Is The Marvels Actually Getting CANNED?!?!?!

This will be a massive first for the MCU if the movie is scrapped. The Marvels movie has supposedly been plagued from serious behind-the-scenes drama and conflicts that have caused its 6-months delay, but new leaks suggest the movie itself might be in peril.

Has there ever been an announced Marvel movie to be canned completely?

As far as I’m aware, all of the MCU movies announced/teased by Disney have found their way to the big screen one way or another. The only time you’d find cancelled Marvel movies is during what I’m going to call the “Scattered Era” of Marvel (late 1980’s-early 2000’s) from separate studios, such as Sony, Fox, Universal, Columbia Pictures, Paramount, etc.

Some of these movies include Spider Man 4 (Toby Maguire Spider-Man), X-Men Origins: Magneto (Ian McKellen Magneto), a The Incredible Hulk sequel (Edward Norton Hulk), Silver And Black (based on Silver Sable and Black Cat), The Amazing Spider-Man 3 and 4 (Andrew Garfield Spider-Man), and Fantastic Four 2.

During what everyone calls the “Golden Era” of Marvel movies (mid 2000’s-2020), Disney and Marvel were able to reclaim either most or the full rights to many of the characters (ex: Spider-Man, X-Men, Fantastic Four, Hulk), while only a few characters (Namor, Venom a solo Hulk movie rights, etc.) remain out of the Big Mouses’ clutches.

And even some of these characters (i.e.: Venom) still find a way to end up in MCU movies, even if other studios own the rights to them.

Nevertheless, the point of me saying all of this is to point out how strong Disney’s grip is over the MCU and how projects just don’t “fall-through” under its watch. Well, perhaps not as strong as everyone thought if these new The Marvels reports are to be believed.

Now, I’m not too sure how credible these reports I’m about to explain are as I’m not behind the scenes of The Marvels, but it is true the movie was delayed a full 6 months to November 2023. Supposedly, the biggest problems from behind the scenes are coming from the failure of Phase 4 (what a shocker) and…Brie Larson.

Alright, I don’t want to just bash on Brie Larson as even though she can be insufferable at times, she’s far from the worst person at Disney and Marvel at the moment. In fact, in my opinion, she’s way down the list as she’s only really been obnoxious with Captain Marvel promotions (though, I’m not following her socials, so I could be missing something)

Still, these reports (I’ve a few articles that also report on them linked down below) have stated that Larson is unhappy that The Marvels, which is technically a Captain Marvel sequel, had its name changed from Captain Marvel 2 to The Marvels.

Moreover, she has been rumored to have gotten into a fight/argument with her costar Teyonah Parris, who portrays Monica Rambeau in the MCU, which obviously is not great as the movie is supposed to star Captain Marvel, Rambeau, and Iman Vellani’s Ms. Marvel in the lead roles.

What kind of conflict or story arc these characters will face/go on is beyond me as I forget this movie was even coming out before I saw this news today but having the leading actress fighting with each other is never good for press. Just ask Florence Pugh and Olivia Wilde when they were promoting Wilde’s Don’t Worry Darling.

To be honest, I don’t really care to much about the supposed bickering between Larson, Parris, and whoever else is involved as that is just how life can be sometimes. Not everyone is going to get along, and people with big egos (as most famous actors and actresses have) are more prone to fights and superfluous conflicts.

What does concern me is how poorly the Marvel movies leading up to this one have been received.

When even the legacy/OG characters like Thor and Ant-Man can’t get audiences out in theaters to watch them or high reviews (Thor: Love and Thunder (2022) garnered $761M at the box office and a 63% Rotten Tomatoes score from critics; Ant-Man 3 (2023) has earned appr. $200M at box office and 47% Rotten Tomatoes score from critics right now), you know the MCU and Disney are seriously struggling to adapt and improve the franchise.

Remember, Avengers: Infinity War (2017) earned $2.052B from the box office and an 85% certified fresh Rotten Tomatoes score from critics, Avengers: Endgame (2018) earned $2.798B from the box office and a 94% certified fresh Rotten Tomatoes score from critics, and Spider-Man: No Way Home (2021) earned 1.916M from the box office and a 93% certified fresh Rotten Tomatoes score from critics.

I know these movies feel like a lifetime ago, but they are only 2-6 years old. Sure, these are some of the best Marvel movies ever made and probably not the best comparison for a movie like The Marvels, but this just proves that Disney’s box office tallies are going backwards.

I mean, even both Thor and Ant-Man’s predecessors have earned more money and praise than their sequels as Thor: Ragnarök (2017) earned $854M from the box office and a 93% certified fresh Rotten Tomatoes score from critics and Ant-Man 2 gained $622.7M from the box office and an 87% certified fresh Rotten Tomatoes score from critics. Thor: Love and Thunder may surpass Raganrok at some point and Ant-Man 3 may come with 50M of the second movie, but the reviews will never be as glowing.

Do I need to give you anymore stats to prove the MCU is dying before our very eyes, and why The Marvels turning out to be its “2023 box office savior” is a horrible reality for Disney?

So, with more murmurs of Disney CEO Bob Iger thinking about culling some unnecessary Marvel projects, it’s easy to see why The Marvels might be the first Disney-Marvel movie to get the studio-head guillotine treatment.

Images Source: Featured Image: (Disney/Marvel) (Marvel Studios’ Captain Marvel – Official Trailer – YouTube)

In Text Image 1: (Disney/Marvel) (Marvel Studios’ Captain Marvel – Official Trailer – YouTube)

In Text Image 1: (Disney/Marvel) (WandaVision Season 1, Episode 9: The Series Finale)