To say 2023 hasn’t been the best year for the Marvel Cinematic Universe would be a bit like saying Secret Invasion‘s finale was a tad underwhelming. From Quantumania being ridiculed from top to (M.O.D.O.K.’s) bottom to the aforementioned Disney Plus episode becoming the worst-reviewed Marvel project ever, the MCU has had the roughest of all possible starts to Phase Five. So luckily, the franchise’s best shot at a savior is about to come along: The Marvels star Brie Larson.
Yes, suck it haters, but the statistics do not lie. Here’s a fun fact for you. Or maybe a worrying one, depending on your point of view. Outside of epic crossover events Spider-Man: No Way Home and Avengers: Endgame, the last Marvel Studios movie to earn over $1 billion at the global box office was 2019’s Captain Marvel. Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness and Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 have come close, to be fair, but so far Larson is the last solo hero to cross that coveted threshold.
Obviously, the MCU, and the cinematic landscape as a whole, was very different pre-2020, and for whatever reason, it’s much harder than it was to enter The Billion Dollar Club than it was before the pandemic. And yet the recent phenomenal success of Barbie could potentially indicate that The Marvels has a good shot at following up its predecessor’s box office gross as audiences may be desperate for another female-fronted, female-directed crowd-pleaser.
Nia DaCosta’s recent promise that The Marvels will be “wacky” and “silly” might be giving Marvel fans PTSD to the horrors of Quantumania and Thor: Love and Thunder, but those two adjectives could probably be applied to Greta Gerwig’s Mattel magnum opus as well and they didn’t do that one any harm. Dune: Part Two stealing its IMAX screens is definitely a blow, but “Barbenheimer” has taught us not to automatically assume the more overtly masculine movie will win out.
It’s far too early to call it yet, but it’s not out of the question that Larson’s haters could have their feeble arguments shut down for good when The Marvels blasts into theaters this Nov. 10.