I was losing faith in superheroes. We all were. Just look at the box office where stories with new characters like Madame Web and The Crow are bombing. And even superheroes who shot to stardom in the last few years are floundering. Joker: Folie à Deux flopped despite the fact that its predecessor made $1 billion worldwide. Even Venom: The Last Dance had a mediocre opening weekend, failing to top either of its previous installments.
Marvel Studios, the longtime leader in the cinematic superhero space, is no exception. Last year, I and many other cultural critics bemoaned the demise of the MCU after 2019’s Avengers: Endgame. The studio was churning out mediocre television series on Disney+ while its films, The Marvels and Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania, fell far short of expectations in theaters.
Read More: How Marvel Lost Its Way
To its credit, Marvel Studios did produce the only superhero hit of …