Marvel’s Ironheart hadn’t even premiered when it was already under fire — not from critics or audiences with genuine concerns, but from a brigade of online
the general slide in popularity of the rest of the Marvel franchise. Very easy to review bomb a movie that nobody else is interested in watching, because the genre and the franchise is utterly played out.
While I agree there has been a decrease, to say no one is watching is an overstatement.
Deadpool & Wolverine was #2 at the Box Office for 2024. Marvel films were also in the top 10 in 2023 and 2024. Currently in 2025 Marvel films are in the top 10, although they would likely fall off by years end (but also Fantastic Four, so TBD).
The audience, as a whole, is interested. I understand that many people have stopped watching and that’s fine, but just because you have stopped because you don’t like it, doesn’t mean that everyone else had stopped.
What people want is a quality film. Or since we’re talking about Ironheart, a quality TV show. Disney/Marvel has absolutely fumbled with a lot of these stories. Their rock bottom was Secret Invasion. But we’re generally trending up.
Agatha was fantastic. Spider-Man was a fresh new approach that really worked. Daredevil was a project they knew they messed up on so they reshot it, it stumbles a little bit but starts and ends strong.
Watching Ironheart, with all the bad press going into it, I’ve been pleasantly surprised. It’s got some issues, but overall it’s solid.
You don’t think it’s telling that the big example you gave for people still liking Marvel was a movie that shit all over the MCU and made fun of the boring, convoluted mess it’s become?
No. That’s why I referenced 2022 & 2023 to show that 2024 wasn’t a rare exception. Looking at 2025 it does look like we are starting to trend downwards. While the two current MCU films are in the top 10 box office their numbers probably won’t let them stay there by the end of the year. However July gives us the comic book film Superman, but also the MCU film Fantastic Four. If those bomb horribly then yeah, maybe people really are getting sick of comic book/superhero films.
Besides Deadpool 3 made one joke about “this being a low point”. Jokes about the multiverse have been happening since the first Deadpool movie when it was just the Fox universe, so once you have access to everything, you of course make fun of everything (although even then most references stuck to Fox properties).
Deadpool & Wolverine was #2 at the Box Office for 2024.
Something of an exception that proved the rule, as the whole Deadpool formula is to parody and mock the main franchise.
Captain America: Brave New World underperformed Ant Man & Wasp Girl (itself a disappointment) despite enjoying significantly more promotion. The Disney+ MCU shows are all getting cancelled regardless of popularity, because the budgets are so high, including Agatha (which was mid in no small part because it was trapped in the Marvel formula).
Marvel films were also in the top 10 in 2023 and 2024.
Thanks to the enormous extensive promotion, they’ve managed to juice their rankings next to other lower budget films. But promotion costs money and if you’re not scraping $1B on your main line film every year, it’s hard to justify $100M+ telling people to go watch the film plus another $200-500M to make the damned things.
When you can release a movie like Terrifier 3 and rake in 45x what you spent for it, or a more traditional Disney film (Moana 2) for a scant $100M and take in 10x, you have to question the Marvel math.
While I agree there has been a decrease, to say no one is watching is an overstatement.
Deadpool & Wolverine was #2 at the Box Office for 2024. Marvel films were also in the top 10 in 2023 and 2024. Currently in 2025 Marvel films are in the top 10, although they would likely fall off by years end (but also Fantastic Four, so TBD).
The audience, as a whole, is interested. I understand that many people have stopped watching and that’s fine, but just because you have stopped because you don’t like it, doesn’t mean that everyone else had stopped.
What people want is a quality film. Or since we’re talking about Ironheart, a quality TV show. Disney/Marvel has absolutely fumbled with a lot of these stories. Their rock bottom was Secret Invasion. But we’re generally trending up.
Agatha was fantastic. Spider-Man was a fresh new approach that really worked. Daredevil was a project they knew they messed up on so they reshot it, it stumbles a little bit but starts and ends strong.
Watching Ironheart, with all the bad press going into it, I’ve been pleasantly surprised. It’s got some issues, but overall it’s solid.
You don’t think it’s telling that the big example you gave for people still liking Marvel was a movie that shit all over the MCU and made fun of the boring, convoluted mess it’s become?
No. That’s why I referenced 2022 & 2023 to show that 2024 wasn’t a rare exception. Looking at 2025 it does look like we are starting to trend downwards. While the two current MCU films are in the top 10 box office their numbers probably won’t let them stay there by the end of the year. However July gives us the comic book film Superman, but also the MCU film Fantastic Four. If those bomb horribly then yeah, maybe people really are getting sick of comic book/superhero films.
Besides Deadpool 3 made one joke about “this being a low point”. Jokes about the multiverse have been happening since the first Deadpool movie when it was just the Fox universe, so once you have access to everything, you of course make fun of everything (although even then most references stuck to Fox properties).
Something of an exception that proved the rule, as the whole Deadpool formula is to parody and mock the main franchise.
Captain America: Brave New World underperformed Ant Man & Wasp Girl (itself a disappointment) despite enjoying significantly more promotion. The Disney+ MCU shows are all getting cancelled regardless of popularity, because the budgets are so high, including Agatha (which was mid in no small part because it was trapped in the Marvel formula).
Thanks to the enormous extensive promotion, they’ve managed to juice their rankings next to other lower budget films. But promotion costs money and if you’re not scraping $1B on your main line film every year, it’s hard to justify $100M+ telling people to go watch the film plus another $200-500M to make the damned things.
When you can release a movie like Terrifier 3 and rake in 45x what you spent for it, or a more traditional Disney film (Moana 2) for a scant $100M and take in 10x, you have to question the Marvel math.