16-10-23 | It took us two decades to get there, but superhero fatigue is finally settling in. The fifth phase of the Marvel Cinematic Universe is not living up to its hype and something has to be done. Kevin Feige is teasing two project that might remedy this. First up is the officially announced Avengers: Secret Wars, for which fan favourites such as Chris Evans and Robert Downey Jr. are rumoured to return. Off the record Feige is indicating Secret Wars might wrap up the current Marvel timeline, only for it to be rebooted during or after phase six.
The complicated continuity of the Marvel films risks spoiling the series for new viewers. A clean slate might be what is needed to rekindle the appeal of the early films. And dare we speculate that Feige will be departing from Marvel Studios after Avengers: Secret Wars? Though the MCU is still a big money maker for its parent company Disney, the underperformance of Ant-Man: Quantumania lead to a great deal of internal turmoil.
A recent example is the decisions to dramatically restructure the production of Daredevil: Born Again. Despite 50% of the show already having been filmed, Marvel choose to fire its lead writer and rewrite a significant portion of the Daredevil reboot. A daring and reckless move, one of many since the start of Phase Five. A fresh start for Marvel might be the way to go, if only to avoid painful situations like these. But don’t let Hollywood politics spoil your enjoyment of Mavel titles. Remember kids: it’s only a movie!