Newest MCU Updates Prove Marvel Needs to Fire Feige
Is he in his final phase?
Kevin Feige has overseen a largely successful period for Marvel since taking over in 2007. There have been some big hits for the production company that have made a lot of money and got audiences obsessed with the superhero genre once again. But it's looking increasingly likely that his race is over and it's time to go.
Many of the problems are rooted in Phase 4, which took the MCU in a different direction. While mixing things up a bit is not necessarily a bad thing, when you mess with something that is successful and globally popular, you have to absolutely nail it.
The problem with Phase 4
The decision to launch Phase 4 was a huge one for Marvel. But it always had the potential to go wrong. You can have too much of a good thing, and this new direction is proof of that. Note that I'm calling the MCU a good thing, not Phase 4.
Phase 4 simply created an overload of Marvel and allowed superhero fatigue to set in. The result is a diluted franchise. It's just not possible to keep producing high-quality material at such a rate. For Marvel, this means that a higher proportion of its output has become substandard.
It's moved away from its core characters, but it's also tried to weave together a cohesive narrative that encompasses all of its components. This is confusing, verbose, and leads to some stories feeling like they exist to set up another movie or show rather than being a piece of entertainment in their own right.
This dumbing down of the MCU with weak movies like Black Widow and Dr. Strange happened under Kevin Feige's watch. And as long as he's still around, it doesn't look like things are going to get any better.
The Marvels and Daredevil: Born Again
The Marvels is set to be released in early November with box office predictions of between $50 million and $75 million for its opening weekend and a total of around $121 million to $189 million overall.
Compare that to Avengers: Endgame, which grossed just under $2.8 billion, and it becomes obvious that viewer appetite is not there for it.
Then there are the decisions Feige made about Daredevil: Born Again. Not casting Karen Page was a decision fans struggled to accept. Firing writers and directors halfway through production seems like suicide for a show that is already struggling.
Someone somewhere must surely be holding Feige to account. Granted, there have been some failed movies in the past (Thor 2, I'm looking at you), but those came at a time when the franchise was flying.
Phase 4 looks to be on a downward spiral with nothing to hold on to. And the buck has to stop with Kevin Feige.
Source: Boxofficepro.