Kevin Feige isn’t the only one at Disney with a say on what happens with Marvel. Since taking over the company again, Bob Iger has been pulling no punches regarding what the Mouse House needs to do to fix its issues.
One of the most significant weaknesses for Disney is the Marvel Studios’ side of things, a once-bulletproof brand. Following the epic Avengers: Endgame, the MCU has struggled to find its voice in recent years. Since 2020, Marvel has seen two negative Rotten Tomatoes scores, a rarity for the MCU, and the most recent comes in the form of Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania. In what was supposed to be defining introduction to a new arc and a new villain, the film currently sits at 47% on RT and is struggling at the box office. Disney CEO Bob Iger doesn’t like these numbers and feels Marvel could change a few things.
One of Iger’s most significant plans for Marvel, the executive wants Avengers movies with a whole new generation of Avengers.
“Marvel – there were 7,000 characters, there are a lot more stories to tell,” Iger said during a presentation at Morgan Stanley’s 2023 Technology Media and Telecom Conference. “What we have to look at Marvel is not necessarily the volume of Marvel storytelling, but how many times we go back to the well on certain characters. Sequels typically work well for us. Do you need a third or a fourth, or is it time to turn to other characters?
“There’s nothing in any way inherently off in terms of the Marvel brand,” he continued. “I think we just have to look at what characters or stories we’re mining. And if you look at the trajectory of Marvel over the next five years, you’re going to see a lot of newness. We’re going to turn back to the Avengers franchise, but with a whole set of different Avengers.”
Feige and Marvel are already slowing down, dropping a few Disney+ series from their 2023 slate and pushing The Marvels until the Fall. No telling yet if they can recover the glory the MCU once had, but make no mistake that the higher-ups know problems must be fixed.
The next massive event for Marvel is Avengers: The Kang Dynasty, which will lead into the hotly-anticipated Avengers: Secret Wars.
