The MCU isn’t worth it anymore

This is not a redemption

Phase 4 of Marvel has been underwhelming. “Thor: Love and Thunder,” “Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness” and others feel rushed - underdeveloped products that are churned out simply to meet a production deadline. They often consist of weak, shallow characters coupled with obnoxiously bad CGI, which leads to a mediocre or bad experience. I hoped the sequel to my favorite Marvel movie, “Black Panther,” would be different.

Black Panther: Wakanda Forever was no redemption for Marvel.

The movie did shine in a few moments. It handled the death of Chadwick Boseman very well with an emotional funeral scene and a beautiful tribute in the ending. The actors normally nail it in Marvel movies, and their performances in this movie were no exception. I loved how the writers gave Shuri a distinctive arc based around coping with the grief of losing her brother.

Where Marvel did fall short was Namor’s character.

He is the antagonist of the movie, but it’s not so clear cut. At first Marvel made his backstory sympathetic, rooting his motivations in trying to protect his nation by keeping it safe and isolated. His actual characterization in the movie is that of a warmonger, which is the exact opposite of what he is portrayed as. Instead of a wary and cautious king, he is forced by the writers to be a ruthless, blind killer. I was baffled that Marvel would turn on their own storytelling.

But my biggest qualm about “Wakanda Forever” is the inclusion of Riri Williams, played by Dominique Throne. She was shoehorned into the movie because of “Ironheart,” a TV show airing on Disney+ next year. Marvel wanted an excuse to introduce this new character beforehand and this was the movie they decided to put her in. The downfall of marvel

Before Marvel, superheroes weren’t super. There was so much room to explore and opportunity to pave the path in this novel genre. Beginning the Marvel Cinematic Universe with “Iron Man,” these novel movies had immense potential.

I remember the feeling of bliss after watching a new Marvel movie. The satisfaction of scratching an itch in your brain that you didn’t know you had. Then, the sudden thirst for another. This constant cycle kept Marvel a talking point, with the buzz of a new movie always in the air. I remember the weeks leading up to “Avengers: Endgame;” there was a new “theory or leak’’ every other day. The whole world held their breath to see this final movie.

And it was worth it.

Endgame made $2.798 billion in global theaters. I remember going to school that Monday with only one question looming: “What’s next?” On occasions I would beg my mom or my brother to take me to the theater again the next day to bask in the glory of superhero action, just to see the Winter Soldier flip his knife one more time. Even when some of the dialogue wasn’t that great or some plot points weren’t fully developed, each new chapter was masterfully crafted and left a raging desire to see what came next.

That feeling has been dead since the beginning of phase four.

After “Avengers: Endgame,” Marvel lost its focus. Previously, each addition in the phases had compelling stories with a direction and with engaging characters. That’s what these new movies lack. After watching older Marvel movies, I never left the theater unsatisfied, with a guilty feeling in my chest, asking “what did I just watch?”

“Thor: Love and Thunder” opened my eyes to this reality. Marvel is starting to prioritize quantity over quality, with each new movie lacking direction and purpose. It feels like the same Marvel formula. This worked well when superheroes were a niche genre, but now it feels repetitive and predictable. Marvel is now resorting to cheap tactics like cameos and jokes, not meaningful storytelling. It’s not sustainable. These are hollow additions that you cannot build a movie off of. Why did they find it necessary to interrupt a serious scene about a character with cancer with a joke? Do they think I’m too feeble-minded to stay engaged without a joke every five seconds? Is that how low they have stooped? For the first time in half a decade, I didn’t know what I was watching.

This was not the Marvel I remember.

Overproduction is overworking their staff, especially CGI artists, who sacrifice the production quality of their movies and TV shows for quantity. This disparity is clearly seen in “Thor: Love and Thunder” and “She Hulk,” each has some laughably awful CGI.

Not only are the special effects rushed, so are the script and plot. Multiverse of Madness, one of the most anticipated movies of 2022, was a mess. Wanda’s character was so underdeveloped that only people who watched “WandaVision,’’ an exclusive TV show only on Disney+, could grasp her motivations. Even then, I wondered why and how she turned into a murdering sociopath after leaving seemingly apologetic and regretful at the end of “Wandavison.”

It’s not all doom and gloom. “Shang-Chi” was an exceptional movie with a unique touch of martial arts and with real stunts, including captivating characters and fun rhetoric. The viewing of “Spider- Man: No Way Home” was also the most fun I’ve had in a movie theater in a long time: I was pumping my fists and cheering when I saw Tobey Maguire and Andrew Garfield show up. I grew up on “Spider-Man” and “The Amazing Spider-Man” so it felt nostalgic for me.

Marvel is falling off; they are so preoccupied with the next big thing that they don’t spend time and effort on what they are working on now. I don’t think this movie was terrible, but it did not live up to my expectations of being the predecessor to one of my favorite movies, and definitely not a revival to a fading dynasty.