The Marvel Cinematic Universe has had a rough year when all is said and done. From thedisappointing box office ofAnt-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania, through the controversy surrounding allegations against Jonathan Majors, to a number of heavily criticized projects, Kevin Feige and his team must be ready to see the back of 2023.
However, there is one glimmer of hope on the horizon in the form ofThe Marvels. Despite the internet’sconstant dislike of Brie Larson, and trolling over CGI effects seen in the trailers, the film is the most anticipated release of the fall season according to a Fandango fan poll (viaDeadline). Not only is the movie top of the most anticipated list, but all four of the film’s main starts appear in the simultaneously polled character lists for the season.
While there have been many big movies that have been pushed back to 2024, there is still a string of potential hits coming to cinemas soon. This includes Kenneth Branagh’s latest Hercule Poirot movie,A Haunting in Venice, The Expend4bles, Five Nights at Freddy’sandThe Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes.It seems though that the Marvel machine is far from done, as many have prematurely proclaimed, asThe Marvelshad beat them all in the poll of 2000 people.
In addition, Larson’s Carol Danvers aka Captain Marvel has defied her online haters to be the most anticipated main character of the coming months, ahead of Branagh’s Poirot, Denzel Washington’s return this past weekend asRobert McCall inThe Equalizer 3, and herThe Marvelsco-stars Iman Vellani and Teyonah Parris as Ms. Marvel and Monica Rambeau respectively. Samuel L. Jackson also managed to take the top spot on the supporting actor list for his return as Nick Fury.
Related:The Marvels Producer Unveils the Monumental Connection to Avengers: Kang Dynasty and Secret Wars
The Marvels Could End the Year With a Marvel Win.
AlthoughAnt-Man and the Wasp: Quantumaniafailed to deliver the kind of box office that Marvel were hoping for, with a total gross of $476 million,Guardians of the Galaxy Vol.3salvaged something with a much healthier $845 million box office in the summer. WhetherThe Marvelswill hit that kind of high is unclear, but it will certainly do much better now thatDune: Part Twohas been shuffled into 2024due to the ongoing Hollywood strikes.
Marvel Studios has been subjected of a lot of criticism recently, with complaints about the amount of projects being released and the overuse of CGI dominating internet chats and social media sites for the last couple of years. Although things have ground to a halt thanks to the various strike actions, Bob Iger had already made it clear that he was not happy with Marvel Studios pumping outup to a dozen projects a year. Whether a more reasonable release schedule will benefit the MCU and prevent quite as many complaints in future is something that time will tell. For now, it seems that there is still plenty of interest out there over the upcoming projects of the franchise, even those that seem to be constantly ridiculed online.
