The Russo Brothers Blame The Kids For Marvel Failures
Joe and Anthony Russo directed some of the most profitable movies ever put to screen, including Captain America: The Winter Soldier, Captain America: Civil War, Avengers: Infinity War, and Avengers: Endgame. Many of these films are also some of the best the Marvel Cinematic Universe had to offer, and Endgame is arguably where the franchise peaked. While the MCU has been struggling as of late, the Russo Brothers have the theory that audiences are changing and that the kids just don’t want a big interconnected universe anymore.
Russo Brothers Blame The Generationial Divide
Joe Russo explained this stance to GamesRadar, saying, “There’s a big generational divide about how you consume media,” and, “There’s a generation that’s used to appointment viewing and going to a theater on a certain date to see something, but it’s aging out.” Anthony Russo also spoke to the idea of superhero fatigue being the reason Marvel has been struggling lately, saying, “I think it’s fatigue in general,” and, “People used to complain about westerns in the same way but they lasted for decades and decades and decades. They were continually reinvented and brought to new heights as they went on.”
X-Men ’97 Counters The Superhero Fatigue Narrative
While the Russo Brothers may be right about superhero fatigue, after all, people are clearly still loving fresh takes on the genre like Invincible, The Boys, and the nostalgic X-Men ‘97, their idea about people aging out of appointment movie viewing is a little harder to swallow. Movies like Barbie, Oppenheimer, and more recently, Dune: Part Two have shown that people are more than willing to come to the theater in droves for both original and franchise properties alike. It seems more likely that people are tired of Marvel’s formula for superhero movies rather than superhero films in general.
The MCU Got Too Big
The Russo Brothers undoubtedly helped to make the Marvel Cinematic Universe one of the biggest and most popular franchises in the world, but even they decided to move on to different kinds of projects. It’s undeniable that the MCU has become formulaic in its films and movies, with many of them feeling very similar in style and tone to each other. That might be fine for one movie and a TV show or two per year, but the MCU’s sheer output was wearing thin on audiences.
Forcing Directors To Paint With The Same Brush
Not to mention the fact that Marvel was hiring prestige talent, only for them to have to adhere pretty closely to the house style. Despite having some top-notch creative talent on board for many of its movies, few directors have been able to make their creative mark on the movies they make for the MCU. It also seems like a model that drives away potential creative talent who would otherwise be on board if they were allowed to make the movies how they wanted.
Only One Marvel Movie This Year
In any case, it seems that Marvel has caught on to audience complaints and has been slowly righting the ship. This year, we’re only getting one new MCU film, Deadpool & Wolverine, an R-rated movie that will bring back (at least) two fan-favorite characters while introducing an interesting villain from the comics. We also got the fantastic X-Men ‘97, which isn’t currently connected to the greater MCU (outside of a brief Watcher cameo), so maybe it means the MCU is more willing to take on creative risks.
Whether the Russo Brothers are right or not remains to be seen. Marvel definitely has something to prove with Deadpool & Wolverine, so we’ll have to wait and see if that film can get the MCU back on track. We’ll find out when it hits screens on July 26.
Source: GamesRadar
