Marvel Studios
Ever since the release of Avengers: Endgame in 2019, fans of the Marvel Cinematic Universe have felt that the franchise has been on a steady decline.
That attrition of quality came to a head in multiple ways in 2023, particularly when it came to the box office, as both The Marvels and Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania wildly underperformed.
But while the former of those two may be the lowest-grossing film in the history of the MCU, it’s the latter that Marvel fans seem to think irrevocably altered the course of the franchise.
In a tweet that’s racked up over 31,000 likes, Twitter user @jessehawken identified a moment involving the hideous CGI monstrosity MODOK as the one to ultimately break the proverbial camel’s back.
This is one of the most significant film images of 2023… to me it represents when audiences started asking themselves "why do I always pay money to watch these things over and over again when I haven't actually enjoyed them for years?" and the spell was broken from here pic.twitter.com/TjJBSFJaTU
— Jesse Hawken (@jessehawken) December 7, 2023
Despite how widely mocked the VFX for Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania was, the film is actually one of the 20 finalists in the Best Visual Effects category at the Academy Awards. Making this even more egregious is the fact that Oppenheimer is NOT one of the 20 finalists.
While things got temporarily better for Marvel Studios with the release of James Gunn’s Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 back in May, the conversation about the state of the franchise turned sour once again following the release of the Disney+ series Secret Invasion and the film The Marvels.
The Marvels represents a particular low point for the MCU, as it finished its theatrical run as the lowest-grossing movie in the history of the franchise, earning just $197 million at the global box office.
Due to the generally scattershot quality of their recent work, Marvel Studios seems to be taking a big step back in 2024 as they’ll only be releasing one movie in theaters next year: Deadpool 3. Then, in 2025, the franchise will release three movies: Captain America: Brave New World, Thunderbolts, and Blade (allegedly).