Was the customer base indeed dying? Did the next generation indeed want something different? Did the next generation go and see Infinity War and Endgame, thus contributing to their $2billion+ box office (each)? Did the next generation also go see Captain Marvel, which earned a very good $1.13billion box office?
Now, did the next generation also go see The Marvels, which to date has a brutally-low $189million box office, a mere 1/6th of the total box office of its direct predecessor? Oh, they didn't? Why not? Isn't that the "something different" that they want? I bet those fossil fuels are looking pretty good to Marvel/Disney right now.
The customer base was absolutely FEASTING on steak. Yet the restaurant decided to switch to pork and expect the same customers to be happy.
Here are the movies since Endgame, separated into Steak and Pork (source:
https://www.the-numbers.com/movies/franchise/Marvel-Cinematic-Universe#tab=summary):
Steak (known character, true to the character's nature and generally true to the comics):
Spider-Man: Far From Home: $1,132,107,522
Spider-Man: No Way Home: $1,907,836,254
Doctor Strange in the Multi…: $952,224,986
Thor: Love and Thunder: $760,928,081 (decent box office, but discovered to be a tough steak)
Black Panther: Wakanda Forever: $853,985,546 (decent box office, but just a little over half the box office of its predecessor. Would that have been different if Chadwick were still around for it?)
Guardians of the Galaxy Vol 3: $845,468,744
Pork (unknown character and/or outliers and/or changes from the comics)
Black Widow: $379,751,131 (outlier; character was already dead, so kind of a weird position to put the character in. I dug it though).
Shang-Chi and the Legend of…: $432,224,634 (unknown character; I liked it very much though)
Eternals: $401,731,759 (ugh)
Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quant…: $463,635,303 (outlier; bad word of mouth?)
The Marvels: $186,927,954 (maybe she wasn't as popular as the MCU thought. Maybe a lot of people went to see the first Captain Marvel movie because it was "required viewing" before Endgame due to the post-Infinity-War-stinger-scene?)
Here are those same movies in chronological order:
Jul 2, 2019 Spider-Man: Far From Home $1,132,107,522
Jul 9, 2021 Black Widow $379,751,131
Sep 3, 2021 Shang-Chi and the Legend of… $432,224,634
Nov 5, 2021 Eternals $401,731,759
Dec 17, 2021 Spider-Man: No Way Home $1,907,836,254
May 6, 2022 Doctor Strange in the Multi… $952,224,986
Jul 8, 2022 Thor: Love and Thunder $760,928,081
Nov 11, 2022 Black Panther: Wakanda Forever $853,985,546
Feb 17, 2023 Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quant… $463,635,303
May 5, 2023 Guardians of the Galaxy Vol 3 $845,468,744
Nov 10, 2023 The Marvels $186,927,954
Sure, it is unfair to compare Spider-Man to Eternals, but this timeline does show an appetite for steak (Strange, Thor, Black Panther) in the middle of porky output (Eternals, Ant-Man, the Marvels).
Notice the difference in the price of steak vs the price of pork in those three lists above? Seems like steak is the clear preference.
Your Jane Foster analogy is not applicable. She's a different character. She isn't Thor himself and she did not replace Thor; she is another completely separate character who was imbued with the power of Thor. Kinda/sorta like the whole SS/Nova thing I mentioned. Similar characters, similar purpose, but ultimately different entities entirely, and Nova eventually replaced SS as a herald of Galactus.
Your timeframe argument is a bit weak as well, at least as it is being applied in this specific instance. SS first appeared in 1966; Nova first appeared less than a decade later, in 1975. That was still pretty much smack-dab in the middle of the straight-man demographics timeframe you are referring to. So why not just use her?
Again, who is asking for SS to be a woman? Where is the outcry for him to be cast as such? If it's not coming from the "next generation", then where is this silent outcry coming from? Or is it nonexistent?
The restaurant in my analogy serves clientele worldwide, and entire world liked the steak and was happy with the steak, and is likewise not (as) happy with the pork. See worldwide box office numbers quoted above.
I think this is the best and most logical answer to my question of "why" so far. And if that indeed the reason, then it seems like that would be fairly contrary to the inclusivity and equality mission at hand, and quite 1960's "straight man" of them to do so.