Quote Originally Posted by Saph View Post
So in the case of the MCU, the last five movies have been . . . okay, I don't actually care enough to remember this, so let's look it up.

• Dr Strange: Multiverse of Madness
• Thor: Love and Thunder
• Black Panther 2
• Ant-Man & Wasp 2
• Guardians of the Galaxy 3

Looking at that list, it's . . . not exactly inspiring, is it? Now, personally, I haven't bothered watching any of them because I lost interest in the MCU a few years back, but the general impression I've picked up is that out of those 5, four were pretty crap, and the only one that was well-liked was trading off the success of the last remaining Phase 1/2/3 characters and was directed by a guy who's now left. And it doesn't get much better if you extend the number beyond 5, since that gets you into even worse stuff like Eternals.

The MCU is just a pretty tarnished brand at this point. They still have a lot of market presence due to their earlier successes, but they've been on a downward trend for a while.
Mmm, yeah, that's a good point. I personally enjoyed Dr. Strange, but that was probably mostly because I'd been hankering for Wanda to go villain for a good while. Reception overall seemed mixed at best.

Love and Thunder was terrible, probably in the running for worst MCU film.

Black Panther 2 was kneecapped by the loss of Chadwick. Not really the studio's fault in any way, but losing the star is kind of rough on his line of films, and this one felt kinda meh to me.

Ant Man and Wasp 2. It was, uh, middling, I guess. Some people hated it, though. I didn't hate the film, but if I wanted to rewatch an MCU film, it wouldn't be in my top dozen choices, for sure.

GotG 3. The only genuinely great film in this list. Being the last entry might have actually helped this film to some extent, but yeah, the overall trend is definitely less than amazing.