The Marvel Cinematic Universe is one of the biggest film franchises with over 30 movies already released and several shows. What’s different about this than most other franchises is that all of these movies and shows are linked. They all occur in the same universe of each other. At first, this worked well, with the films focusing on the 6 main Avengers. Thor, Iron Man, Hulk, Black Widow, and Hawkeye. However, now there are hundreds of characters, and half of the original characters are dead. 

While many of these new characters are exciting and lovable, it has grown too large. The movies have begun to run together and any new fans would struggle to jump in without having to watch the 30 previous movies to understand every niche detail. Entering the Fifth Phase, the movies have also begun to feel underwhelming to fans. Many believe that they’re becoming a cliche and relying too much on CGI to create their movies. Long-term, generational fan, Connor Kelly had this to say about the current MCU, “The current state of the Marvel Cinematic Universe is quite complex. The state of the movies has been getting progressively worse and worse, with Ant-Man getting a 47% on Rotten Tomatoes, that’s true, you can look it up. With the Marvel Universe constantly expanding more and more heroes will be added in, which will inevitably lead to its demise.”

Before the MCU, superhero films would be stand-alone. At first, having them all connected was a good, fresh idea, but now it is far too expansive. The movies are coming out too close together and there is no clear end. So much has changed since the movies first came out, and now they would all do themselves good if they separated themselves from each other.