By the Update
Remember when Marvel used to feel inevitable? Now it feels like homework. With each new installment, Thunderbolts included, we’re left wondering not just where’s this going? but why are we still watching?
Let’s talk Thunderbolts. Critics called it “daring,” “unexpected,” and “fun.” We call it what it was: poorly thought-out, painfully unfunny, and structurally hollow. You can either go full character (Loki), or full plot (Infinity War). What you can’t do is neither. Thunderbolts was a $200 million shrug. Characters stood around quipping like tired SNL extras, while the plot dissolved into CGI dust before it even began. Honestly, Zemo deserved better.
But the rot set in earlier. Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania should have been a cosmic heist. Instead, it was a wet green screen of nothing. The Marvels tried to stitch three great characters into one film and wound up with less than one. And Captain America: Brave New World? We’re still trying to remember what happened, and the box office clearly felt the same.
The worst part? You can see the potential in the rubble. There are still good performances, still glimmers of creativity, but they’re buried under convoluted multiverse rules and an overwhelming sense of fatigue.
So now all eyes are on Fantastic Four: The First Step. The title practically dares us to hope. Could it really be the course correction we’ve been waiting for? Is this finally the first chapter of Marvel’s second act… or just another footnote?
Can they turn it around? Or is the MCU destined to fade out not with a bang, but with a box office whimper?
