Marvel’s Greatest Strength Has Now Become Its Curse

The future of the MCU may be facing some shake-ups.

According to a new report from Variety, there’s been plenty of behind-the-scenes turmoil for the once impervious franchise, ranging from talk of replacing Kang the Conqueror with Doctor Doom because of Jonathan Majors’ legal troubles, to the troubled Mahershala Ali Blade reboot going through yet another rework, to – most surprising of all – Marvel’s top brass floating the idea of bringing back the original Avengers to help right the ship.

The fact that reviving the OG team is even being considered so soon after the Infinity Saga wrapped up indicates just how much the MCU’s recent financial and critical disappointments have taken a toll. What was once Marvel’s winning strategy – taking lower-tier characters like the Avengers and Guardians of the Galaxy and turning them into A-listers – has now become a weakness as new players like Shang-Chi and the Eternals just haven’t caught on.

The projects that were supposed to kickstart the Multiverse Saga and introduce a new generation of MCU heroes haven’t laid as strong a foundation as Marvel’s first wave of characters. Ironically enough, this means that the entire strategy that Kevin Feige used to launch the MCU isn’t working as well now as audiences are more attached to the characters that were supposed to be on the way out – or are already gone – and seem to have far less interest in the newbies.

How did this happen? Let’s talk about how the MCU’s greatest strength has now become its curse.