Marvel getting desperate

hockey2112 said
Maybe haha! You're always pretty quick to reply, and I was looking forward to your thoughts on the rest of my reply.

Post-Endgame 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

Box office increased for Spider-Man, Dr Strange, and Guardians. Slightly lower for Thor. Markedly lower for Black Panther 2 and Ant Man 3. Not great for Shang Chi, Black Widow, and Eternals. Abysmal for The Marvels. The BO increases were peppered throughout the post-Endgame slate, so I don't think we can just say it's slower post-Endgame in general. But my point is that they have/had a winning formula. Changing SS to a woman is not part of that previous winning formula... I don't think they did anything like that during the Endgame era, other than The Ancient One (who is not particularly a "main character" in the comics. Important, yes... SS-level in a Galactus/FF movie? No).

I think the stronger correlation will be with the more familiar movies. I think in a different time/place, Black Widow would have done double what it did. Why they waited til after Endgame baffles me. But the rest feels like the box office results were more a reflection of fans wanting to see familiar characters. BP2 was probably hurt some by the loss of Chadwick Boseman. The rest of the lesser grossing movies I think were hurt by a double whammy of oversaturation and waning interest in the lesser known characters. I don't think it had anything to do with the characters they chose, or the casting. I mean, there's always been some fan service for comics purists, but overall, the MCU has always been about telling a story to a broader audience.

hockey2112 said
Can you name a few "important" difference on the level of changing SS to a woman, during the Endgame era? You may be right, but I am having a difficult time thinking of any such differences.

I'm sure there are some, I'm kinda tired lol. But the MCU has long been a movie adaptation of the comics. They aren't movie replays of the comics. They've taken some license with styling, character, suits, etc.

hockey2112 said
But why only The Marvels? Why didn't GOTG3 get hit by that slump/trend? Does The Marvels get a pass for some reason? It sort of feels like people wanted GOTG, but they didn't want The Marvels.

I think post-strike had a big dampening effect on people going to movies. That hurt the industry overall imo. And The Marvels, while they did get some promotions, it wasn't near as noticeable as previous movies were, but that's my anecdotal observation more than anything else. It's pretty clear though that since the summer (Oppenheimer/Barbie), it's slowed a ton. GOTG was a movie a lot of MCU fans were and are still connected with and there was a lot of interest. Captain Marvel doesn't have that same pull.

hockey2112 said
Agreed that it was definitely not as prevalent as Opp or Barbie marketing. Was it marketed any less than GOTG3, do you think? Or Ant Man Quantumania?

I don't know.

hockey2112 said
Correct, they have been doing so for the last 15 years. The majority of Endgame era would fall into that realm of "using the source material". That comment was more directed at SS gender swap. Why not use the source material for SS? Why not stay true to the character?

I don't really have an issue with changing the story up. That said, I don't think it's necessary to change it, but I also don't think it would hurt either. Maybe some purists might have an issue, but they're a fairly small segment of the broader MCU audience.