Even Mark Ruffalo Thinks Marvel Is In Trouble
Mark Ruffalo thinks DC is on the right path in hiring James Gunn to reboot the movies, and Marvel should be sweating from the news.
Usually, when Marvel stars are asked on late-night talk shows or red carpets which of their co-stars talks too much, the answer is either Mark Ruffalo or Tom Holland. We Got This Covered reports that Ruffalo is making headlines for expressing the opinion that “Marvel should be sweating.” A few months ago, this may have been just throwing support for James Gunn, but following the box office disaster unfolding with Ant-Man Quantumania, it takes on a new tone.
In the Emerald City Comic Con interview on what DC can do regarding their reboot, the Hulk actor said, “I would say, hire James Gunn, cause nobody does it better. And Marvel should be sweating because James Gunn is a really gifted filmmaker and I think he’s going to be amazing for that franchise.” Again, it’s a nice sentiment, and no one should be drawing lines between franchises and branding “the other side” as the “enemy” or anything like that, but the winds are starting to shift away from the mighty MCU juggernaut (which should bring in Juggernaut).
Ant-Man and The Wasp: Quantumania pulled in an additional $12.8 million this past weekend; domestically, it’s still under $200 million. While better than the first Ant-Man film, which topped off at $180 million, the first film in Marvel’s Phase 5 is behind Black Widow, released during the height of Covid lockdowns impacting theaters. Neither of those other two films served as the introduction to the latest Big Bad Evil Guy for the MCU, which only highlights Marvel’s latest failure.
Mark Ruffalo was not involved in James Gunn’s MCU films, but it’s hard to find someone in Hollywood with a bad opinion of the Guardians of the Galaxy director. Competition is also always a good thing when working in a creative field, as it creates a drive to keep improving and keep innovating to maintain that top spot where Marvel is now. The problem, as even the most ardent supporter of the MCU will agree, is that all of the post-Endgame content has been at different levels of disappointing, with the only exception being Spider-Man.
James Gunn helped make audiences fall in love with a tree and a talking raccoon; what can he do with the extensive DC toybox? Not give us the Justice League Dark movie we want for starters, but we should all be prepared for a new Superman and Batman that are both less broody, less dark, and going in wild new directions. By contrast, Marvel delivers fans more of the same, just with a fresh coat of paint.
She-Hulk, the last property Mark Ruffalo appeared in as The Hulk, was a major change in tone and direction for the MCU, but it went a little too far for the audience, especially with the fourth-wall-breaking season finale. Hopefully, a more grounded series like Daredevil will be able to bring fans to Disney+ and help do for the MCU what The Mandalorian has done for Star Wars. At least Gunn’s final Marvel movie, Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3, is coming out May 5th, and it will be a massive hit.
