Once a film industry juggernaut, Marvel Studios has fallen from grace in the last few years. Since 2019’s Avengers: Endgame, the studio has failed to see the same kind of success the original Avengers lineup had, with the exception of Spider-Man: No Way Home (2021). With the upcoming The Marvels, it seems as though the studio may continue its disappointing streak.
Earlier this year, Marvel released Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania, which became the studio’s biggest box-office failure, seeing the worst second-weekend box office numbers of any Marvel movie, and failing to hit with fans. Audiences blamed the poor visual effects and whiplash tone while Marvel blamed rising star Jonathan Majors, who plays Kang the Conqueror as the film’s main villain.
Credit: Marvel Studios
Over the summer, Quantumania’s failure would be met with the disappointment that was Secret Invasion, the latest addition to Disney+’s Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) series. The show was meant to act as a prequel to The Marvels and featured Samuel L. Jackson reprising his role as Nick Fury, Codie Smulders returning as Maria Hill, and Don Cheadle returning as James “Rhodey” Rhodes.
It would later be revealed that production was plagued with issues, from several different screenwriters to directors to VFX and story problems. From being hyped up as one of the most important MCU series, Secret Invasion quickly fell to just another dark mark for the superhero studio. Now, it appears as though its follow-up is experiencing a similar set of problems.
Credit: Marvel Studios
In a recent tell-all from Variety, The Marvels is considered the latest flop from Marvel, and it hasn’t even been released yet. Costing the studio a whopping $250 million, it’s currently only expected to meet a rough $75 to $80 million opening, compared to Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness’s $185 million opening.
The Marvels is a sort of sequel to Captain Marvel (2019) and stars Brie Larson, Teyonah Parris, and Iman Vellani each returning to their respective roles Carol Danvers/Captain Marvel, Captain Monica Rambeau, and Kamala Khan/Ms. Marvel. The three heroines are brought together when their powers become entangled with each other, causing Nick Fury to bring them together and help them save the world.
Credit: Marvel Studios
The film’s release has also been delayed twice, initially swapping places with Quantumania for its February release date (which explains the rushed VFX and overworked artists), and again from a June release to its current November date. Even with the double delay, the film needed extensive reshoots due to poor early screenings. And with a $250 million budget and a falling reputation, Marvel desperately needs The Marvels to be a smashing success.
Shockingly, it was also revealed that director Nia DaCosta reportedly left in the middle of postproduction to work on Hedda, a film starring Marvel-alum Tessa Thompson which took DaCosta to London for shooting. According to the source from Variety, it raised eyebrows at the studio, with the source stating, “if you’re directing a $250 million movie, it’s kind of weird for the director to leave with a few months to go.”
Credit: Marvel
The Marvels isn’t the most expensive Marvel movie released, in fact it’s on par with Black Panther: Wakanda Forever (2022) and Thor: Love and Thunder (2022) and falls short of Avengers: Infinity War (2018) and Endgame. However, with both Marvel and Disney taking some pretty big hits for movies with some outrageous budgets this year (Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny cost Disney $300 million but only brought in about $380 million at the box office, costing the studio $100 million), $250 million for the latest Marvel movie is a pretty ominous budget.
Unfortunately, with issues already surrounding the film’s release and the director also seemingly abandoning the film before it was finished, it certainly doesn’t look good for the latest Marvel movie. Add in the fact that Larson and Vellani are unable to promote the film due to the ongoing SAG-AFTRA strike, and the movie may just beat Quantumania for biggest Marvel failure.
