Kevin Feige has been heading Marvel Studios for a very long time now and his mind is responsible for a lot of what the Marvel Cinematic Universe is at the present moment. The success that only a part of Phase 4 has seen was the last thing he had been expecting and even the most successful movies of the phase had been easily surpassed by James Cameron’s Avatar: The Way of Water.
The global earnings that a lot of the MCU’s Phase 4 made were destroyed by the Avatar sequel in only one week. This only proves as to how Kevin Feige and his team need to up their game in order to compete with other franchises if not the DC Universe which is now being headed by James Gunn.
Avatar 2 Crushes Kevin Feige’s Plan For The MCU
There were many projects that the Marvel Cinematic Universe gave out that were massively underwhelming if not disappointing. Movies like Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness were all over the place and had been struggling with an imbalance of power dynamics. Certain Disney+ shows like She-Hulk got a huge negative response, making it questionable whether or not there would be a second season.
Movies that did do well, like Black Panther: Wakanda Forever which did well at the box office have also been easily surpassed by Avatar: The Way of Water, proving just how underwhelming the current phase had been for the fans. While there had been some TV series that won the audience in an instance like Moon Knight, Loki, and Wandavision; it was not enough for the faith that people had in the MCU to be reincarnated. The sequel for Avatar has already made $1 Billion globally, crushing every MCU movie released in the fourth phase.
It becomes difficult when certain factors come into play. The only movie in Phase 4 that made over $1 Billion was Spider-Man: No Way Home and that too in 2021. What used to be an easy task for the franchise became impossible in 2022 as no movie surpassed that target. For Avatar: The Way of Water it took merely a week to overthrow the entire MCU Phase 4 and it might soon enough dethrone the third Spider-Man movie as well.
Kevin Feige Has A Task And Expectations To Live Up To
Amongst the multiple projects that have been announced in the upcoming phases, Marvel has decided to slow down their pace and choose quality over quantity. This was the exact opposite of what Phase 4 had been following. While movies like Spider-Man: No Way Home are yet to be surpassed, it only shows what fans have been looking for in the MCU.
Phase 5 was similar to the fourth phase in terms of quantity. This has recently been changed taking into view the response that the fans had given. Movie screenings in the theatre have been limited since the pandemic hit and the audience has been very selective as to which film they wish to see. If movies as highly anticipated as that of the MCU continue to disappoint, it would not be a rising future for Marvel Studios and Kevin Feige. Especially considering how completing with non-superhero franchises had never been a problem for them before.
Avatar: The Way of Water is currently available to watch in theatres.
Source: Twitter
