The Marvel Cinematic Universe is slowly going off the rails. The franchise grew to dominate blockbuster cinema over ten years. Everything has gone downhill after Endgame. Even good films have suffered under the weight of fatigue. Audiences see any alternative as an appealing option. The problem is more significant on the small screen. After several streaming disasters, Marvel has adopted a new standard operating procedure that could change the franchise.
Loki‘s second season has been hailed as a return to form for Marvel. The series was one of the best Disney Plus offerings. Its off-kilter presentation and unique comedic style set it apart from almost every other Marvel TV show. The second season’s positive reception comes after several series were slapped with negative reviews and widespread denigration. Secret Invasion is an easy act to follow.
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Marvel’s decision to end limited series
The limited series format has dominated Marvel’s small-screen strategy since Disney Plus took over streaming. Their Netflix offerings were treated more like traditional drama shows with multiple seasons and defined showrunners. WandaVision, Loki, and Moon Knight feel like elongated movies chopped up to fit specific runtime requirements. Some stories match the format better than others, but Disney has several fascinating corporate reasons for creating these shows. Some say it’s to keep people subscribed to Disney Plus, while others argue it’s to avoid paying royalties to writers and performers. Now that their VFX workers have unionized, things have to change. The shows have experienced strange viewership trends. Statista, a German data visualization site, gathered reliable metrics for the shows up to this July.
- Loki had the franchise’s highest-performing premier, with 2.5 million viewers.
- Moon Knight and Falcon and the Winter Soldier tie for second with 1.8 million.
- WandaVision brings in 1.6 million.
- Hawkeye and She-Hulk earned around 1.5 million.
- Secret Invasion fell under a million with 990,000.
- Ms. Marvel was the clear loser, with only 780,000 views.
Multi-season shows could work much better
The viewership numbers suggest a few trends. Most notably, newer shows performed much worse than the first batch. Aside from Moon Knight, which had the power of Oscar Isaac behind it, the most-watched series are the early outings. Loki was the third Disney Plus Marvel show, Falcon was the second, and WandaVision was the first. Secret Invasion, She-Hulk, and Ms. Marvel are more recent offerings, released after fans had a chance to get sick of the format. The Statista piece was released last summer before Loki released its second season. All the shows mentioned have only one season. Loki‘s second season premiere earned a whopping 10.9 million views. The message is unmistakable. Once a series proves itself with a beloved first outing, the promise of future follow-ups encourages viewers. It’s easy to lose interest in something likely to end with its eighth episode. Simultaneously, a celebrated first season guarantees a substantial rise in audience for the sequel. Instead of trying to sweep poorly received series under the rug, Disney should boldly grant their stories time to find their footing and explore their world.
Marvel should copy the old Netflix model
From 2015 to 2018, Marvel built the Defenders universe on Netflix. Daredevil, Jessica Jones, Iron Fist, and Luke Cage enjoyed multiple seasons of varying quality, eventually pushing toward a team-up vehicle. Aside from Iron Fist, those series are easily Marvel’s finest TV outings. Fans still bray for the return of Daredevil, Kingpin, and Punisher. They’ll get their wish soon, but that raises a problem. Daredevil would not have worked under the limited series format. It only functions as a multi-season procedural. The first season of Daredevil was fun, but the series needed time to find its ideal circumstances. That’s why the second and third outings are so much better. This is a problem across modern streaming TV. Shows are canceled before they can find their legs. Some ideas need a season or two to plant all the fireworks they plan to set off. Others start strong and butcher all their good ideas. The only way to discover what the studio has on their hands is to let their stories play out. Marvel’s new direction is an unmixed good.
Tackling TV shows like long movies is an approach that has fallen flat. It’s time to give up on this strategy. Marvel’s announcement that they’ll be recruiting showrunners and building multi-season arcs was met with joy and disdain. People are as excited to see them start making TV shows like they should be made as they were disappointed to realize Marvel’s previous format wasn’t working. Why did it take them this long to notice fans weren’t happy with the Disney Plus series? If Marvel returns to the tried and true method they used in the 2010s, their shows will almost certainly improve. Fans have a lot to look forward to in future Disney Plus shows, even if they’re only doing what should have come naturally.
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