The Big Picture
- The Marvels faced challenges such as the SAG-AFTRA strike and a lack of star promotion, contributing to its low box office performance.
- The movie was unfairly criticized and faced misogyny before it even premiered, unlike other male-centric superhero movies.
- The Marvels shouldn't bear the responsibility for the decline in the MCU box office due to the shift towards streaming platforms and general audience disinterest in theatrical releases.
The Marvels has finally flown onto Disney+. Directed by Nia DaCosta, Brie Larson returns as Carol Danvers, and this time around, she’s joined by WandaVision’s Teyonah Parris as Monica Rambeau and Ms. Marvel herself, Iman Vellani. Carol Danvers, Monica Rambeau, and Kamala Khan become entangled after Kree leader, Dar-Benn (Zawe Ashton), opens a wormhole while trying to reclaim glory for her dying planet.
While the movie marks many firsts in the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU), such as being the first Marvel movie directed by a woman of color starring women of color, The Marvels is now the lowest-grossing MCU movie to date. Upon its release, clickbait headlines spread like wildfire, bringing with them a new level of skepticism and exaggerated hate towards the once juggernaut of the box office. However, many ignored factors at play working against The Marvels that left the movie fighting with one hand tied behind its back. While other superhero movies of 2023 were given a pass, The Marvels took the brunt of the criticism.
The Marvels
PG-13SuperheroActionAdventureCarol Danvers gets her powers entangled with those of Kamala Khan and Monica Rambeau, forcing them to work together to save the universe.
Release Date November 10, 2023 Director Nia DaCosta Cast Brie Larson , Samuel L. Jackson , Zawe Ashton , Iman Vellani Runtime 105 minutes Main Genre Superhero Writers Nia DaCosta , Megan McDonnell , Elissa Karasik Expand‘The Marvels’ Stars Couldn’t Promote the Movie Due to the SAG-AFTRA Strike
An important distinction to make about The Marvels box office performance is found within the context of its release. The Marvels hit theaters on November 10, 2023, just one day after the SAG-AFTRA strike had ended. Up until that point, Brie Larson, Teyonah Parris, and Iman Vellani could not promote the movie in interviews or social media posts; doing so would have been crossing the picket lines. To compensate, The Marvels director, Nia DaCosta, did much of the heavy lifting when it came to discussing the film, and while she is a charismatic person in her own right, the Captain Marvel sequel couldn’t use its three stars’ natural chemistry with each other to garner excitement for the movie. The Marvels is the only MCU movie that faced this obstacle upon its release.
Meanwhile, because the SAG-AFTRA strike had concluded, Jason Momoa was able to hit the junket circuit in order to boost anticipation for Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom and the end of the DC Extended Universe (DCEU). Yet with a proper promotional tour, Aquaman 2 only grossed $413 million worldwide, which is a major step down from the $1.152 billion worldwide that the first Aquaman movie grossed. Aquaman 2 had everything The Marvels didn’t have at its disposal for marketing, but they also fell short.
What’s interesting is that the box office stumblings of the Aquaman sequel did not garner as much attention or clickbait headlines as The Marvels did. Aquaman 2 and the DCEU basically drifted off into the sunset without fanfare, while The Marvels sparked debate about the superhero genre as a whole. Let's keep in mind, of course, that all the DCEU movies released in 2023 struggled to make a dent at the box office. Shazam! Fury of the Gods and The Flash struggled to bring in audiences with returning characters, including the return of Michael Keaton as Batman. Blue Beetle, which also faced promotional challenges due to the SAG-AFTRA strike, clocked in as the lowest-grossing DCEU movie to date. It’s fascinating how it had to be this movie starring three women—two of whom are women of color, directed by a Black female director—that took the brunt of recent Marvel criticism.
‘The Marvels’ Was Fighting an Unfair Battle Before It Was Even Released
The Marvels stood out among the roster of comic book movies in 2023 for a distinct reason: it was the only female-centric comic book movie with a team-up of female superheroes. It also marked the first time in the MCU's 33-film run that a Marvel movie would be directed by a Black woman. The first female Marvel team-up movie should’ve stirred up excitement, but instead, many were already betting it would fail sight-unseen.
If we look back at 2019, the first Captain Marvel movie faced similar bad faith opinions before the movie even premiered. In fact, when the first Captain Marvel trailer debuted, Brie Larson faced extreme criticism for not smiling in the trailer, something her fellow male Marvel heroes were never questioned about. The amount of hate she received that day exposed the truth that women receive gendered criticism from men that’s usually louder than the praise. It continued to escalate to the point of its release, and even after Captain Marvel crossed the $1 billion threshold, the online hate towards Brie Larson (with the majority of it being from men) intensified.
Related'The Marvels' Sacrificed Itself on the Franchise Altar
‘The Marvels’ is actually great, but suffers some unfortunate MCU interference.
Even if we excluded the very extreme corners of the internet who have a personal vendetta against the Oscar-winning actress, the recent stumbles by Marvel Studios and general Marvel fatigue have left many doubting whether it can pick itself back up again. Those with an anti-Marvel bias have gotten more excessive with their critiques of every little detail, and the closer we got to The Marvels’ release in November 2023, the louder it got. To be clear, no studio or film is above reproach, and criticism is necessary in order for entertainment to evolve and improve. However, for The Marvels, there was an overwhelming wave of hate before the movie even premiered. Whether it was conscious or not, those bad faith opinions seemed to be steeped in misogyny that Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania and Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3, quite frankly, didn’t face.
It Was Never ‘The Marvels’ Responsibility To Carry the MCU Box Office
CloseThere once was a time when speculating on the box office numbers for a superhero movie was considered exciting. In the years leading up to Avengers: Infinity War and Avengers: Endgame, celebrating the box office successes of new Marvel movies added to the anticipation of the Infinity Saga; not to mention, it seemed to offer quantifiable evidence that this “Marvel machine” couldn't be stopped. In the post-Endgame landscape, the MCU model has come to incorporate Disney+, and as a result, or even as a consequence, general audiences have lost the incentive to go to the theaters and watch the sequel to yet another Ant-Man movie when it'll just be streaming on Disney+ a few months later. In short, the urgency to see the newest Marvel movie is completely gone.
In a perfect world, The Marvels would’ve been given a fair chance to fail or succeed based on its own merits; it would’ve had the traditional promotional tour that could’ve generated enough enthusiasm to see the film in theaters. Better yet, The Marvels would've had the opportunity to fail like its male-centric superhero movie peers and not be blamed for the decline in the MCU. However, we’re reminded more and more each day that Hollywood is a for-profit business, and money talks. Since it's the lowest-grossing MCU movie to date, it will be disappointing (but not shocking) if Kevin Feige takes the wrong lessons from The Marvels’ performance.
As a whole, The Marvels was a fun yet fine movie, allowing Carol Danvers, Monica Rambeau, and Kamala Khan to meet and go on a cosmic adventure across the galaxy. The story didn’t fly higher, further, or faster than the first Captain Marvel, nor was it close to the worst Marvel movie we’ve seen thus far. These characters are strong in their own right, but it wasn’t their job to hold the future of the Marvel Studios box office on their shoulders when Marvel handed part of their profit to their parent company’s streaming service. For all the obstacles that were continually stacked against them, the vitriolic response to The Marvels’ box office numbers was hyperbolic when all The Marvels really wanted to do was have a good time.
The Marvels is available to watch on Disney+ in the U.S.
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