Robert Downey Jr.'s return to the MCU as Doctor Doom, combined with the Deadpool & Wolverine's cheap fan service, only illustrates the mess Marvel is in now.
The news came, as such news so often does, at that annual summit of studio hype and intellectual property promotion, San Diego Comic-Con . Robert Downey Jr. — newly minted Oscar-winner, a star emancipated from green-screen duty — will be returning to the franchise that revived his career, the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Not, mind you, to the role of Tony Stark, the mogul-turned-superhero he played for about a decade, starting with the first MCU installment, Iron Man.
At the risk of sounding like a total party pooper, isn’t there actually something kind of… desperate about all this? Luring Downey back with a boatload of money , coaxing fellow Marvel alums the Russo brothers to direct another two Avengers movies — these are the moves of a studio in retreat.
But how do you keep audiences invested in a story that reached such a natural endpoint it was called Endgame? The Marvel movies released in the wake of that box-office phenomenon have lacked the sense of forward momentum that defined the first three “phases” of the MCU. If the mosaic plotting of the franchise has always been a triumph of branding more than anything else, recent entries have failed to create the impression of a larger story worth tracking.
Marvel is, of course, still churning out plenty of hits — Deadpool & Wolverine being the most recent example. But the studio’s grasp on the imagination of the moviegoing public has undeniably slackened. So it’s no huge surprise to see Kevin Feige and company looking to yesterday. In that respect, the Multiverse has proved a useful gimmick.
Avengers Avengers: Doomsday Comic-Con Doctor Doom Marvel MCU Robert Downey Jr.
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