Look Back At The Biggest Marvel Fiasco

We are in 2022, three years after the cataclysm Avengers : Endgame. The Infinite saga has come to an end and now, Kevin Feige and his teams are devoting themselves body and soul to the multiverse and its many ramifications. For the first time in its history, the MCU is no longer limited to cinemas and is taking over the ranks of Disney+. If this is not the first time that the superheroes of the stable have taken over the small screen, series of the genre have never had a place within the main chronology. Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D as well as Daredevil stood at a good distance from the Avengers and their intrigues with global consequences.

Now, productions like Loki or Wandavision are as important to the greater Marvel story as the next installments of the sagas Captain America or Black Panther. In 2022, the list of MCU films and series is longer than ever. All these productions must prepare for a new major event, the movies Avengers 5 et 6 : Kang Dynasty et Secret Wars. This latest film is undoubtedly the most anticipated project for comic book readers, the goal to achieve for Feige and his teams. The glossy bow is crucial. It must redefine the Marvel planet in many ways, summoning heroes never introduced to the cinema and bringing back characters who were until now exploited by others.

The takeover of 20th Century Fox

The genesis of the next Avengers diptych dates back to 2019, when the Walt Disney Company acquired 21st Century Fox. For the tidy sum of $71.3 billionthe little mouse takes over the film studio, its television division and all the licenses that evolve under its control. An acquisition which also includes certain Marvel licenses, including X-Men whose adaptation rights were sold by Marvel Comics in the late 90s. The Fantastic Four are also coming homeeven if at this time they were no longer really at the heart of the Hollywood industry’s priorities. After two notable failures, the fine team was shelved for an indefinite period.

Since 2009 in the fold of Disney, Marvel finally has a free hand. With their hands free to summon their most popular heroes, their hands free to prepare for the Dantesque event, spectators have been waiting for years. Secret Wars could not take place without Xavier and his team, without Reed Richards and his friends. It is now clear that a film with an innumerable number of characters is being prepared, that post-Endgame will mark the return of certain teams.

Endgame opened Pandora’s box

Coincidence of the calendar or not, Avengers : Endgame came out a few months after this takeover. The Russo brothers’ film must conclude the Infinity saga begun with Iron Man in 2008. The plot plays with an idea that would theoretically allow Marvel to bring together all of its superheroes. Time travel is possible, thus bringing about the concept of multiverse. From then on, Kevin Feige will strive to continue this momentum by making Lokithe one who escaped from Avengers Tower in 2012, a cornerstone of these dimensions. Pandora’s box is opened and an antagonist emerges.

Kang the Conqueror is about to make his entrance and must tilt the MCU more widely into the twists and turns of space and time. Doctor Strange in the multiverse of Madness, Spider-Man : No Way Home or, more recently Fantastic Fourthe multiverse is on everyone’s lips. What if?the animated series, also plays with this idea to better prepare viewers for what the next Avengers films must do: bring together all the heroes under the same emblem. An emblem of the reformed Avengers with the X-Men, Fantastic 4 and even Daredevil and his clique. In 2022, Marvel therefore announces Avengers : Kang Dynasty et Avengers : Secret Wars.

The recipe is the same as for Infinity War et Endgamenamely two films shown in cinemas a few months apart, six at the time. May 2025 for the first and November 2025 for the secondeverything is going well for the House of Ideas which relies heavily on these meetings to attract the public. The MCU is showing serious signs of weakness, but nothing that an Avengers can’t fill. Except that, shortly after, everything goes wrong.

The case of Kang the Conqueror

In December 2023, the rumor that has been circulating for a while is confirmed. Jonathan Majors who portrays Kang the Conqueror is ousted from the Marvel Cinematic Universe. He is found guilty of assaulting an ex-partner and Disney no longer wants to associate with him. Kevin Feige is therefore stripped of his new Thanos… Plus, this time, he’s not relying on CGI to make it hatch.

Kang is greatly associated with the face of Majors and we must therefore find a solution to move forward without him. A complex situation knowing that Majors was a few months earlier at the epicenter of season 2 of Loki on Disney+. All the markers were placed, everything was in place or almost. At the time, Destin Daniel Cretton was associated with Kang Dynasty while Secret Wars did not officially have a director.

For several months, Marvel will keep its emergency exit a mystery. Kevin Feige brought together all his teams to completely rethink his multiverse saga and to eliminate Kang. The good news, Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania was not a great success and the film almost concluded the story arc of the big bad.

But there still remains the question of who will be able to put the Avengers in difficulty, who will have the power to wage a multiversal war. Fans have an idea and many are taking to social media to ask the arrival of the man who never takes off his steel mask…

Box office plummets…we bring Downey back

In 2023, Marvel and even more broadly Disney are looking gloomy. At the box office, the superhero stable accumulates disappointments and nothing seems capable of reviving the public’s enthusiasm. However, a year later, the franchise will electrify cinemas with Deadpool & Wolverine. At the same time, Marvel made a notable return to San Diego Comic Con. Two panels are organized for the occasion, one on the new adventures of Wade Wilson, the‘other (officially) on the next three MCU films.

After the presentations of Captain America : Brave New World, Thunderbolts et Fantastic 4: first steps, Kevin Feige had one last surprise in store… He announced the next two Avengers filmsrespectively for December 16, 2026 and December 17, 2027.

And Secret Wars stay Secret Wars, Kang Dynasty is renamed Doomsday and no more doubt, Victor Doom is about to enter the MCU after having been exploited at Fox in the films of Tim Story and that of Josh Trank. The Russo brothers are in charge of the two features, as they were for the last two in the end. On the stage, an army of Doctor Dooms enters and one of them stands out. On stage, the identity of its performer is revealed: Robert Downey Jr. returns to play the villains.

An announcement which will have moved the public on site, but also raised some questions about the direction taken by Marvel Studios. Faced with an obvious drop in attendance in theaters, is the return of Tony Stark’s interpreter a cry of distress? We would be tempted to say that the operation is rather risky… that the chances of a failure which mar the path traveled are great. The trailer for Doomsday must be revealed in a few days, it will then be up to them to take the temperature and determine if these next two films are worth a look or if they will mark the end of an era dominated by heroes in capes and tights at the cinema.

In any case, Secret Wars and Doomsday are now the emblem of a saga in the midst of an identity crisis. A rescue mission that might not bear fruit. The figures of Fantastic 4: First Steps are not reassuring, those of Captain America 4 et Thunderbolts* are alarming. The House of Ideas is hopelessly running out of… ideas.