BSO Marvel 2024 Wishlist

Marvel Studios had a rough 2023. From having to let Jonathan Majors go from his role as Kang the Conqueror due to his physical abuse of a woman to every show and movie they put essentially flopping with fans and critics alike. Marvel Studios had always been able to get by with critics not like their films because the fans knew they were done well, but now the studio seems to be losing the fans who once bolstered their ranks amongst Hollywood’s elite studios. Fans have either hated the films or, even worse, in my opinion, been completely indifferent to them and haven’t been watching. So, how can Marvel bounce back from a rough 2023 in 2024? Let’s take a look at five things they could do to improve their standing in the new year.  

1. Do more background research on actors before signing them to elite roles: The problem with signing huge actors to long contracts in films is that they have to be decent people for the duration of that contract. In the case of Majors, had Marvel even done the slightest bit of research, they would have learned quickly that these stories have followed Majors since his time at Yale. He’s been known as an abuser and a manipulator, Marvel still signed him to this deal, and he’s now persona non grata in Hollywood for the time being. Due your due diligence and stuff like this can be avoided.

2. Less is more: Bob Iger’s initial retirement left Bob Chapek in charge of Disney and while fans knew he was going to mess everything up from the beginning, Disney still put him in charge and he bloated out their film and TV calendars with a bunch of low-quality, pointlessly made shows that only served to fuel the content mill. Very few of these shows actually provided something new to the MCU and most of them were horrible adaptations of their source material, Secret Wars being the most glaring example. By focusing on shows and characters that matter, Marvel can recapture some of the magic. We don’t need 10,000 heroes that mean nothing, we need a core of about 5-6 who mean everything. 

3. Lean into mutants: The time has come to use the Fox properties. The stuff Marvel was trying isn’t working and fortunately for them, they have an incredible reset button in the form of the Fantastic Four, X-Men, and a bevy of other characters who can provide a completely different story angle and give the writers time to find a way back from the bloat that has infected their cash cow. This could as simple as having a massive event where pointless heroes are either promoted or killed off, but they need to use the properties they just got from Fox because X-Men and Fantastic Four have long been some of the biggest drivers in Hollywood and right now Marvel is content to keep them on the sidelines for… Echo? Why? 

4. Galactus’ time has come: Kang wasn’t working even if Jonathan Majors had been a decent person. The character wasn’t hitting and people weren’t interested in his story. Marvel needs to remember that the vast majority of their audience are casual fans and casual fans need casual stories. They need stuff they know or vaguely know to buy in a story-arc. Using a character like Kang can work, but it wasn’t working this time around. Someone like Galactus and the Fantastic Four presents a world-ending problem that fans are used to and can understand without having to watch 24 films. Marvel was able to create a universe built on other movies, but now they need to find a way to make most of their films resolvable within the film itself, leaving only a few strands per film that fans need to know and understand for future content. This is the way forward. 

5. More games: Marvel has put out some incredible games like Spider-Man and Spider-Man 2, with titles like Wolverine and Blade on the way for the PS5 and Xbox Series X, exclusive to each respective console. The problem is that neither game are expected to see a release any time soon and fans are ready for Marvel content now. I know I said less is more, but that was for films. We definitely need more Marvel games. If there’s an area where Marvel can and should experiment, it’s within the gaming sphere. There’s so much room for great Marvel titles.