The Marvels is now running a $22 discount, bringing the movie's ticket price down to $2.38.

It's been clear for a while now that the once-great Marvel has been slowly crumbling along with Disney's other IPs.

Disney has lost nearly $1 billion in films in 2023 alone.

And while over that amount, if we take into consideration, the company's releases towards the end of 2022.

And Disney's dire streak has no end in sight with the Marvels, formerly Captain Marvel Two, said to be their next big release.

As of now, all signs are pointing to this movie being the next in a long line of massive flops.

And it seems regardless of the unanimously poor reception to recent trailers, the film was doomed to fail from the start because this is a sequel to Captain Marvel, probably one of the most unpopular films amongst the MCU's core audience.

I mean, the first Captain Marvel was an early example of Disney's now all too familiar low-effort storytelling in a woke package meant to shield it from the Jessa criticism.

And since then, Disney has made this their ammo, despite its critical and commercial acclaim, the first film was extremely controversial amongst fans.

With many of them criticizing the character's lack of depth and backstory compared to other heroes in the franchise.

Carol Danvers, AKA Captain Marvel, is depicted not only as the strongest hero in the MCU, but completely infallible with no discernible physical personality weakness.

She defeats every enemy with ease and this tends to cause any true conflict to vanish when she's on screen.

And now this isn't completely unheard of considering Superman's depictions for DC, wich also face similar criticism.

However, unlike Superman, Captain Marvel suffers from corny girlboss dialogue and abysmal character development that comes along when a woke initiative is put above good storytelling.

When writers are too afraid to make the characters vulnerable in any way in order to protect the demographic they represent, the story and the character inevitably suffer.

And although the first film performed well critically and commercially, it was released during a time where superhero film and particularly Marvel films could do no wrong.

It was also released between the two most popular MCU films of all time and contains story elements that were integral to connecting that story.

Fans despite making their opinions heard online were hardly gonna miss it.

So fast forward to now, Marvel fatigue is at an all-time high with Disney forcing out uninspired project after uninspired project.

And finally, it seems that core Marvel fans are now actually starting to check out, staying home from theaters and canceling the Disney Plus subscriptions.

Recent Marvel projects are struggling to reach a fraction of the heights they were reaching five years ago.

And the worst part is Disney seems content with losing business from core Marvel fans, doubling down on these woke flops that pan into non-existent subsections of fans who supposedly care more about being represented than being represented well in a solid story.

Combine this fatigue with the MCU and a version to Captain Marvel as a character with the already countless production setbacks that the Marvels has experienced and we may see one of their biggest cinematic catastrophes yet.

Disney knows this and it's clear that Disney is doing everything they can to polish the tur that the Marvels is destined to be.

They've already changed the name of the movie and pushed back the release date to spend time and money on reshooting scenes and improving visual effects despite already sinking over $270 million into this movie.

Not to mention the exceptionally short run time, especially for a Marvel film and it seems they'll have their hands full.

Even the film's director is distancing herself from the film before its release, claiming the movie was mostly out of her control and admitting to being confused just like the rest of us by the increasingly muddy, over saturated and seemingly aimless intersecting plot lines of the current MCU.

And even worse, Disney seems to be tone-deaf to the criticism of the cringe comedy scene in recent projects.

I'm talking about things like She-Hulk and Miss Marvel touting the Marvels as being more wacky and silly than other MCU movies.

And we can see by recent trailers for the Marvels that fan criticism has indeed fallen on deaf ears and that Disney has contempt for its core fans and that anyone who seeks to criticize recent projects like She-Hulk and Miss Marvel are simply being misogynistic and politically incorrect.

And based on what we've seen, The Marvels is leaning into the cringe writing deathless characters and empty storytelling that fans have been rejecting for years.

Not only that, Disney added lead roles for characters from wildly unsuccessful Marvel projects that nobody watched or cared about, presumably in an effort to diversify the cast.

Now don't get me wrong here. Female-led and diverse films can be great for Hollywood.

In an industry where the underrepresentation and misrepresentation of minority groups has always been a problem.

More of these films needed and they even proven to have the capacity to be successful amongst white male audiences.

Look no further than Barbie for a recent example of a female-led and directed film that successfully appealed to the masses or whilst telling a story that captivated audience, making over a billion at the box office.

And over the years, you can point to films like the original Black Panther, Crazy Rich Asians and Cocoa, which all made plenty of money at the box office while still being able to tell rich stories with characters who have depth.

Not to mention all of the Oscar-nominated films with nonwhite and non-male lead in recent years.

Effective representation can be accomplished in a way that doesn't feel like mere pandering, but only if the creators care enough to put the effort in.

Instead, Disney continuously checks the boxes of representation without putting the necessary resources into the stories their casts are attached to,

doing it more for investment funds and looking great politically rather than trying to tell a good story.

And by tethering actors from underrepresented groups, the stories that are terrible.

Disney isn't actually doing these groups any favors either.

In fact, they're probably actually hurting these groups.

These actors are now becoming a lightning rod for inevitable online backlash surrounding disappointing release after disappointing release for beloved franchises.

Now it is always easy to blame the woke agenda and racial casting for the problems that actually have to do with exceptionally lazy storytelling and it sets back any real progress that Hollywood is supposed to be hoping to make, to be inclusive.

Ultimately, Hollywood just needs to tell good stories.

But when these big studios are doing this for the investment scores from BlackRock and Vanguard, when they're doing it to appease their corporate shareholders, it seems like this is an impossible fee for them.

Hollywood can have more diverse casts.

This isn't the full problem here, but the stories need to be good enough to effectively platform their talents in order for it to matter.

And if you don't believe me, just take a look at Marvel's philosophy on writing in recent years, especially when it comes to their TV series on Disney Plus, where it is revealed that MCU shows have completely done away with showrunners.

And if you don't know what a showrunner does, they typically come from a writing background and oversee all creative aspects of a series, maintaining a cohesive vision across multiple episodes of the same series, they effectively run the show.

And Disney has chosen to do away with this position on recent projects in an effort to save money.

And as we've already covered, their recent stories have suffered immensely, being criticized for their pacing, their cohesion and their overall tone, most of their movies now just feel like woke pandering where you get lectured when you want to be entertained.

And it's this philosophy on cutting costs when it comes to the creative behind their projects that is translating into their recent films.

Instead of recruiting experienced directors or screenwriters at the top of their game, Marvel seems content on investing in unproven and inexperienced writers with minimal credits to their name.

And this wouldn't be a problem if Disney was willing to offer them the support they need once the project starts.

But the Marvels doesn't mark the first time a director has expressed their veiled frustration with a lack of control or lack of discernible vision from executives on a Disney project.

And as a result, the differences between modern Marvel projects and the Marvel projects of yesteryear are night and day to audiences now, but it never used to be this way.

In fact, to understand how Marvel even came up with the awful idea of the Marvels, we need to understand the MCU at its core and what made it so successful.

And it's kind of a tragic story.

You see the genesis of the MCU was marked by Iron Man in 2008, a film that not only breathed new life into Robert Downey Junior's career, but also laid the foundational stone for Ward Burgeon into a cinematic colossus.

The idea of interconnected storytelling across multiple movies was a gamble that paid off extremely well, captivating audiences worldwide.

The subsequent releases leading up to the monumental of the Avengers in 2012 were incredibly well-received and heralded a new era of blockbuster filmmaking.

The phenomenon of the Avengers showcased the potential of a shared universe on a grand scale, both critically and commercially, cementing the MCU status as formidable force in the entertainment industry.

And then the following era from 2013 to 2018 can be termed as the golden era of the MCU, where Marvel had gem after gem, gold after gold, new pinnacles of success with films like Guardians of the Galaxy, Black Panther and Avengers Infinity War.

These films were not merely commercial juggernauts but were also praised for their compelling storytelling.

Nuance character development in cultural renaissance, Black Panther was a milestone, receiving praise in a good way for its progressivism.

Actually exploring African culture and identity, effectively proving that diversity and representation could be achieved without being sanctimonious, preachy and compromising on the storytelling quality.

However, the post-2019 phase following the climax of Avengers Endgame marked a transitional period for the MCU as it ventured into uncharted territories with new characters and story arcs.

While films like Spiderman: Far From Home continue to charm audiences,

others like Captain Marvel received mixed reviews with critics often targeting this perceived lack of depth and storytelling and character development.

Not to mention the woke nonsense virtue signaling.

This period also witnessed Marvel's ambitious foray into television with series like She-Hulk, one of the worst TV shows ever made in history.

And people started to hate on the MCU for this stuff.

It was garbage, people laughed it and mocked it.

It was a joke and it's only got worse from there.

And that's where we are today with the next upcoming release, The Marvels, which is a far cry from the origins of the MCU.

The high standards set by earlier films seems to be completely decimated with awful storytelling and shallow character development.

Going from creative genius and compelling storytelling to a more formulaic and pandering approach, marking a significant departure from the MCU's earlier ethos that balanced representation with robust storytelling.

And Marvel's current strategy, as exemplified by the Marvels stands in stark contrast to other flourishing franchises that have successfully managed to either maintain or boast their audience base over time.

As I mentioned earlier, people love that Marvel films were so interconnected as it would always create a sense of anticipation and engagement amongst audiences.

Whereas other franchises doing the similar sort of thing like Christopher Nolan's Dark Knight Trilogy maintained a very tight narrative focus within a self-contained universe, which works extremely well with everyone loving the storytelling depth and complexity and Marvel's emphasis on evolving character arcs was just like many other successful franchises like the Harry Potter series.

However, recently Marvel's new endeavors seem to veer towards a more superficial portrayal of characters, failing to ever delve into the complexities that wants to find its heroes and antiheroes.

And you can really see this comparing Marvel to other franchises today.

In the past, Marvel would always stand head-to-toe with other franchises like Harry Potter and the Dark Knight Trilogy.

But today, it's completely different.

For instance, the stand-alone film, the Joker in 2019, completely broke conventional superhero modes, exploring a dark character-driven narrative that became one of the best films of the year with an incredibly powerful message, a deep, complicated character and a story that everyone could get behind.

It was a cultural relic, completely exemplifying the zeitgeist from that year.

Similarly, the Mandalorian from the Star Wars franchise showcased a blend of episodic storytelling with overarching narrative threads rekindling interest and acclaim for the franchise.

But what do we have with Marvel? More rehashed, woke garbage that nobody cares about.

There is no deeper message.

There is no deeper meaning, there is nothing of substance worth watching here.

It's all just a bland spectacle with Marvel today.

There is no innovation.

They got too comfortable with the trite they were pushing.

There is no creative control for the filmmakers.

All the creators of these Marvel films are so frustrated by the restrictions put on them by Disney and without fostering originality and quality storytelling, Marvel is going down a horrible pit.

So when we wonder what's happened to Marvel, why the quality has slipped so badly, it all really boils down to Disney misallocating their resources and a lack of investment in creative, more so in woke lecturing.

And so it seems like they just use their diverse casts and their political messaging to be a shield for them.

So when they're called out for poor storytelling, they can just point to bigotry as the reason and ultimately use minority actors and directors as a shield for criticism.

The valid criticism of their cost-cutting and creative and overall poor strategy and perhaps even worse recent Marvel projects in the vein of the Marvels tend to adopt dialogue and see as that alienate and antagonize the majority of the IP's core audience, which again creates an environment where the actors in these films are set up to fail.

It's clear that Disney could care less by promoting diverse and female driven stories and casts, all they care about is their own image.

It's all fake, it's all a facade.

And ultimately, when all is said and done a movie that's good and appeals to its core audience tends to avoid criticism and their cast going to thrive.

But the Marvels will clearly be one of the worst movies made.

The only hope now for fans of the M U is that it will be the straw that breaks the camel's back.

A corporation that Disney can only willingly lose money for so long. After over a year of continuous flops, movies like the Marvels will go away.

And if Disney learns a lesson from their failures in 2022 and 2023, it's that if they start investing in story again, instead of focusing on pandering to allow a minority of people online, people will watch their movies.

And this doesn't mean they have to do away with the diverse cast of female leads.

All they have to do is give these casts stories and characters that can help them shine.