Skip to main content
Games Radar
  • Newsarama
  • Total Film
  • Edge
  • Retro Gamer
  • SFX
SFX The world's number one sci-fi, fantasy and horror magazine
Sign in
  • View Profile
  • Sign out
flag of UK
UK
flag of US
US
flag of Canada
Canada
flag of Australia
Australia
  • News
  • Subscribe
  • Newsletter
  • More
    • PS5
    • Xbox Series X
    • Nintendo Switch
    • Nintendo Switch 2
    • PC
    • Platforms
    • Tabletop Gaming
    • Comics
    • Toys & Collectibles
    • SFX
    • Newsarama
    • Retro Gamer
    • Newsletters
    • About us
    • Features
Gaming Magazines
Gaming Magazines
Why subscribe?
  • Subscribe from just £3
  • Takes you closer to the games, movies and TV you love
  • Try a single issue or save on a subscription
  • Issues delivered straight to your door or device
From$12
View
Trending
  • Disney Plus bundles
  • Best Sci Fi Movies
  • New Marvel TV Shows
  • New TV Shows

Recommended reading

The Fantastic Four: First Steps cast assemble
Superhero Movies Upcoming Marvel movies and shows: Every new MCU release and more we know about
Robert Downey Jr. as Doctor Doom
Marvel Movies Marvel Phase 6 release dates, news, leaks, rumors, and more
The cast of Thunderbolts standing in an elevator during the trailer for the upcoming Marvel Phase 5 movie.
Marvel Movies It took five years, but Thunderbolts' post-credits surprise finally fixed my big problem with the MCU before Avengers: Doomsday
Walton Goggins as Sonny Burch in Ant-Man and the Wasp holding a shrunken building
Marvel Movies From Fallout's Walton Goggins to Game of Thrones's Kit Harington, Marvel fans are discussing the MCU's biggest wasted castings
Secret Wars art by Alex Ross
Marvel Movies Sure, Avengers: Doomsday has a massive cast, but these important Secret Wars characters are still missing from the MCU
From left to right: Alexei Shostakov / Red Guardian (David Harbour), Bucky Barnes (Sebastian Stan), Valentina Allegra de Fontaine (Julia Louis-Dreyfus), Ghost (Hannah John-Kamen), Yelena Belova (Florence Pugh) and John Walker (Wyatt Russell) in the former Avengers Tower in Thunderbolts*.
Marvel Movies Marvel fans are discussing who they think should have been in the Thunderbolts line-up
The best Marvel movies: Spider-Man, Captain Marvel, Star-Lord, Black Widow and Iron Man.
Superhero Movies Best Marvel movies: Every MCU film, ranked from worst to best
  1. Entertainment
  2. Movies
  3. Action Movies
  4. Marvel Movies

8 things we'd like to see improved in the MCU

Features
By Total Film Staff published 11 May 2015

When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission. Here’s how it works.

Age Of Quibbling

Age Of Quibbling

You've probably already seen Avengers: Age Of Ultron, going by the box office receipts (the film has already sailed past $875 million worldwide). Financially, Marvel are going great guns and their position as the biggest and arguably best blockbuster studio currently looks unassailable.

There are things that could be handled better, though. Indeed, while there's no doubting the quality of the studio's output, it is starting to edge close to repetition and with two (soon three) films a year, that could become a real problem.

So, call it niggling if you like, but these are the eight things we'd like to see the studio work on fixing over the next few years.

Read about every Marvel movie ever made here.

Page 1 of 9
Page 1 of 9
Change the endings!

Change the endings!

Related to that, please can we see an end to the death from above trope. It was cool in Avengers Assemble but the novelty has worn off now that's it's been a feature in every Phase 2 film. No more things falling out of the sky, hordes of monsters swooping down and things crashing into water in front of spooked civilians, please.

Page 2 of 9
Page 2 of 9
Characters have to die

Characters have to die

Potential spoilers for Captain America: Civil War ahead.

The Avengers roster is starting to get awfully full... It's time their luck ran out.

Yeah, they killed Coulson in Avengers Assemble, but then they chickened out and gave him a TV show. And then they did it with Quicksilver in Age Of Ultron. But, let's be honest, the X-Men universe has the better version of that character anyway. At some point soon, we're going to have to see one (or more) of the big guys take a bullet.

Now, that may already be in hand given that the film after Ant-Man is an adaptation of the Civil War arc. People die in wars (I know, breaking news, right?) and one hero in particular didn't walk away from that story...

Hopefully the film will follow suit and do something similarly momentous though it doesn't have to be Cap who's killed. Robert Downey Jr has been playing Tony Stark for a long time now. It would be truly shocking if Marvel switched things up and took him out instead, before Infinity War.

Page 3 of 9
Page 3 of 9
Maybe cool it with the crossovers a little

Maybe cool it with the crossovers a little

It's great seeing the characters interact, but the cast list for Civil War has been released and, well, it's basically everyone, isn't it?

That's sort of justified given that the storyline is one that throws the entire MCU into chaos, but coming so soon after Age Of Ultron and with DC putting out the similarly hero-heavy Batman V Superman in 2016 it makes you long for the relative simplicity of Thor and a smallish cast of characters doing their thing.

Page 4 of 9
Page 4 of 9
Please stop advertising films years in advance

Please stop advertising films years in advance

When I read that there's a Captain Marvel film coming out, I get excited. When I read that I'm not going to see it until 2018 I feel a vertiginous rush of mortality. That's three whole years away and that's not even the last film on Marvel's current slate. The same goes for DC and its expansive roster.

I'm delighted that superhero films are huge and I hope that in five years' time we'll all still be watching them excitedly. But announcing them so far ahead just takes away from the anticipation surrounding the ones closer at hand.

Page 5 of 9
Page 5 of 9
There needs to be more women

There needs to be more women

At the end of Age Of Ultron, Scarlet Witch has become an Avenger, raising the total from one woman in the team to two. Outside of that gang we've got Lady Sif and Captain Marvel coming up and, er, that's about it.

Oddly, this is less of a problem with the Marvel TV shows. Agents Of SHIELD, for all its flaws, has three female leads. Agent Carter has just been renewed for a second run and we've got AKA Jessica Jones coming up. So why are the films still so full of super-dudes?

Now this isn't a problem that's restricted to Marvel it's a deeply ingrained fallacy that blockbuster movies are "guy films". And Marvel do appear to be making an effort, but there's still a lot of room for improvement.

Oh, and that Black Widow movie you're working on that, yeah?

Page 6 of 9
Page 6 of 9
Sort your posters out, gang

Sort your posters out, gang

A small thing, but seriously have you seen that Ant-Man poster? It's so generic. Given how muted the buzz around that film has been, it really could have done with something bold to get people excited again.

Ant-Man's not the only offender. Age Of Ultron, Winter Soldier... in fact all of the Marvel Studios posters have followed the same template: the hero staring moodily at the viewer in front of a montage of other characters and monsters. It's no big deal, but given how stylish the end credits on these films often are, it's a bit of a shame that we're not seeing anything as iconic.

Page 7 of 9
Page 7 of 9
Give the directors more freedom

Give the directors more freedom

Marvel's films are rarely less than very good (even the apparent failures like Iron Man 2 are watchable enough compared to most blockbusters), but the company's consistent tone is starting to feel a little stifling. Their approach, which was revolutionary when Iron Man came out in 2008 is starting to feel dangerously like a formula.

There's no way to know how Edgar Wright's Ant-Man would have differed from the version that we're getting in a few months time. We do know, however, that the best Marvel films have been the ones where the director's vision shone through. That was the case with James Gunn on Guardians Of The Galaxy and Shane Black on (the divisive, but adored by its fans) Iron Man 3.

So, keep on hiring stellar big-name directors, but give them more room to make eccentric and adventurous films. After all, that's how Marvel got to number one in the first place.

Page 8 of 9
Page 8 of 9
Make Thanos threatening

Make Thanos threatening

The Infinity War two-parter will live or die on Thanos causing galaxy-wide havoc, but so far all he's been is a big floating space chin. Compared to Loki's elegant menace and Ultron's overwhelming numbers, he's just not very intimidating.

The mid-credit sting in Age Of Ultron hints that he's finally about to get more directly involved in things. Good. So let's seeing him taking on and taking out Avengers left, right and centre. Frankly it's the only way he's going to overcome that slightly daft purple bonce.

Page 9 of 9
Page 9 of 9
TOPICS
Marvel Studios
PRODUCTS
Captain America Iron Man iron man
Total Film Staff

The Total Film team are made up of the finest minds in all of film journalism. They are: Editor Jane Crowther, Deputy Editor Matt Maytum, Reviews Ed Matthew Leyland, News Editor Jordan Farley, and Online Editor Emily Murray. Expect exclusive news, reviews, features, and more from the team behind the smarter movie magazine. 

See more Movies Features
Read more
The Fantastic Four: First Steps cast assemble
Upcoming Marvel movies and shows: Every new MCU release and more we know about
Robert Downey Jr. as Doctor Doom
Marvel Phase 6 release dates, news, leaks, rumors, and more
The cast of Thunderbolts standing in an elevator during the trailer for the upcoming Marvel Phase 5 movie.
It took five years, but Thunderbolts' post-credits surprise finally fixed my big problem with the MCU before Avengers: Doomsday
Walton Goggins as Sonny Burch in Ant-Man and the Wasp holding a shrunken building
From Fallout's Walton Goggins to Game of Thrones's Kit Harington, Marvel fans are discussing the MCU's biggest wasted castings
Secret Wars art by Alex Ross
Sure, Avengers: Doomsday has a massive cast, but these important Secret Wars characters are still missing from the MCU
From left to right: Alexei Shostakov / Red Guardian (David Harbour), Bucky Barnes (Sebastian Stan), Valentina Allegra de Fontaine (Julia Louis-Dreyfus), Ghost (Hannah John-Kamen), Yelena Belova (Florence Pugh) and John Walker (Wyatt Russell) in the former Avengers Tower in Thunderbolts*.
Marvel fans are discussing who they think should have been in the Thunderbolts line-up
Latest in Marvel Movies
Kevin Feige at the Marvel Hall H panel during San Diego Comic-Con
James Gunn says Marvel boss Kevin Feige was a "really great role model" for what he's trying to achieve at DC: "He let me do my thing, but he also was really honest with what he thought"
Spider-Man: No Way Home
Spider-Man: No Way Home script was changed after Reddit guessed how Tobey Maguire and Andrew Garfield would be introduced
Pedro Pascal as Reed Richards in Fantastic Four
Spider-Man director reveals why he stepped down from making Marvel movie Fantastic Four: "I knew I didn't have what it would've taken to make that movie great"
Spider-Man 4
An extended version of the live-action Spider-Man movie with the best Rotten Tomatoes score is swinging into movie theaters this fall
John Malkovich steps out of the shadows in The Fantastic Four: First Steps
Fantastic Four: First Steps press release has removed one major cast member, leaving fans to wonder if the character has been cut
The new Fantastic Four
The Fantastic Four: First Steps - Everything you need to know about the comic run that director Matt Shakman says inspired the film
Latest in Features
Sean Gunn as Maxwell Lord in Peacemaker season 2 trailer
Maxwell Lord - The comic history of the villain who mind-controlled Superman and almost destroyed the Justice League
Hades 2 announcement trailer
70 hours later and with a full launch imminent, I already miss Hades 2 being in Early Access
Toothless, Miles Morales' Mask, Battle Droid with STAP, and Nike Dunk sets divided from each other by white lines, with a 'GamesRadar+ New Lego' badge in the middle
New Lego sets for July 2025, including the perfect gift I think fans will go nuts for
Jan sadly presses a hand on a screen that says 'deceased' in The Alters
The Alters has changed the way I play games for the better, and after 18 years I can finally finish Mass Effect
Sam balances across a ladder high up in the mountains in Death Stranding 2
Death Stranding 2 is my favorite online game this year, even though you never directly see any other players
Lee Jung-jae as Gi-hun in Squid Game season 3
The Squid Game season 3 finale is a crushing but ultimately hopeful conclusion – and I wouldn't have it any other way
  1. Sam fires at the ghost mech squid boss in Death Stranding 2: On the Beach
    1
    Death Stranding 2: On the Beach review: "This tarpunk delivery epic is more Metal Gear Solid than ever, for better and worse"
  2. 2
    Rematch review: "As with Rocket League, the just-one-more-game pull is magnetic"
  3. 3
    Tron: Catalyst review: "Disc slinging is a thrill in this gorgeous rendition of the series, but I'm let down by a time-loop story that falls flat"
  4. 4
    FBC: Firebreak review: "A disappointingly bland multiplayer FPS that's missing far too much of what made Control special"
  5. 5
    Dune: Awakening review: "Both extremely compelling and extraordinarily boring, sometimes at the same time – yet still a true Dune love letter"
  1. A T-rex in Jurassic World Rebirth
    1
    Jurassic World Rebirth Review: "An unscary sequel that needed a little more time in amber"
  2. 2
    M3GAN 2.0 review: "A bold sequel with a slightly underwhelming conclusion"
  3. 3
    28 Years Later Review: "Enough terror, splatter and suspense to satisfy”
  4. 4
    Predator: Killer of Killers review: "Great characters, thrilling action, and gorgeous Arcane-esque animation"
  5. 5
    From the World of John Wick: Ballerina review: "Brilliant action, even if the plot gives you a sense of déjà vu"
  1. Lee Jung-jae as Gi-hun in Squid Game season 3
    1
    Squid Game season 3 review: "A staggeringly excellent final season wraps up one of the greatest Netflix shows ever"
  2. 2
    Ironheart review: "A relic of Marvel's content-at-all-costs era"
  3. 3
    Star Trek: Strange New Worlds season 3 review: "The show's most assured run of episodes to date"
  4. 4
    Doctor Who season 2, episode 8 spoiler review: 'The Reality War' is "a mix of the good, the bad, and the truly baffling"
  5. 5
    Doctor Who season 2, episode 7 spoiler review: 'Wish World' is "an exciting and ambitious" start to the season finale, with hints of WandaVision

GamesRadar+ is part of Future US Inc, an international media group and leading digital publisher. Visit our corporate site.

  • About Us
  • Contact Future's experts
  • Terms and conditions
  • Privacy policy
  • Cookies policy
  • Advertise with us
  • Review guidelines
  • Write for us
  • Accessibility Statement
  • Careers

© Future US, Inc. Full 7th Floor, 130 West 42nd Street, New York, NY 10036.

Please login or signup to comment

Please wait...