Both Marvel Studios head Kevin Feige and Disney CEO Bob Iger came out this week and said that going forward they were going to reduce the amount of streaming shows (having abandoned television) and movie they were planning to put out. The video we’re about to look at from Gary Buchler at Nerdrotic will prove how much of a lie that is…like Kathleen Kennedy’s constantly reported leaving Star Wars…or DisneyFilm themselves announcing new Star Wars projects that never happen. By the way, those two links go to the articles Gary references in his video, in case you want to do a context check.
Still, it’s a discussion worth having. Is there too much content coming out of the Disney+ era of Marvel Studios and is that why the content is failing? Is it really “superhero fatigue” or “Marvel fatigue”? I say no, and so does Gary so I don’t have to debate him on that. So what is the problem and how does it match the problems at DisneyFilm and their Star Wars content? Because both suffer from the same problem, which is oddly absent from the other Disney divisions. Nobody complains about too much content coming out of Pixar, and if anything there’s too little content coming from Disney’s regular animation wing to the point I’m not sure it exists anymore. You get the odd 3D movie but every other animated show on streaming and their two remaining channels comes from some other studio. The closest thing to classic Mickey Mouse and company is on Disney Junior in 3D.
Gary sets up the situation well enough in his commentary, but I’m still going to go through some specifics myself and ask is the quantity hurting the quality or is something else to blame? Or maybe it’s both.
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For the curious, Bob Iger started his career as a local TV weatherman. Gary doesn’t like him so he likes to drive that point home. Personally, rising from weatherman to Disney CEO should be amazing and inspirational, but give what Iger’s done to the company, screwed over fellow Bob, Bob Chapek, and so many bad decisions I almost want Michael Eisner back. He was an egotist who put out too much stuff, but at least he seemed to care about the brand (even if he wanted to be the face of it after Mickey and before Walt) and there was good content coming out. The direct-to-video sequels nobody asked for were usually on the weak side, but the series were really good and a highlight of the 1990s. Compare it to Iger, where the only good shows were ones already out and ending, other shows were filled with stereotype representation (Hailey’s On It was a great show in spite of that one and they killed it) and the “not so secret gay agenda” report from a leaked staff call didn’t help. Disney’s own products have suffered greatly, so it’s not surprising the two of the three biggest acquisitions have suffered, and the former 20th Century Fox barely exists now except for their library and getting the X-Men and Fantastic Four back to Marvel. They’d probably buy Sony for Spider-Man and the Ghostbusters, two properties Sony can’t seem to get right and would probably suffer more if Disney’s Marvel had full control.
So they screwed up as many ideas as they could in just one movie.
I haven’t seen Thunderbolts*New Avengers and I don’t plan to. For one thing, now they’ve ruined TWO comics from being done right. New Avengers was just the Avengers with a new team lineup so Brian Michael Bendis could write the characters he wanted to and mess them up. Spidey became a quip machine rather than just using them to annoy his enemies and give him an advantage (not to annoy his friends and allies) while Luke Cage dropped the “sweet Christmas” which was his curse for a canon reason, in favor of just swearing like every black ghetto character. Yeah, read my reviews of those issues. I wasn’t a fan. It’s also where Sentry debuted. As for the Thunderbolts, it was so far removed from that concept it’s not worth summarizing, though apparently the screenwriter was going to use Baron Zemo as the manipulator behind them but couldn’t figure out how to make him work in the story.
Also, changing the name of the movie after it’s out didn’t help Harley Quinn’s movie, did it? Also, they apparently decided a red streak in white hair was enough to raceswap Songbird, the former Screaming Mimi. They even changed her real name, so expect black Songbird to show up in Marvel comics eventually.
Ms Marvel was already a questionable draw. Marvel Comics has since done everything they can to keep her relevant. The idea of a superhero superfan who gets to become a superhero and has to hide it from her orthodox Muslim family had potential but they cared more about the Muslim part from what I’ve heard of early stories, as if they couldn’t just do a “slice of life” comic about a Muslim girl torn between the culture she lives in as an American teenager and the culture of her family as devout Muslims. I wouldn’t read it but it would have an audience apart from the superhero fanbase. Later on she suffered from Disney trying to downplay the Inhumans (after trying to force them to become the new mutants since they didn’t own Fox and the X-Men TV/movie rights at the time) after that movie bombed. Once they had Fox and the X-Men they’ve not just rewrote her into a mutant but sent her back in time to be part of every significant storyline in the X-titles history. You can’t force a character to be accepted and you don’t get to choose who the breakout character will be, the audience does. Plus the show changed her powers because “embiggening” her body (a combination of limited stretching and size altering) wouldn’t have worked in live-action, though it works in all her animated appearances.
So the problem is too many Marvel shows and movies, explain the Arrowverse? They weren’t to my taste but nobody complained about too many DC shows, and they were running at the same time. Other franchises have done the same like NCIS, Law & Order, and other shows that didn’t share a brand but did share a continuity. Disney only puts out a new Marvel and Star Wars show after the previous one ends while there hasn’t been a Star Wars movie in years and Marvel’s movie output hasn’t been that crazy if you don’t try to make every movie the next installment in an ongoing story rather than simply sharing a universe. I went over that earlier this week. The output isn’t a problem. It hasn’t been for the comics. Just don’t insist you have to see every movie and show to follow what happens in the next one.
“Why fight when we should be joining forces against Feige and Iger?”
That doesn’t mean quality control due to shoving things out the door hasn’t been an issue. The overworked visual effects teams can attest to that. Make sure you have a good product before sending it out, and extend your deadlines if you need to, something big video game publishers can’t seem to understand lately, either. Get your movie/show’s story together to where you don’t need a ton of reshoots, then make the movie, then let the effects team have time to make it look good. Since Hollywood seems to be trying to move away from practical effects despite a proven track record in favor of CG they can manipulate however they want and allegedly cheaper, you need them to have the time and budget to make the fake stuff look real. Deadlines are important but they should be realistic.
However, it will always come down to the writing. Doctor Who lasted for years on a budget so low some snob tried to cancel the original series, but it was the stories and characters (and their performers) that brought people back. It was kid-friendly but offered something for adults who grew up with it when it was still a kids show. The writing is where they have failed. From the aforementioned license wars that hurt the comics to the writers and showrunners more interested in trashing fans or pushing an ideology, or falling from the reason Marvel Studios was formed–to get the adaptation of the comics right and please not only casual audiences but the fans who will buy most of the merchandise when the kids haven’t forced convinced their parents to buy all the things, the stories have not been well received. Even the Thunderbolts*New Avengers movie has been praised more by movie critics who hate superhero movies (though at least one superhero fan I follow did like it) than by the comic fans or even MCU fans. The focus on mental health over superheroing in a superhero movie didn’t sit well, and most of the characters never found traction in the movies they came from. I would watch a Bucky Barnes/Red Guardian buddy picture but I’m weird. The rest of the cast I don’t care about and the Sentry was never able to win me over because the comics didn’t really know what do with him. They just wanted their corrupted Superman.
If they actually do reduce the workload, and history shows how much stock you can put in any backstage news from Disney and their purchased empire, they need to take the time to make good content that respects the source material. Both Marvel Studios and Lucasfilm under Disney no matter which Bob is in charge has not given us anyone who really wants to do that and both franchises have suffered for it. Until they put care into what they’re making it won’t matter if we get one a year or one a day. It’s going to fail because in the end it will always be about the story and the current “storytellers” aren’t interested in actually telling the story right.
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