‘Doctor Strange:In the Multiverse of Madness’, might just be the MCU movie that proved how rudderless Kevin Feige is with phase 4 and the direction of the MCU going forward. Doctor Strange 2 saw a substantial drop off considering its 1st weekend haul, and that indicates a lack of interest in another phase 4 MCU installment. Cap that with a string of forgettable movies and characters over the last year, boring, identity politics driven Disney+ shows, and a ‘Thor Love and Thunder’ movie that has Thor “finding himself” again, and you’ve got an MCU that is directionless. ‘Doctor Strange: In the Multiverse of Madness’, might indeed be profitable for Disney, but will it be a success? Are fans talking about this movie like they did with phases 1-3? No they are not. Kevin Feige seems to have at least accomplished one consistent goal, and that’s to make sure that everything after ‘Avengers Endgame’ was a more representative MCU. Phase 4 has lived up to that goal, but at what cost? Well, millions of potential dollars at the box office. Kevin Feige used to have a goal that focused around story, and that formula proved successful time and time again. But like Bob Chapek and Disney, Kevin Feige’s obsession with identity politics has lost viewers who just don’t care, and would like to see some actual great comic book stories being told.
Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness Isn’t a Doctor Strange Movie
‘Doctor Strange: in the Multiverse of Madness’ opened last weekend for a 187.4 million dollar domestic gross, making it the biggest opening of 2022, beating out ‘The Batman’. Its second weekend outing however, saw a drop of 67% and a 61.7 million dollar haul, putting its pace behind ‘The Batman’ in weekend to weekend comparisons. What’s even more concerning is the Friday to Friday drop of 81%. This might indicate that, with the mixed reviews, and the fact that Doctor Strange seems a side character in his own movie, that audiences are either confused, or bored. Doctor Strange 2 suffers from being an extended WandaVision TV series, that probably confused audiences who were expecting an extension of what they saw in ‘Spider-Man: No Way Home’. In other words, if you haven’t watched any of the Marvel Disney+ series, you might watch Doctor Strange 2 and be scratching your head. ‘Doctor Strange: In the Multiverse of Madness’, suffers from a story trying to make sense of what happened in WandaVision, while trying to link that around the events of No Way Home. Instead of making an actual sequel to the events that happened in the first Doctor Strange movie, the fans were subjected to a mess of storylines that were not fluid, and that exemplifies the issues that the MCU phase 4 are having, despite the contradictions of Bob Chapek and Kevin Feige.
Avengers: Endgame Truly Was the End For the MCU
When the MCU first launched with Iron Man back in 2007, the goal was clear by the end of the credits where Kevin Feige was going to take this new founded MCU. Fans waited breathlessly, with anxiety filled anticipation, for the next MCU movie that would feed their fix until the next movie. The fans were given upwards of three movies per year to feast on, as we got closer to the ultimate goal of an Avengers vs Thanos universe changing mega event. When a new MCU installment was released, fans could count on the fact that there was going to be some sort of thread that tied everything together, while introducing us to new teams and characters that would be relevant to the ultimate goal. 22 movies and three phases later, the fans got their wish with ‘Avengers: Endgame’. And that’s when the cracks started to appear. It was apparent, that Kevin Feige was on a mission to turn the MCU into the female dominated M-She-U, when the forced all girl power scene in Endgame made its cringe debut, and the fans moaned as they rolled their eyes, knowing that ‘Avengers: Endgame’, truly was the end of something great.
Fans Have Been Beat Over the Head With Identity Politics in Phase 4
The end started with WandaVision on Disney+. The debut Marvel Disney+ series started off with a lot of promise, but then fell quickly into the abyss, as fans were subjected to eternally long credits, and a Wanda who took out her grief from the loss of Vision, on an unsuspecting town of people who were at her mercy and tortured. If that weren’t enough, there were rumors of cameos that would be Luke Skywalker level events, that never came to fruition. Doctor Strange was supposed to make an appearance, but was nixed, because Kevin Feige thought seeing an over powered white male defeat Wanda, would be problematic. That was just the tip of the identity politics iceberg. We had a Falcon and the Winter Soldier series that showed us racism against black people, and a Sam Wilson as Captain America that lectured us to do better. And then there was the Loki series, that gave us a gender fluid Loki, a Hawkeye series that introduced us to the all new Kate Bishop Hawkeye, and a Moon Knight series that was a let down at best.
Why So Many Unknown Characters?
The MCU movies in phase 4, have been nothing but a race and gender swapped smorgasbord of characters and identity politics, the fans were never clamoring for, and that have failed miserably at the box office. ‘Black Widow’ would have been great, had it been released during phase 2 or 3, and interconnected her relationship with Hawkeye. But instead, we got a story that made no sense, felt out of place, and gender swapped one of the best villains in the Marvel Universe with Task Master. ‘Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings’ was no better, taking a virtual unknown character among newbie fans(I personally love the Shang-Chi from the late 70’s and early 80’s), and giving us a boring story that didn’t need to be made. ‘The Eternals’ has been the worst among the phase 4 installments, giving the fans the required amount of representation and race and gender swapped characters, that again, were virtually unknown, and had die hard comic book fans scratching their heads and asking…why?
Related: Do We Need Another Thor Movie?
Fans Are Just Not Interested Anymore
Is anything in Kevin Feige’s phase 4 memorable or re-watchworthy? Are any fans getting excited and talking about these TV shows and movies like they did during the first three phases? No they are not, and that’s a huge problem. So as good as ‘Doctor Strange: In the Multiverse of Madness’ did in its first weekend, the second weekend drop off might just portend the fans lack of interest and reluctance to drop more money on a second outing. It also shows, that along with Doctor Strange, the previous three MCU movies, are not giving the fans anything to hang on to, or talk about until the next installment. ‘Thor Love and Thunder’ comes out in July, and will be a test for how much interest fans have in seeing a directionless MCU. Granted ‘Love and Thunder’ will probably do well because of the star power attached to it, but will it have longevity at the box office? The reactions to the trailers have been lukewarm, the story doesn’t seem that compelling, and it’s another verifiable woke entry into phase 4. Taika Waititi has even said himself, that ‘Thor Love and Thunder’ is a mid life crisis movie for Thor. Does any fan really care, or want to see a once mighty Thor finding himself and his place in the universe again? It’s almost as if Kevin Feige is belittling and diminishing the core Avengers characters on purpose. Hmmm…
