The Marvel Cinematic Universe may have a rough road ahead.

Let me be honest. I didn’t know what to write this week. So, I turned to our Editor-in-Chief, Joseph Jammer Medina, for help. His pitch:

Maybe you can embellish on this hot take I threw out in [our Slack Star Wars channel]: Do you think Star Wars films are bound to fail from the start because of a fan base’s purist opinions and lack of willingness to accept artistic expression from the creative teams behind the projects?

Hot take? Hardly, Jammer. This is an issue I believe in 100%, and I am pretty, pretty, pretty sure I’ve even written about it before, years ago after the release of The Last Jedi.

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Of course, Jammer meant “fail to make fans happy,” not fail critically or financially. Though the sequel trilogy trended downward at the box office, a first for a Star Wars trilogy, Disney’s Star Wars has been very profitable. The only “flop” to speak of is Solo: A Star Wars Story. Critics have also loved the Disney films, with the exception of last year’s The Rise of Skywalker.

Fans on the other end, have heavy criticism of every Star Wars movie since 1983’s Return of the Jedi. Some people have rewritten history to claim the prequels are better than Disney Star Wars, but that is complete balderdash and I’m not here to debate that.

I’m simply saying decades of extreme Star Wars fandom lead to disappointment among fans because expectations were too high, and we all have a vision of what we think Star Wars should or shouldn’t be in our heads. That’s really all I need to say about Jammer’s pitch, so I let it evolve.

Why Isn’t Fandom So Divisive And Negative About The Marvel Cinematic Universe?

My first question is when this fate would befall Marvel Studios and their Marvel Cinematic Universe. And why hasn’t it already?

The easy answer is that the Marvel Cinematic Universe is younger. Decades and decades younger, kicking off with Iron Man in 2008, and finally giving us a game-changing team-up film in 2012 with The Avengers. There has been no decade or longer gap in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, not leaving much time to set our expectations about Tony Stark or Steve Rogers too high.

Maybe Kevin Feige is just better at delivering what fans want? Does he know the Marvel characters from the comics better than Kathleen Kennedy and JJ Abrams understand the characters of the original, sacred trilogy?

Maybe. He certainly has more trust from fans. But is trust enough, or after The Infinity Saga, will fans of the Marvel Cinematic Universe be harder, if not impossible, to please?

Fans May Become More Critical And Opinionated About The Marvel Cinematic Universe Sooner Than You Think

In a way, The Infinity Saga that wrapped up with Avengers: Endgame and Spider-Man: Far From Home last year, is a sort of elongated original Star Wars Trilogy.

Think about it this way. We had one hell of a perfect, gigantic finale that should have been impossible, but pleased most fans. This will be hard to replicate with a second, decade-spanning story leading really to any other villain, even those more popular in the comics than Thanos. I don’t think we’ll ever see another Marvel Cinematic Universe film out-gross Endgame.

The other comparison to Star Wars is that we’ve basically lost our Han, Luke, and Leia of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. We’re headed in a new direction in a Universe missing the two fan favorites, Tony Stark and Steve Rogers. We’ll likely see all the other original Avengers again on the big screen or Disney+, but frankly, even with Thor getting a fourth Marvel Cinematic Universe film, the God of Thunder, Black Widow, Hawkeye, and Hulk will no longer be the driving force behind the overall narrative and future Avengers movies.

To make matters worse, May’s Black Widow is expanding on a character many fans feel like they know. With the Black Widow film, the first of the new era of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, are fans expectations for the character turning this prequel into Solo: A Star Wars Story are far as reception… and even box office expectations? Will The Eternals somehow flip the Marvel Cinematic Universe on its head to a point that fans say, “This ain’t the MCU In know and love?”

The Biggest Challenges And Threats That May Cause The Marvel Cinematic Universe To Lose Fans

All that being said, aside from character disappointment, one advantage the Marvel Cinematic Universe has over Star Wars is that it all feels like a cohesive vision. This is in contrast to revisiting Star Wars every two decades with new technology. Yes, technology has changed a lot since 2008, but we’ve watched the Marvel Cinematic Universe grow with it, so it’s not a shock and there isn’t as much pressure to make these sequels “feel and look” like what started it all. Star Wars has struggled with this, ditching nearly everything classic about Star Wars – classic aliens, ships, etc – for the prequels, then over-correcting with the sequels and Disney era.

Marvel, even when switching up tones in a way Star Wars never has, has found even greater success. Thor: Ragnarok and Guardians of the Galaxy seem like the biggest departures from the rest of the films, visually and tonally, but it’s still very Marvel. The Marvel Cinematic Universe, being much younger, isn’t as strictly one vision fans expect. They’ve been experimenting long enough that we expect change. And, to Black Widow‘s credit, it has the “tone and feel” of a Marvel Studios movie. I think fans missed that “it feels like Star Wars” ultimatum they wanted with the prequels and Disney films.

RELATED – Marvel’s Incredibly-Cosmic Eternals Film To Feature Mostly Practical Sets? Count Me Skeptical

Here’s the real threat: what happens with Iron Man going forward and how to bring in Wolverine? Tony Stark will be back eventually, hell, he may be back in Black Widow! Eventually Feige and RDJ will play that card, or the universe will eventually have to reboot him. That’s when you lose fans to the “that’s not MY Iron Man” effect that has plagued Star Wars.

Wolverine will be a big one as well. How do you follow up Hugh Jackman with a new actor? He owned the role. It’s like recasting Han Solo, which fans hated. Yet, it has to happen eventually. Truly, only Marvel Studios and Feige could pull this off… IF it is possible to do so. Otherwise, now you have the “that’s not MY Wolverine” issue as well.

Conclusion

It’s impossible to say when fans will come too protective and opinionated about the Marvel Cinematic Universe to a point where it begins to miss expectations. Maybe it has already started, though I don’t feel it and have faith in Feige.

It is, like Thanos, inevitable. Will it be 2020? Maybe in 5 years? 10? Not until Feige moves on or retires? We shall see, but eventually, the Marvel Cinematic Universe is destined to fail fans. It is a matter of when, not if.

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