Marvel in crisis: Will the studio want to bring back Iron Man, Black Widow and Captain America?

A Week Ahead of Marvel’s Captain Marvel Sequel With Brie Larson, US Magazine variety dedicates a long piece to Marvel Studios and wonders if the house of ideas is struggling.

Journalist Tatiana Siegel explains that during the studio’s annual meeting last September, creators and managers were concerned.

“Everyone at Marvel has been reeling from a series of on-screen disappointments, a legal scandal involving one of its biggest stars and questions about the viability of the studio’s ambitious strategy to expand the brand beyond movies and into streaming.“

Jonathan Majors changed in future films?

The case of Jonathan Majors, Kang’s interpreter in the MCU, was particularly noted. The actor was accused of assault and arrested by the police in March of last year.

Although the character will appear in Loki’s second season casting, Majors’ future at the studio is uncertain. When the series began, the producer explained that the season had already been filmed during the events.

But if the actor loses the lawsuit, Marvel could reconsider his future at the studio. According to Variety, Kevin Feige is considering two options: replacing Jonathan Majors with another actor, as was already done for Iron Man 2 when Don Cheadle replaced Terrence Howard, or replacing Kang with another antagonist from the comics: Doctor Doom, who already appears in Fantastic Four in , which Marvel is preparing to relaunch. This change forces Marvel to rethink all plans, including the April 2026 release of the Avengers: Kang Dynasty movie.

Too many links between content?

But Jonathan Majors isn’t the studio’s only problem. Numbers filming Nia DaCosta is worried about the Marvels studio, which is not at ease with the release of this huge $274 million budget feature film.

The film brings together Carol Danvers (Brie Larson) and two allies with superpowers, Monica Rambo, played by Teyonah Parris (coming to the Disney+ series WandaVision in 2021) and Kamala Khan (Iman Whelan), from the Miss Marvel series. Regrouping, which led to four weeks filming To give more coherence to an overly convoluted plot.

According to Eric Handler, a Wall Street analyst specializing in Disney, the problems facing Marvel today are related to the COVID pandemic.

In 2020, the studio decided to boost Disney’s stock price with a continuous torrent of Marvel related content to feed its new Disney+ streaming platform. According to the plan, there would never be a break in the production of superhero content. But with so many series and movies and the need to create an interwoven plot, the audience was outraged.

The more you do, the harder it is to maintain quality.

He explains to Variety:The Marvel machine has produced a lot of content. Did it get to the point where there were too many and people were tired of superheroes? It is possible. The more you do, the harder it is to maintain quality. They experimented by introducing new characters, e.g Shang-Chi and Eternal oneswith mixed results. With budgets this big, you have to be happy“.

Bob Iger, CEO of The Walt Disney Company, himself acknowledged the shortcomings of this glut of Marvel programming, which “Decreased attention and concentration“.

Mahershala Ali almost dropped ‘Blade’

As a result, the studio takes time to launch new products. Thus, Blade with Mahershala Ali will be pushed back to 2025. The project passed into the hands of five screenwriters, two directors, and post-production was stopped 6 weeks before the start of shooting.

According to assumptions, Kevin Feige According to reports, the film is going to be made on a budget of less than 100 million dollars, which is a departure from Marvel’s strategy. The article also said that Mahershala Ali, who was set to play the vampire-hunting superhero, almost walked out of the project after reading a script that cast him in a supporting role.

Are the original Avengers returning?

According to Variety’s source, one solution mentioned by Marvel would be to bring back stars from the golden age of superhero movies. So the original Avengers: Robert Downey Jr. (Iron Man), Scarlett Johansson (Black Widow), Chris Evans (Captain America), Chris Hemsworth (Thor), Mark Ruffalo (Hulk) and Jeremy Renner (Hawkeye) may return.

This would require the resurrection of Iron Man and Black Widow and the return of Captain America from the past. But it shouldn’t be too difficult thanks to the multiverse…

However, the return of the iconic actors will not cost the studio. Robert Downey Jr.’s starting salary in Iron Man 3 was already 25 million dollars. On the other hand, it’s not certain that the actor, who recently played Oppenheimer, wants to slip into the Iron Man suit again. During the promotion of Christopher Nolan’s film, the latter said that playing the same character for 10 years questioned his abilities as an actor.

Deadpool and the X-Men to save Marvel?

Is creating something new from something old the solution? Variety speculates that Marvel’s way to get back on its feet may be in the arsenal of superheroes that Disney acquired when it bought Fox in 2019. Deadpool, X-Men and Four Fantastics thus allowed the studio to get back on its feet. . Fans are also looking forward to Deadpool 3, which was halted due to the writers and actors strike.

Writing an obituary for Marvel would be pointless

“Writing an obituary for Marvel would be pointless– says Jason Squire, professor emeritus at the US School of Cinematic Arts and presenter The Movie Business Podcast newspaper.

“Kevin Feige is the Baby Ruth of studio executives, and Marvel is the most profitable company in movie history. There is no doubt.”