Top 10 Worst Marvel Studios Decisions
For this list, we'll be looking at the worst mistakes made by Marvel's movie division, Marvel Studios. To be clear, this means we'll be talking about the bad moves in all Marvel movies, not just those in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Our countdown will include mistakes made in films such as “X-Men Origins: Wolverine” (2009), “Spider-Man 3” (2007) & “Guardians of the Galaxy” (2014). What do YOU think is the worst decision made by Marvel Studios? Let us know in the comments!
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Top 10 Worst Decisions Made By Marvel Studios
Top 10 WORST Decisions Made By Movie Studios
It may seem like Marvel can do no wrong, but that is not the case. Welcome to WatchMojo, and today we’ll be counting down our picks for the top 10 worst decisions made by Marvel Studios. For this list, we’ll be looking at the worst mistakes made by Marvel’s movie division, Marvel Studios. To be clear, this means we’ll be talking about the bad moves in all Marvel movies, not just those in the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
#10: Deadpool in “X-Men Origins: Wolverine”
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“X-Men Origins: Wolverine” is quite the mess in general, but arguably the biggest debacle was what the film did to Deadpool. The “Merc with a Mouth” is done few favors by his depiction. Although casting Ryan Reynolds was definitely the right call, as the actor’s later “Deadpool” films have proven, that was just about the only thing they got right. The weird, spinny blade bullet deflecting was weird enough, but turning Wade Wilson into a mouthless super mutant with multiple powers just to pit him against Wolverine in the end was utterly baffling! Thankfully we got their “maximum effort” in later films, but still!
#9: Repeating the Same Hero’s Journey
The Marvel Cinematic Universe may have given us some great heroes over the years, but a lot of their journeys end up feeling rather similar. Stop us if you’ve heard this one before – a selfish yet lovable jerk learns the error of his ways and becomes a hero after learning to put others first. We love the MCU, but recycling the same story beats for different characters half a dozen times can leave them feeling a bit too much the same. Thankfully, the franchise does look to be headed in new directions.
#8: Overindulging in Disastrous Situations
While this is certainly something the movie industry is guilty of in general, Marvel didn’t have to play into it either. Many of the MCU films show cities suffering large-scale destruction, although people are rarely seen being killed on screen. Nonetheless, it must be happening off screen, and leaving these casualties out-of-sight-out-of-mind provides a pretty misleading, and potentially desensitizing portrayal. We know that Marvel loves their fun and whimsy, but that doesn’t mean they have to gloss over the consequences of such events - even if they are really just fictional.
#7: Galactus Cloud
There’s getting a character wrong, and then there’s this. In “Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer,” the eponymous heroes encounter the Silver Surfer, the herald of Galactus, a cosmic entity who consumes planets. However, instead of being a humanoid character that the heroes can interact, reason with, or fight against, Galactus is a space…cloud. By taking away the character’s appearance and voice, Galactus was essentially no longer a character and more of a plot point…and one that looks more like something we’d use as a desktop background than a legitimate threat.
#6: Casting Topher Grace as Venom
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Topher Grace was great on “That ‘70s Show”, and we even think he might have made a decent Peter Parker/Spider-Man! Of course, Tobey Maguire was already Spidey in the wall crawler’s third Sam Raimi film. But that didn’t stop Grace’s casting as Eddie Brock/Venom. Although we can see what they were going for by paralleling the villain with the hero, the issue is that Venom in the comics is big and threatening, while Grace is…neither of those things. Thankfully this issue was rectified the next time Marvel Studios had to cast the character.
#5: Firing James Gunn
After a targeted internet campaign uncovered offensive jokes on James Gunn’s Twitter, Disney and Marvel Studios fired James Gunn as director of the third “Guardians of the Galaxy” film. While no one disputes that the jokes were in poor taste, many fans and the cast and crew of the “Guardians” movies remained behind Gunn. Although Gunn has been rehired as director, the fact that doing so delayed production on the movie and caused Gunn to be hired in the meantime to direct DC’s “Suicide Squad” sequel certainly puts a dent in Marvel’s plans.
#4: Taking So Long to Have Diverse Leads
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This entry is specific to the MCU. For how massive and successful the franchise is, it took the Marvel Cinematic Universe way too long to have a movie starring someone other than a white man. It wasn’t until the MCU’s 18th movie, “Black Panther,” that they featured a black lead, and until their 21st that they featured a lead female! Both numbers are bigger than most franchises ever get, and it’s not like Marvel doesn’t have non-white or female characters, or that they don’t buy movie tickets! We know that movie executives don’t like messing with successful formulae, but Marvel was big enough that they could have tried new things earlier.
#3: Not Writing Enough Strong Villains
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The MCU has a few compelling villains, like Loki, Killmonger, and of course Thanos. But too many of them are painfully generic. They’re usually either dark mirrors of the heroes, or else a generic conqueror who wants to rule because . . . insert reason here. Or both! And Whiplash? C’mon Marvel – this is not your A-game! Conventional wisdom had it that a hero was only as good as their villain. Marvel has often managed to ignore this adage, but we’d rather they didn’t continue to push their luck. One helpful suggestion – have them last for longer than one movie. Seemed to work well for Loki and Thanos!
#2: Losing “Ant-Man” Director Edgar Wright
Marvel has lost several notable directors for their films, such as “Wonder Woman” director Patty Jenkins, who was originally attached to “Thor: The Dark World.” Yet one of the most keenly felt was the loss of Edgar Wright from “Ant-Man.” Wright, who is most famous for directing films like “Shaun of the Dead” and “Hot Fuzz,” was attached to “Ant-Man” for many years. However, before shooting began, Marvel decided to re-write the script without the writer-director’s input, driving Wright away. As much fun as “Ant-Man” is, many of Wright’s fans, including “Avengers” director Joss Whedon, feel like Wright could have done an even better job.
#1: Selling the Rights to Major Characters
In the mid 90s, a bankrupt Marvel sold the film rights to their biggest properties, including Spider-Man, the X-Men, and the Fantastic Four. In the long run, however, this just meant big success for other companies instead. Granted, if they hadn’t done so, we wouldn’t have the “X-Men” and “Spider-Man” movies. Then again, who’s to say Marvel wouldn’t have made even better films? Then again, we could also have avoided all those “Fantastic Four” films. Plus, Marvel took way too long to get the rights back to these properties, only getting control of X-Men and Fantastic Four again in 2019.
