Quantumania are proof of that. The superhero genre's haters have wasted no time embracing the narrative of "superhero fatigue," but Avengers: Endgame directors Joe and Anthony Russo disagree.
"I think it's a reflection of the current state of everything," Joe said of Marvel Studios' recent struggles. "It's difficult right now, it's an interesting time. I think we're in a transitional period and people don't know quite yet how they're going to receive stories moving forward, or what kinds of stories they're going to want."
"There's a big generational divide about how you consume media. There's a generation that's used to appointment viewing and going to a theater on a certain date to see something, but it's ageing out," he continued, sharing his take on the current state of Hollywood. "Meanwhile the new generation are 'I want it now, I want to process it now’, then moving onto the next thing, which they process whilst doing two other things at the same time."
"You know, it's a very different moment in time than it's ever been. And so I think everyone, including Marvel, is experiencing the same thing, this transition. And I think that really is probably what's at play more than anything else."
Anthony then chimed in to share his belief that complaints of "superhero fatigue" have long been made, only for the genre to prove its detractors wrong by reinventing itself.
The post-COVID era has been defined by the MCU's expansion on streaming, and while it would be wrong to call it a failed experiment, Marvel Studios has struggled. Now, though, a creative overhaul is taking place in the studio which has sent everything from Daredevil: Born Again to Avengers 5 back to the drawing board.
"I think it’s fatigue in general," the filmmaker pointed out, taking the heat off comic book adaptations. "The superhero fatigue question was around long before the work we were doing. So, it's sort of an eternal complaint, like we always used to cite this back in our early days with superhero work."
"People used to complain about westerns in the same way but they lasted for decades and decades and decades. They were continually reinvented and brought to new heights as they went on."
With a DCU relaunch also on the horizon, it does feel like we're entering a new era for superhero movies. Once Marvel Studios gets through the Multiverse Saga, the X-Men will be in play and that alone should be a game-changer.
Let us know your thoughts on these comments from the Russo Brothers in the usual place.