It’s not exactly a hot take to say that the Marvel Cinematic Universe has experienced a drastic downturn in quality since Avengers: Endgame drew the Infinity Saga to a close, nor is it in any way hyperbolic to say that the franchise’s expansion onto Disney Plus has played a huge part of it.
Kevin Feige has found himself stretched thinner than ever before, and it absolutely isn’t a coincidence that the beginning of the MCU’s episodic era has coincided with Eternals, Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania, and Thor: Love and Thunder scoring its worst-ever ratings on Rotten Tomatoes, as well as seven consecutive features suffering the superhero sandbox’s seven steepest second-weekend drops at the box office.
Simply put; there’s too much Marvel going around on screens both big and small, something Disney CEO Bob Iger is completely aware of. Speaking to CNBC, he came right out and admitted that the ongoing rollout of streaming exclusives has watered down the brand’s “must-see” nature, reducing attention, focus, and investment from audiences as a result.
“Marvel is a great example of that. It had not been in the television business at any significant level, and not only did they increase their movie output, but they ended up making a number of TV series. Frankly, it diluted focus and attention.”
With Disney Plus happy to wipe content off the face of the planet if it doesn’t perform in line with expectations, nobody’s going to bat an eyelid if the MCU gets hit with even more televised delays to lengthen the gap between new shows, or even if Iger decides to pump the brakes on some projects altogether.