Two Cakes: We Should Embrace Fun More Often

I have loved the MCU (Marvel Cinematic Universe) for several years now. I personally got really into it back when "AVENGERS: ENDGAME" came out, and adored it even more when its Phase 4 projects (aka everything from 2021-2022) with Phase 4 being my Favorite MCU Phase Yet.

And, based off the average scores of audiences' reviews on Film Review Sites like IMDb & Rotten Tomatoes, many agree that it was a good Phase. So... why am I emphasizing this? Look up "MCU Phase 4 Underrated" and you'll see just how publicly divided the internet is on this Phase's projects. It's a little all over the place.

THE PHASE 5 CONUNDRUM:

But, shit got way worse when Phase 5 (2023-June 2025) launched. Most of the MCU's faults came to a head during this Phase's entire run, with:

• Most of its films failing at the Theatrical Box Office

• Most of its shows getting way more negativity towards it and diminishing viewership numbers

• The 2023 Dual Writers/Actors Strikes and a legal controversy with the actor of its originally-planned Main Bad Guy

... and then you look at its supposed winners/survivors. Out of the 14 currently projects in Phase 5, only FOUR TO FIVE are extremely agreed upon to be excellent:

• "GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY VOL. 3"

• The 2nd (and likely Final) Season of "LOKI"

• "DEADPOOL & WOLVERINE"

• "AGATHA ALL ALONG"

But, did you notice something? I said "extremely agreed upon to be excellent". That's not addressing the obvious elephant in the room: What about the 'Just Good, If Not Great' projects?

OVERHATED?

Here's where things get weird:

When "ANT-MAN AND THE WASP: QUANTUMANIA", the First Project of Phase 5, came out at first, it got bad press and didn't do well at the Box Office, yet when it finally debuted on Streaming, many came out saying it was "Underrated" and actually quite "Fun" (I always thought it was a good, fun time, personally).

Same happened with "THE MARVELS". The 2023 Strikes HEAVILY affected its marketing, whiched caused severely low attendance for it, which lead to low attendance already, and it turned out to be a kinda 'Homework-y' kind of film, and so extra bad press came out for it, including a few sexist points, which led to even lower Box Office numbers. But, even when it came out, it was often described by many that did see it as actually pretty good and "Underrated". Even oftentimes a Top 10 MCU Film.

In fact, every single project in the MCU's Phase 5 has been said by many (in varying degrees, but still) to be "Underrated" and "Overhated". Yet, so far only the projects that are the most agreed upon to be absolutely stunning and peak points in the entire MCU have succeeded.

But then... "*THE NEW AVENGERS" released...

DISGRACEFUL RECEPTION:

"*THE NEW AVENGERS" had a unique marketing strategy, where it was only known as "THUNDERBOLTS*" with the Asterix at the end being an intentional plot point of the film. The end of the film revealed it to be actually referring to "*THE NEW AVENGERS", with Marvel even publicly rebranding the movie as such, which I'd an interesting move.

When it comes to 'Homework-y' movies, that is definitely a valid point to bring up when discussing how good a movie is. But... when "AVENGERS: INFINITY WAR" and "AVENGERS: ENDGAME" came out, how many times did you see/hear someone say they didn't catch up with the MCU for it but still saw it and enjoyed it? A FUCKING LOT.

Would those films, and other 'Homework-y' films be better with context? Absolutely. Is making a film in such a way ehere the audience feels the need to do more research not always the best thing for it? Also true. Films and shows should be able to stand on their own, typically... except, when it happened with Infinity War and Endgame, it was fine. As long as there is a way to enjoy a story altogether with many people, and as long as you can make researching the stuff "Fun", then it is okay to do it.

Which makes the response to "*THE NEW AVENGERS" outright diabolical:

• It is consistently described as an incredible film, with the somewhat negative thoughts on it being much lower than most Phase 5 entries

• It's even a big hope for many for it to get awards attention next year

• Yet... it's doing so badly in Theaters financially, that it's going to lose Marvel some money unless they make it back through Physical Media and Streaming Sales.

• Even though, when you do actually see the film, it does a pretty dang good job, or at the very least a very noticeable effort to make it work on its own, to make it so that anyone could understand the characters in their own right for many different kinds of people.

• It's also extremely unique and different feeling compared to literally everything else in the MCU thus far (even those that don't like the film agree this is absolutely the case)

We really just let an incredible, possibly award-nominating film, that does a very admirable effort to work on its own and is consistently described as amazingly different and unique MCU project (which is literally what MANY naysayers agree the MCU "needs more of") just flop at the Box Office pretty badly... and that's just disgraceful.

THE POTENTIAL DOOMSDAY:

Am I saying that you need to like the films that others and I do? No. What makes good film discussion actually interesting is how diverse people's thoughts on them can be.

But that can only happen if we actually give fair criticisms, and also if we actually give good movies and actual chance. Otherwise, what impression is that gonna give to studios about future movies?

Look at "LILO & STITCH (2025)", "MUFASA: THE LION KING", "A MINECRAFT MOVIE", and even the upcoming "HOW TO TRAIN YOUR DRAGON (2025)": All of those recent movies are some of the biggest films of their years.

Every studio in the world is reducing what they put out by a SHIT TON, with the only big movies that definitely seem to have a great Blockbuster chance at the Box Office being only really a sequel/remake of a beloved, current-pop-culture project, such as:

• TOY STORY 5

• STAR WARS: THE MANDALORIAN & GROGU

• TOP GUN 3

• SUPERMAN (2025)

• AVENGERS: DOOMSDAY

There are not any signs that a truly original film will get to that level, and it's primarily because of these kinds of responses.

DISTINCTIONS BETWEEN PROJECTS:

Like I said at the top, I'm just using the MCU as an example cause it's the biggest-profile example of this article. Look at what's happening with the upcoming DC Universe (DCU):

"SUPERMAN (2025)" is being widely-seen, both with audiences and the behind-the-scenes makers of the film, as an ultimate litmus test for the entire future of the DCU. The same is also said for the MCU's upcoming "THE FANTASTIC FOUR: FIRST STEPS", releasing shortly after DC's "SUPERMAN".

It literally has been said over, and over, and over again that these two films NEED to be one of the best recent DC/Marvel Films for them to be a big success (especially with their slightly-high budgets also not helping)... otherwise, if they fail in any way, ALL you'll see is WAY more doom and gloom articles of both the DCU and MCU like we have been with Star Wars, Doctor Who, Star Trek and practically every other current franchise.

THE TWO CAKES SOLUTION:

So... what is my point? What is my solution to this weird predicament... and why is this article Title starting with "Two Cakes"?

James Gunn, the main guy behind the upcoming DCU (and made the "Guardians of the Galaxy" Trilogy for the MCU) is pretty good about commenting to us, fans & audiences, on social media even while he's busy making a new Cinematic Universe for DC. Recently, there's been several people out there trying to fight about which will be the be the winner of some 'competition', "THE FANTASTIC FOUR: FIRST STEPS" or "SUPERMAN", with both releasing Two Weeks apart from each other.

James Gunn replied to these comments with a nice response of:

Then, somewhere in the social media posts about his comment, someone replied with this image/meme:

And this. This is my mindset here:

We should bd able to enjoy things more often, embrace the positivity in these great pieces of media again, sort of like getting 2 Cakes instead of just 1, and seeing the upsides of being able to enjoy them.

Let's just have fun with Movies & Shows again...