As far as entertainment goes, movies, TV shows, and other films have been very popular over the years. For many years, production companies have created some pretty iconic movies that people seem to relate to and love. Personally, I feel life would be pretty boring without them. Movies can provide interesting plots and characters that keep viewers engaged. One company that has done a phenomenal job at creating memorable storylines is Marvel. This company has been around since 1939, and, over the years, has released many action-packed movies that are based on superheroes and their stories against certain villains. Marvel has been very popular leading up to today, but the question remains whether it can keep its hype or not. 

     First, I grew up watching Marvel movies, and I loved them! The action and plot drew me in and held my attention, and to the point where I was always left thirsting for more. At times, it seemed like I couldn’t stop watching them. Comic book superheroes like Iron Man, Hulk, Thor, Captain America, Hawkeye, and Black Widow, created by Stan Lee, were who I grew up watching. Marvel movies had a certain magic to them that were very appealing to many people, including myself. All the movies fell into different phases as well. For example, the first phase began in 2008 and ended in 2012, where each superhero was the main character in every movie in the past. In most cases, every phase ended in an Avengers movie or a big event to set up the next phase. Right now, we are in phase 4, and questions have been raised about the quality of these Marvel movies. 

     It seems that Marvel has been pumping out movie after movie lately.  Having an abundance of new movies from these cinematronic geniuses is not something to complain about, but is it ever too much? Many feel Marvel is choosing quantity over quality. During the first three phases, each movie would take up to a year to make, and they were high quality, in my opinion. In general, they were good movies as a whole, but some were better than others. Currently, Marvel is releasing up to 4 movies a year, and on top of that, they are in the process of making additional TV series’ along the way. It’s difficult to make quality films when little time is taken on each one. 

     According to different movie critics, films within phase three received, on average, 89 percent positive reviews. Phase four, on the other hand, has had the lowest recorded average score of 75 percent of positive reviews. One of the movies named Eternals has one of the lowest ratings at a B-, compared to the average A- of the other phases. The most recent movies, Thor: Love and Thunder and Doctor Strange: Multiverse of Madness, have not been my favorites. I didn’t go to the theaters to watch the new Doctor Strange movie because I heard it was very demonic. After it came out on Disney +, I watched it, and I noticed that the computer graphics (cgi) was not the greatest either. In my opinion, the new Thor movie included too much comedy.  It didn’t have a good comedy-action balance which hindered the level of seriousness and believability of the characters. 

     In conclusion, there are different opinions on whether Marvel is losing its magic. We can agree that this company is producing more movies in a shorter amount of time. We can also agree that increasing the quantity can hinder the quality of each production.  The impact of doing this could greatly hinder business leading to lost profits or even worse, bankruptcy.  I’ve always loved Marvel, and I hate to see it decline even more than it already has. Perhaps the producers will learn from the mistakes of the past and create better movies in phase five. I very much hope that they figure something out before fans, like myself, lose interest. 

Sources: 

https://www.cbr.com/marvel-movies-critical-audience-worsening-ratings-explained-mcu/

https://www.theatlantic.com/entertainment/archive/2018/11/stan-lee-marvel-comics-dies/575638/

https://comic-cons.xyz/marvel-movies-list-order-release-date/