Marvel has been a pioneer in Hollywood, particularly in the genre of superhero movies. The success that Marvel achieved with its intricate storytelling and worldbuilding over the years shaped how many studios approach building a franchise and telling interconnected stories. In its heyday, Marvel has attracted top talents as well as given certain Hollywood actors blockbuster stardom.

Marvel Logo
Marvel Logo

However, the post-Avengers MCU has been struggling, to say the least. Even with top talents and big-budgeted projects, all that is coming out is subpar content that the fans are tired of. Recently, many fans took to social media to discuss how Marvel wasted two of their top talent’s potential. 

Fans Think Marvel Wasted The Potential Of Iman Vellani and Alaqua Cox Massively 

MCU fans have been long awaiting the magic Avengers: Endgame brought to the screen. However, most projects from Phase 5 onward have been an epic fail for Marvel. Be it in movies or in TV series, apart from the exception of probably Loki and Guardians of the Galaxy Vol 3, everything has tanked despite having a stellar cast and production. The most recent in this roaster is The Marvels and Echo, which, although hyped much before their release, failed to materialize the expectations of the audience.

Iman Vellani
Iman Vellani

However, fans have unanimously agreed that despite the travesty that was The Marvels in terms of a weak main villain, formulaic storytelling, and bad CGI, Iman Vellani was the saving grace of the movie. Fans loved to see her and she was the source of the most positive reviews The Marvels could gather. When asked by The Direct about how Marvel could relive its glory days, Vellani wasted no time to point out that instead of focusing on getting bigger, the MCU should put its effort into character building and making people care for them again.

“I don’t know. I don’t know if it’s about just getting bigger and bigger and bigger. Because then, like, what’s left? You know, I think it’s just about making the audience care about their characters. And I think they’ve established so many wonderful characters in the last phase of the MCU that it would be nice to see them all again and see them team up.”

Also Read: Iman Vellani Wants to Move on from Captain Marvel, Wants Another Female X-Men Hero as Mentor

It is indeed this lack of character development that absolutely wrecked Marvel, despite having the best talents in the industry at its fingertips. Same with Alaqua Cox, who is the first indigenous person with a disability to appear in the MCU. While Echo does a great job with representation and Alaqua Cox kicks it out of the park with her acting, the series also suffers from the same Marvel weaknesses, like bad main villains, not doing enough to justify its TV-MA ratings, and being nowhere as dark and gritty as Daredevil, Punisher, or Jessica Jones. 

Echo star Alaqua Cox
Echo star Alaqua Cox

Echo is currently sitting at a 72% Rotten Tomatoes score at the time of writing the article, which is even behind the most controversial MCU show that even Marvel would like to forget: She-Hulk. 

Also Read: “It’s kind of lame”: Echo Producer Confirmed that Alaqua Cox’s Iconic Character Would Not be Gaining the Status of a Hero Anytime Soon

When X user @captaincupkicks posted about MCU wasting such two precious talents, many people nodded in unison. Check out some of the reactions below.

One can hope that MCU takes the criticisms seriously and works on utilizing their top stars to their full potential. 

Robert Downey Jr Says His Great Marvel Acting Went “Unnoticed” Due To It Being From The Superhero Genre

Robert Downey Jr appeared in Rob Lowe’s Literally! podcast and aired out his grievances about people not recognizing his best work as the MCU’s Iron Man just because of their bias toward the superhero genre. The Oscar nominee played the role for 11 years before retiring from his suit with Avengers: Endgame. 

“I felt so exposed after being in the cocoon of Marvel where I think I did some of the best work I will ever do, but it went a little bit unnoticed because of the genre.”

Robert Downey Jr as Iron Man
Robert Downey Jr as Iron Man

It is not unfair for him to think this way when industry giants like Martin Scorsese and many others reduce superhero movies to “theme parks” and not real cinema. Historically, even comic books have been seen as low-brow literary efforts, so when they are translated on the big screen, they cannot escape the curse of people not taking them seriously. 

Also Read: “They let the lunatics run the asylum”: Robert Downey Jr’s Wild Claim Proves Why Iron Man 1 Was So Successful

So far, only 10 Marvel and DC films have gotten Oscar wins to their names, which is surprisingly low given how much output both comic book universes have given over the years. Even the nominations and wins have been in mostly technical categories so it is no wonder that Downey Jr felt a bit ignored when it came to his iconic Iron Man role. 

Echo is available to stream on Disney+ and The Marvels is expected to stream on the same platform around February 2024.

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