There’s no material to make a Maria Hill series that people would truly want to watch; the offbeat shield agent concept was already done by AoS itself. And she has no stories in the comics centered around her. Just because she’s somewhat interesting doesn’t mean she needs a series. Not that I’m condoning the decision to kill her character, but they really weren’t doing anything with her.
Eh… one death doesn’t waste the potential of an entire story, particularly when she’s never been a very important character even on the source material.
. The Thor series are really up there in terms of wasting great epic source material and acting talent. Ragnarok ended up being more sophomore humor than a reflective epic to fit, and let’s not even talk about Thor: Love and Thunder. Even worse for the fact you know Chris Hemsworth has waited for a movie worthy of his character for so long, yet he keeps getting relegated to comedic relief.
Makes sense. Anytime you have to play the role of a character with mental issues, it’s an opportunity to show your range.
I think the plan was for Sam and Yelena to be the faces of the MCU, since their future roles were being established right at the end of the Infinity Saga. Simu Liu certainly has had the enthusiasm of a lead, but other than a possible connection through the 10 rings, it doesn’t look like Shang Chi figured to be a central character at all. Maybe Hawkeye level of importance at most.
All of it, by the look of things, since that’s exactly what the character is supposed to be: a Marvel fan in the Marvel universe.
. The problem is that finding another James Gunn —who can turn an obscure franchise about a talking raccoon and tree into one of the biggest hits in comic book movie history— is easier said than done. And I think Marvel got the wrong impression of their brand’s value with the Guardians of the Galaxy trilogy, thinking that it was the brand that made it a hit, and not Gunn’s understanding and respect for the source material. They got rid of all the original superheroes everyone loved and replaced them with complete unknowns cosplaying as them, thinking people would just buy them because of the Marvel Studios label. Glad they’re learning the lesson now.
I’m not sure the burnout is about superheroes as much as it is about franchises people don’t really care as much about. I don’t see people getting tired of Spider-Man and Deadpool movies.
I’ll just wait for the YouTube upload…