The Marvel Cinematic Universe has been around long enough to have gained its fair share of haters for one reason or another, but Sebastian Stan has once again been defending the franchise against those looking to give it a good kicking. Avengers: Endgame proved to be both the best and worst movie for Marvel Studios, providing both the biggest superhero movie in cinema history and a behemoth that was almost impossible to follow.
With several subsequent movies failing to live up to expectations, and the introduction of the Disney+ shows, including Stan’s Falcon and the Winter Soldier, people have been left feeling overwhelmed and frustrated by Marvel Studios’ recent output. Stan called out the MCU’s haters while defending Marvel in a recent interview with British GQ, when the Winter Soldier actor asked anybody still panning the franchise to come up with something better instead of complaining.
“I’ve never been part of a company that puts so much heart and thought into anything. I think if Marvel was gone, it’d be such a big hole to try and fill up. Don’t just go out there and sh-t on something without offering something better.”
Stan is set to star in The Thunderbolts alongside Florence Pugh, David Harbour and several other returnees. Outside of the MCU, Stan is portraying Donald Trump in The Apprentice, a film that has already been praised by critics. According to the actor, that role became one he found hard to shake, and believes he carried some of it over to his upcoming MCU return as Bucky Barnes.
The MCU Has Many Challenges Ahead
While the MCU seems to be constantly parrying punches, not all of them come from those who want to hate the franchise. Many fans have been feeling that the output from Marvel Studios became too much for even the most ardent followers to really keep up with. Bob Iger had plans to have four movies and up to six Disney+ shows a year being churned out at speed, which began to put a strain on VFX artists that began to show in some projects. The increase in output also saw many MCU fans skipping certain releases, and then feeling disinterested in coming back for subsequent offerings.
The lone movie release for 2024 was Deadpool & Wolverine. The change in strategy proved to be a genius stroke, leading to the film scoring big in box office terms and with critics. Currently, Agatha All Along is getting a lot of love on Disney+, again as one of the few Marvel releases of the year on the platform. This has been a stark contrast to issues faced in 2023 with entries such as Secret Invasion or Ant-Man and The Wasp: Quantumania, which didn’t connect with audiences as they were expected to.
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The MCU is now in the middle of changing direction for where the Multiverse Saga goes next. Having originally set up a huge storyline for Jonathan Majors’ Kang, the actor’s personal problems saw Marvel Studios cut ties with him and subsequently drop his character from the franchise. That led to the unexpected revelation earlier this year that Robert Downey Jr. will be returning to the MCU in the guise of Doctor Doom as the new big bad in the universe. Fans are excited but wary at the same time, so it’ll be interesting to see the direction Marvel goes with the character.