‘The Marvels’ Box Office Was Treated Unfairly

The Marvels, directed by Nia DaCosta, saw the return of Brie Larson as Carol Danvers. This time around, she’s joined by WandaVision’s Teyonah Parris as Monica Rambeau and Ms. Marvel herself, Iman Vellani. Carol Danvers, Monica Rambeau, and Kamala Khan become entangled after Kree leader, Dar-Benn (Zawe Ashton), opens a wormhole while trying to reclaim glory for her dying planet.

While the movie marks many firsts in the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU), such as being the first Marvel movie directed by a woman of color starring women of color, The Marvels is now the lowest-grossing MCU movie to date. Upon its release, clickbait headlines spread like wildfire, bringing with them a new level of skepticism and exaggerated hate towards the once juggernaut of the box office. However, many ignored factors at play working against The Marvels that left the movie fighting with one hand tied behind its back. While other superhero movies of 2023 were given a pass, The Marvels took the brunt of the criticism.

An important distinction to make about The Marvels box office performance is found within the context of its release. The Marvels hit theaters on November 10, 2023, just one day after the SAG-AFTRA strike had ended. Up until that point, Brie Larson, Teyonah Parris, and Iman Vellani could not promote the movie in interviews or social media posts; doing so would have been crossing the picket lines. To compensate, The Marvels director, Nia DaCosta, did much of the heavy lifting when it came to discussing the film, and while she is a charismatic person in her own right, the Captain Marvel sequel couldn’t use its three stars’ natural chemistry with each other to garner excitement for the movie. The Marvels is the only MCU movie that faced this obstacle upon its release.

Meanwhile, because the SAG-AFTRA strike had concluded, Jason Momoa was able to hit the junket circuit in order to boost anticipation for Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom and the end of the DC Extended Universe (DCEU). Yet with a proper promotional tour, Aquaman 2 only grossed $413 million worldwide, which is a major step down from the $1.152 billion worldwide that the first Aquaman movie grossed. Aquaman 2 had everything The Marvels didn’t have at its disposal for marketing, but also fell short.

What’s interesting is that the box office stumblings of the Aquaman sequel did not garner as much attention or clickbait headlines as The Marvels did. Aquaman 2 and the DCEU basically drifted off into the sunset without fanfare, while The Marvels sparked debate about the superhero genre as a whole. Let’s keep in mind, of course, that all the DCEU movies released in 2023 struggled to make a dent at the box office. Shazam! Fury of the Gods and The Flash struggled to bring in audiences with returning characters, including the return of Michael Keaton as Batman. Blue Beetle, which also faced promotional challenges due to the SAG-AFTRA strike, clocked in as the lowest-grossing DCEU movie to date. It’s fascinating how it had to be this movie starring three women—two of whom are women of color, directed by a Black female director— that took the brunt of recent Marvel criticism.

‘The Marvels’ Was Fighting an Unfair Battle Before It Was Even Released

The Marvels stood out among the roster of comic book movies in 2023 for a distinct reason: it was the only female-centric comic book movie with a team-up of female superheroes. It also marked the first time in the MCU’s 33-film run that a Marvel movie would be directed by a Black woman. The first female Marvel team-up movie should’ve stirred up excitement, but instead, many were already betting it would fail sight-unseen.

If we look back at 2019, the first Captain Marvel movie faced similar bad faith opinions before the movie even premiered. In fact, when the first Captain Marvel trailer debuted, Brie Larson faced extreme criticism for not smiling in the trailer, something her fellow male Marvel heroes were never questioned about. The amount of hate she received exposed the truth that women receive gendered criticism from men that’s usually louder than the praise. It continued to escalate to the point of its release, and even after Captain Marvel crossed the $1 billion threshold, the online hate towards Brie Larson (with the majority of it being from men) intensified.

Even if we excluded the very extreme corners of the internet who have a personal vendetta against the Oscar-winning actress, the stumbles by Marvel Studios and general Marvel fatigue of the time left many doubting whether the studio would pick itself back up again. Those with an anti-Marvel bias have gotten more excessive with their critiques of every little detail, and the closer we got to The Marvels’ release in November 2023, the louder it got. To be clear, no studio or film is above reproach, and criticism is necessary in order for entertainment to evolve and improve. However, for The Marvels, there was an overwhelming wave of hate before the movie even premiered. Whether it was conscious or not, those bad faith opinions seemed to be steeped in misogyny that Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania and Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3, quite frankly, didn’t face.

‘The Marvels’ Were There to Have a Fun Time in Space

Compared to its other Phase 5 comrades, The Marvels has the least amount of emotional stakes. With Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania, Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3, and Deadpool & Wolverine, audiences have spent much longer with these established characters, as well as the relationships that mean the most to them. While fans of the MCU had known Scott Lang (Paul Rudd) and Peter Quill (Chris Pratt) since Phase 2, Marvel fans in general had known Hugh Jackman’s Wolverine since 2000 in X-Men. Meanwhile, Carol Danvers was only just introduced at the tail end of the Infinity Saga, just before Avengers: Endgame. Monica Rambeau and Kamala Khan are still fresh-faced to the MCU and have only existed in their Disney+ pockets. The Marvels was a chance for general audiences to get to know these women more through a lower stakes, fun adventure across the universe.

Part of the fun of The Marvels, as well as its biggest strength, is watching these three independent women become a team. Their powers getting entangled was an opportunity for Carol, Monica, and Kamala to work together to use their powers in sync versus trying to operate alone. The trio had great chemistry as they got to know each other through their situation. They could also play into the humor of some of the ridiculous nature of the plot. The Marvels wasn’t afraid to lean into the inherent silliness found in comics. Take Prince Yan (Park Seo-Joon) and the planet Aladna. Although the planet is mostly water, the people communicate through singing. This wasn’t the first time Marvel has leaned into musical theater; case in point, Rogers: The Musical from Hawkeye. However, the usage of musical theater here provided a character moment for Carol, revealing another side of herself to Monica and Kamala. Aladna is evidence of The Marvels’ attitude of not taking a space adventure too seriously, which is refreshing in the current slate of comic book movies.

It Was Never ‘The Marvels’ Responsibility To Carry the MCU Box Office

There once was a time when speculating on the box office numbers for a superhero movie was considered fun. In the years leading up to Avengers: Infinity War and Avengers: Endgame, celebrating the box office successes of new Marvel movies added to the anticipation of the Infinity Saga; not to mention, it seemed to offer quantifiable evidence that this “Marvel machine” can’t be stopped. In the post-Endgame landscape, the MCU model has come to incorporate Disney+. As a result, or even consequence, general audiences have lost the incentive to go to a theater to see the sequel to another Ant-Man movie when it will be streaming on Disney+ a few months later. The urgency to see the newest Marvel movie is completely gone.

In a perfect world, The Marvels would’ve been given a fair chance to fail or succeed based on its merits. It would’ve had the traditional promotional tour that could’ve generated enough enthusiasm to see The Marvels in theaters. Better yet, The Marvels would have the opportunity to fail like its male-centric superhero movie peers and not be blamed for the decline in the MCU. However, we’re reminded more each day that Hollywood is a for-profit business, and money talks. Since it is the lowest grossing MCU movie to date, it will be disappointing (but not shocking) if Kevin Feige takes the wrong lessons from The Marvels’ performance.

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‘The Marvels’ Sacrificed Itself on the Franchise Altar

‘The Marvels’ is actually great, but suffers some unfortunate MCU interference.

In the time since The Marvels, Deadpool & Wolverine has broken box office records for Marvel. This long-awaited team-up movie between Deadpool (Ryan Reynolds) and Wolverine revived the MCU in the eyes of the general public. However, many are forgetting that the third Deadpool movie’s success is due to proper promotion, excitement of two Fox Marvel characters playing in the MCU sandbox, and curiosity over how an R-rated mutant would fare in the MCU. The previous success of both Deadpool movies and goodwill from Jackman’s Wolverine legacy paved the way for unprecedented success, whereas The Marvels had every obstacle thrown their way and ultimately blamed for it.

On the whole, The Marvels was a fun yet fine movie, allowing Carol Danvers, Monica Rambeau, and Kamala Khan to meet and go on a cosmic adventure across the galaxy. The story didn’t fly higher, further, faster than the first Captain Marvel, nor was it close to the worst Marvel movies we’ve seen thus far. These characters are strong in their own right, but it wasn’t their job to hold the future of Marvel Studios box office on their shoulders when Marvel has handed part of their profit to their parent company’s streaming service. For all the obstacles that were continually stacked against them, the vitriolic response to The Marvels’ box office numbers was hyperbolic when all The Marvels really wanted to do was have a good time.

The Marvels is currently available to watch on Disney+ in the U.S.

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