Marvel getting desperate
Since this is post End Game you wouldn't consider both Black Widow and Ant Man been well known characters to the MCU audience at the point?
I always thought that putting Black Widow's movie out after her death in Infinity War an odd move
That's why I said "unknown character and/or outliers and/or changes from the comics" and notated both of those specifically as "outliers".
Thing is, tastes vary from place to place. Case and point, places like India, where most people don't eat beef because of religious reasons, or even my home State of Yucatán, MX, where beef is not as popular as pork, turkey, seafood, or even venison.
It's a simplified analogy. It's not an essay on who eats what, where, and why. You are missing my point, which I thought I covered well when I said "The restaurant in my analogy serves clientele worldwide, and
the entire world liked the steak and was happy with the steak, and is likewise not (as) happy with the pork". I believe that the worldwide box office proves that "the entire world was happy with the steak"; do you disagree? If it helps, change "restaurant" to something everyone wants, like "living conditions" and change "steak" to "clean air" and change "pork" to "polluted air". Everybody likes/wants good living conditions with clean air, everyone is/would be happy with it. Marvel polluted the air for no good reason other than to do it. The people (in this case, based on box office, the "entire world") seem to be making it known that they prefer clean air over polluted air. Therefore, it is nonsensical for Marvel to generate more polluted air (woman SS) for no reason other than "reasons", when the box office numbers show that people like clean air (known character, true to the character's nature and generally true to the comics).
most of this ignores the context of covid - if Marvel was the only IP suffering from these issues, it would be one thing - but EVERY IP/Streaming service is navigating the same troubled waters
Marvel HAD to produce to stay competitive with Netflix and HBO and Amazon and Apple, et al - Marvel had the added context of being one of 2 (maybe 3) tentpoles trying to hold the whole thing up whereas other platforms could spread titles throughout (like I think Amazon took a big swing and missed with Rings of Power but could absorb it a bit more easily)
I'm sure all platforms/streamers went through beaucoup projection analysis that was part of determining which direction to go - problem is all analysis had no idea what the response to and length of covid was going to be and what public consumption was going to be like postC
more than likely every streamer/IP did some sort of short, medium, long term growth analysis with more guess work than they were comfortable with
for Marvel it also happened to coincide with the conclusion of their never before attempted Cinematic Universe
quite the task
no way it was going to be the hit that the first phases rounded into - esp with certain pockets of 'fandom' so invested into contrary takes
3 questions for you:
1. Is it a "contrary take" to want Marvel to remain true to their decades-established characters? Why is it NOT a contrary take to change your characters completely from their established characterizations? Isn't that contrary to the character's history? Two-way street, I suppose. I agree that it would be a near-insurmountable feat to match the success of the Endgame era of the MCU, but they could have at least tried to do so by sticking with what worked: staying true to the character's nature and generally true to the comics.
2. How exactly does Covid necessitate changing SS to a woman?
3. I agree that box office slowed dramatically during and post-Covid and studios had to pivot and all of that. Does that explain The Marvels box office being 1/8 the amount of Guardians of the Galaxy Vol 3? They marketed the hell out of it, Beastie Boys in the (high energy and funny) trailer, Disney Plus TV tie-ins. Yet there it wallows, at the bottom of the heap.
Gosh, if only Marvel had decades upon decades of established storylines from countless writers and artists to pick and choose from. Oh well, maybe in another multiverse!
Lastly, any comment on my replies to your Jane Foster, 1960's straight men, etc points?