The Marvel Cinematic Universe is on a roll. The back-to-back releases of The Fantastic Four: First Steps in theaters and Eyes of Wakanda on Disney+ have earned some of the strongest reviews the MCU has received in years. These two hits build on Ironheart, which landed in the Nielsen Top 10 new streaming shows for its debut week, and Thunderbolts*, which, despite performing below expectations, got positive reviews and could grow over time.
It’s certainly tempting to say the MCU is back, but did it ever really leave? It feels like since the COVID-19 pandemic, the MCU exists in a state of being done and being back. The release of a poorly received title, like Secret Invasion, Captain America: Brave New World, or Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania, lead to headlines proclaiming that the MCU is cooked, and its best days are behind it… only for the next new title that is positively received for people to say “Marvel is back!” or “It’s the best entry since Avengers: Endgame.” Summer 2025 has been very good for the MCU. The MCU is back… or maybe the reports about its fall off are more complex.
The MCU Has Always Had Peaks and Valleys
The idea that the MCU is in trouble is nothing new. Before it was even called the Marvel Cinematic Universe, the franchise was already off to a rough start as The Incredible Hulk underperformed at the box office. Iron Man 2 may have outgrossed the first Iron Man and ranked among the biggest hits of 2010, but it was widely seen as a significant step down from its predecessor. Thor and Captain America: The First Avenger were modest box office hits at the time, but also received lukewarm to medium critical reaction. Many of the criticisms fans have leveled at recent MCU titles were said back in 2011. Some fans have forgotten what the reaction was like to those earlier films because the rose-tinted glasses of the Infinity Saga paint them in a stronger light.
Following the worldwide phenomenon of The Avengers, 2013’s MCU follow-ups, Iron Man 3 and Thor: The Dark World, were seen as disappointments and, coupled with the then-canon Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. not giving fans Marvel teases every week, many were thinking the MCU might have already peaked. Yet within a year, that changed with the one-two punch of Captain America: The Winter Soldier and Guardians of the Galaxy, two films that are still seen as high marks for the MCU.
Even that impressive run was broken the following year with 2015’s Avengers: Age of Ultron and Ant-Man. Avengers: Age of Ultron was not as well-loved as The Avengers, while Ant-Man was the second lowest-grossing MCU film at the time, ahead of only The Incredible Hulk. Despite making $1 billion at the worldwide box office, Avengers: Age of Ultron was still labeled a disappointment, which should have been an early hint that box office numbers are meaningless on their own and can be twisted to fit whatever narrative one wants. Following Avengers: Age of Ultron‘s box office defeat by Jurassic World and Star Wars: The Force Awakens, headlines of superhero fatigue began, suggesting that legacy sequels were replacing superhero movies as the trend.
What happened next? Well, 2016 had both Captain America: Civil War and Doctor Strange, which were critical and commercial hits. Then it kicked off an impressive run of MCU titles that soared at the box office, with it peaking in 2019 as Captain Marvel, Avengers: Endgame, and Spider-Man: Far From Home all grossed over $1 billion at the worldwide box office, with Avengers: Endgame becoming the highest-grossing film at the time of its release. The MCU hasn’t been an overnight success, and it’s had its peaks and valleys, just like now. The only difference is that the sheer number of MCU releases now gives the impression of shorter victory periods.
Breaking the Chain of Success in the MCU
The idea that the MCU is “back” has often been overblown because that implies it ever left. Despite what some would claim, it isn’t like the entire MCU since Avengers: Endgame and Spider-Man: Far From Home were a wash. Even before The Fantastic Four: First Steps they had well-loved critical hits (Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings, Thunderbolts*), box office hits (Deadpool & Wolverine, Thor: Love and Thunder, Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness), and both (Spider-Man: No Way Home, Black Panther: Wakanda Forever, Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3).
Despite criticism of the Disney+ expansion of the MCU feeling like “homework,” many like WandaVision, Agatha All Along, Hawkeye, and Loki were loved by critics and audiences, while characters introduced in Ironheart, Ms. Marvel, and She-Hulk: Attorney at Law have found their fans. Marvel Studios even produced two well-liked specials, Werewolf by Night and The Guardians of the Galaxy Holiday Special.
The issue has been more in that there have been misses that have broken chains of succession. During the Infinity Saga, the misses were Iron Man 2, which was early into the franchise’s run, and Thor: The Dark World. Most people would probably say Phase 3’s weakest film is Ant-Man and the Wasp (they would be wrong). Still, even that was riding high off successive releases of Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2, Spider-Man: Homecoming, Thor: Ragnarok, Black Panther, and of course, Avengers: Infinity War. Meanwhile, some disappointing television series like Iron Fist and The Inhumans weren’t leveled against the MCU since they were made as part of a separate division at Marvel.
The Multiverse Saga, though, due to the high number of Disney+ series, has had not only more misfires in a shorter amount of time, but the chain gets broken at a quicker turnaround time.
Loki was followed by Black Widow, which disappointed some fans. Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings was a rebound, but then Eternals became the MCU’s first film to gain a negative critical reaction on Rotten Tomatoes. Spider-Man: No Way Home soon made up for Eternals, only to be followed by the disappointing Moon Knight. Combine this with the franchise having some true duds, like Secret Invasion and Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania, that rival the lowpoints of Iron Man 2 and Thor: The Dark World from the Infinity Saga, and it isn’t difficult to see why the perception isn’t as Vibranium-clad as in the past.
One has to wonder how Marvel is doing. In 2022, Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, Black Panther: Wakanda Forever, and Thor: Love and Thunder were all in the top 10 highest-grossing films worldwide in the fourth, sixth, and eighth slots. A common criticism leveled against them was that they “failed to make $1 billion.” This is absurd, as if Doctor Strange and the Multiverse of Madness‘s $955.5 million or Black Panther: Wakanda Forever‘s $859.2 million could be seen as anything less than hits. They also made that much money without releases in China, which typically makes up for a significant amount of the worldwide box office gross. Yes, The Marvels was a flop, no doubt there. But that is one film out of how many and how long into its run? That’s a solid batting average that any other franchise would love to have.
The MCU’s Future Moving Forward
X-Men ’97, Deadpool & Wolverine, Agatha All Along, and Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man marked an impressive streak, which was sadly broken by the disappointing reaction to Captain America: Brave New World. However, when one considers that since then Marvel has released Daredevil: Born Again, Thunderbolts*, Ironheart, The Fantastic Four: First Steps, and now Eyes of Wakanda, not only is the chain restored, but they are having a strong run of titles.
Marvel’s output going forward is certainly going to be slower, as 2025 only has two MCU titles left, Marvel Zombies in October and Wonder Man in December on Disney+. On the feature film side, it will be a year between The Fantastic Four: First Steps and Spider-Man: Brand New Day, one of the longest gaps between MCU films. That will certainly give fans plenty of time to speculate about both the next Spider-Man film and Avengers: Doomsday. If casual audience members are only interested in MCU films, it means the MCU has had a successful run, with Captain America: Brave New World being an outlier to Deadpool & Wolverine, Thunderbolts*, and The Fantastic Four: First Steps, and now moving forward with a new Spider-Man and Avengers movie.
It is far too early to judge the quality or reaction to Spider-Man: Brand New Day or Avengers: Doomsday, but looking at the past reactions to those franchise MCU entries, it feels that audiences will not only respond warmly to them, but they will also be box office smash hits. Avengers: Doomsday already has the marketing advantage of featuring the Avengers, X-Men, the Fantastic Four, and Doctor Doom to hook audiences. Marvel never really left, so it can’t be “back.” But it’s definitely on a hot streak again. The Fantastic Four: First Steps is in theaters now. Stream Eyes of Wakanda on Disney+.
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