The Rise and Fall of Marvel

July 4, 2025 – Why does Marvel-Disney keep coming out with movies and shows I don’t like? And, do others feel the same way I do? Because of these questions, I decided to do a deep dive, looking at Marvel's statistics.

The end of this article has charts and a massive table. If interested, these will give you a macro look at most of the Marvel entities. (These stats don’t include Werewolf by Night, What If…?, and The Guardians of the Galaxy Holiday Special.)

Looking at the numbers, Marvel peaked in its massive Phase 3 era (2016-2019). But, with Phase 5, Marvel fell below its beginnings in Phase 1 — even with Phase 1’s lower ticket prices. Marvel is definitely getting worse, to the fans at least.

After mulling over these statistics, here are some comments and observations…

(1) Phase 2 vs. Phase 4

I prefer the Infinity Saga over the Multiverse Saga. I’m not alone. In IMDb ratings, Infinity Saga’s Phase 2 wins over Multiverse’s Phase 4. But average domestic box office is a different story. Phase 2 did poorer than Phase 4. Why did this happen? I have some theories:

Phase 4 came after COVID. People wanted to get out of the house and go to the theater. Here in the U.S., they were hungry to see anything.

Another reason is probably the huge popularity of 2021’s Spider-Man: No Way Home. The movie did over $800M in the States. If you remove it from Phase 4, Phase 4’s domestic average box office moves to fourth place.

(2) TV Series: A Mixed Bag

Speaking of Phase 4 (2021-2022) and post-COVID… that’s when Disney introduced new Marvel TV series. Of these shows, three have high ratings on IMDb: WandaVision, Loki, and Daredevil: Born Again. The bulk have average ratings. Ms. Marvel, She-Hulk, Secret Invasion, and Echo have poor ratings. And, the latest series, Ironheart, has the lowest IMDb rating of any Marvel project: 3.9.

The average IMDb score for Disney’s Marvel shows is around 6.6. How does this compare to Marvel’s older series shown on Netflix? Daredevil, Jessica Jones, Luke Cage, etc. have an average IMDb rating of 7.6.

(3) Phases 4 & 5: Female Teenagers

In Phases 1-3, none of its movies featured a female teenager in a prominent role. The one exception is Spider-Man, which is full of teenagers to begin with.

But, starting in Phases 4 and 5, female teenagers became prominent:

• Hawkeye — Kate Bishop
• Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness — America Chavez
• Ms. Marvel — Kamala Khan
• Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania — Cassie Lang
• The Marvels — Kamala Khan
• Echo — Maya Lopez
• Ironheart — Riri Williams

This is an obvious push by Disney. And, it doesn't seem to be working. At least, not in how Disney is currently doing it.

Ms. Marvel, Echo, Quantumania, and The Marvels are among Marvel’s worst IMDb scores. Ironheart is the worst ever. And, when it comes to box office, The Marvels is Marvel-Disney’s worst ever.

(4) Disney’s Creative Process?

The previous topic makes me wonder if Disney’s creative process is amiss. Are they starting with boxes that need to be checked? Or, rather, are they focused on finding/creating compelling stories and characters? You can't do both. It's one or the other.

If your main goal is to check boxes, once you've checked those boxes, creativity goes out the window. You've already done the main thing you set out to do. Story is secondary. It's like singers whose focus is making it big. When they do, their creative mojo stops. But, if the main passion is singing and performing, the creative sparks continue.

For me, I want interesting stories with interesting characters. Disney, though, may have different, overarching agendas. This would explain the lack of creative excellence in so many of Marvel’s later projects. No doubt, 2008’s Iron Man and the early projects that followed weren’t about ticking boxes. Rather, they were passion projects, coming from people who love comics and superheroes. But then, somewhere along the way, projects started getting Disney-fied.

Disney can turn around and say, “We’re a business. We’re interested in making money. That’s our bottom line.” However, it’s their boxes-checked projects that have brought in the least revenue.

(5) The Marvels Trainwreck

The Marvels has Marvel’s worst box office numbers: $84M domestic and $199M worldwide. The next worse is 2009’s The Incredible Hulk (Norton not Bana).

There’s a bunch of theories online for why The Marvels did poor at the box office. Those theories blame marketing, the actors’ strike, COVID conditions on set, and sexism. The director of the film took it a step further. She blamed the sexism, racism, and homophobia of Americans.

But, isn’t it possible there are other reasons, which the director refuses to recognize — for example, the movie’s story and characters weren’t compelling to most people?

Also, there are logical flaws to the The Marvels director citing sexism, racism, and homophobia…

It’s not about race… Black Panther had a huge opening weekend. Of its domestic box office, about $67M in ticket sales came from white movie goers. That's more than The Marvels’ entire domestic opening weekend box office of $47M. White people showed up for Black Panther, but not for The Marvels.

It’s not about sexism… The box-office audience for Captain Marvel was 61% male. Another example is Wonder Woman. For its domestic opening weekend, 48% were male. That comes to about $49M in ticket sales. Again, that's more than the total for The Marvels domestic opening weekend.

Wonder Woman is a fitting example. The first film made a boatload of money. But the sequel tanked. Did it fail because of sexism, or because the movie wasn't as good as the first one? The same has happened with Captain Marvel and its sequel. The problem isn't any of the -isms. The problem is a bad movie.

• Wonder Woman worldwide — $821.8 million
• Wonder Woman 1984 worldwide — $169.6 million
• Captain Marvel worldwide — $1.1 billion
• The Marvels worldwide — $206 million

It’s not about homophobia… None of The Marvels’ lead characters were LGBTQ. So how can the director blame the movie’s poor reception on that criteria?

Summing up, I liked 2019’s Captain Marvel. It’s better than many Marvel-Disney films that came after it. Also, its ending left a lot of great possibility for a sequel story. But, alas, that didn’t happen. Here are some IMDb comments about The Marvels:

“By far the worst Marvel movie so far, I am extremely disappointed. After the mess that Thor 4 was, I was hoping that Marvel learned its lesson, but it seems not.”

“The writing was clearly problematic, it doesn't gel, it is genuinely all over the place. I do very much wonder if huge sections of this film cut? It can be the only answer, it just doesn't flow at all”

“Watching this movie felt like watching a beloved friend in a coma fighting for her life. It was sad, frustrating and ultimately hopeless. So much potential squandered right before our very eyes.”

(6) What Will Happen with Phase 6?

According to current projections, Phase 6 will roll out from 2025 to 2027. It includes four movies and six TV series. Will it be any good?

My prediction is no. Phase 6’s first movie is The Fantastic Four: First Steps, and the trailers for it look bad. The second movie is Spider-Man: Brand New Day. I have hopes for that one. But then comes two New Avengers movies. For someone who hated Thunderbolts*, that doesn’t sound very promising.

With the TV series, two have hope. The first is Daredevil: Born Again’s second season. The second is Vision Quest, a spin-off of WandVision. What about the other four? Three are animation, and the fourth is a comedy series. You know, like She-Hulk was a comedy. Oh well.

RISE AND FALL CHARTS

Domestic Box Office Avg Per Phase

Worldwide Box Office Avg Per Phase

IMDb Rating Avg Per Phase

MACRO TABLE

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Bibliography:
All Marvel Movies In Order: How To Watch MCU Chronologically
Box Office History for Marvel Cinematic Universe Movies
MCU Movies & Shows in Release Order
The Marvels User Reviews
Marvel Cinematic Universe: Phase Six