The MCU started around 15 years ago, beginning in 2008 with Iron Man, and sparked a global love affair with the superhero genre. In recent years though, it feels like that love has turned a little sour. While some of the fault for that lies with Marvel Studios, in some cases it’s also with fans of the franchise.
Though Marvel superheroes had been on screen for some time, the arrival of the MCU really kicked things up a gear towards the end of the last decade. Fans fell in love with the studio’s initial characters, icons of the genre such as Iron Man, Captain America, Thor, and The Hulk who paved the way for lesser-known characters such as The Guardians of the Galaxy and Ant-Man, all of which built up a rich world we all became engrossed in.
After the first Avengers film dropped in 2012, fans were truly hooked and we all waited with anticipation for the next film to drop, and the next, and the next, with the love seemingly reaching a high with the last two Avengers films, Infinity War and Endgame, with the latter ranked for a short time as the highest grossing movie of all time (it still holds second position behind Avatar).
Since then though, fans have been a little less enthused by the juggernaut that is Marvel Studios, from complaining about films and nitpicking every detail to downright spitting vitriol about every aspect of it online. Phase Four was met with a lot of raised eyebrows in many cases, though it did have its gems. T.V. series such as WandaVision and Loki both received a lot of praise from both critics and fans.
It now feels like a Marvel movie or show cannot be released without some negative feedback, and it’s starting to ruin the enjoyment of seeing a Marvel production for some fans, such as this Reddit user.
The author of the thread is tired of the relentless negativity that seems to be aimed at Marvel of late, stating it ruins their own enjoyment of the franchise:
“It has just become such a drag to engage in this stuff, and the online engagement used to be half of the fun. Now I can’t just enjoy something from Marvel and discuss it with others because I know a lot of people are going to despise it no matter what.”
Many felt similarly to the author, blaming the current rise of “negativity culture” for the backlash Marvel has faced in recent years.
It also stems from the fact that angry, negative content tends to get higher viewership than positive videos.
The fandom has become a lot more politicized in recent years as the MCU becomes more inclusive, which is leaving many incensed.
It isn’t just Marvel that has faced this type of hatred from its own fans.
A few pointed out though that it was bound to happen as Marvel began to get crushed under the weight of itself.
One Redditor gave their own advice that might make the whole thing a lot more fun again.
While it is one thing to point out the shortcomings of a franchise, and have a constructive conversation on where its going wrong, especially when it comes to not paying and treating fairly their staff, it’s another to just blast hate out constantly for a franchise that many people still get a lot of enjoyment from. Marvel Studios does have some issues right now, but we don’t need to be so angry about it all the time, it’s only going to ruin our enjoyment of it further.