Since the advent of the MCU, detractors of the franchise have been waiting with bated breath to see when Marvel would stumble and fall. Yet for nearly a decade and a half, the MCU has held strong, dominating culture and conversation, changing the way we view entertainment. That is until 2025, the year that is do or die for Marvel Studios – and the MCU.
Does that sound dramatic? Well, it is. A multi-billion dollar franchise that has captivated millions of fans is on the brink of potential collapse in a way that it hasn’t been before. Sure, things took a turn for the mixed after Avengers: Endgame in 2019 with the reaction to the cluttered output of Marvel Studios TV and film in the subsequent years. But there were highlights as well as lowlights, leading to the turning point for the MCU: Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania, a critically lambasted film that failed to capture the fanbase, led to revelations about Marvel’s overwork of VFX artists, and kicked off 2023, aka Marvel's no good, very bad year.
2024 was a relative pause for the studio, purposefully so from the brass at Disney, and it led to what seemed to be a return to form: Deadpool & Wolverine was an enormous box office hit beloved by fans, Echo generally surpassed the otherwise low expectations, Agatha All Along was popular enough to spur on talk about a potential second season, and What If…? was also there.
So heading into 2025, one might think the MCU is back on track… Right? Well, no. From the film to the TV output, there’s a sense of nervousness around nearly every project Marvel is releasing this year.
Thunderbolts* isn't the only title with an asterisk
That nervousness starts with Captain America: Brave New World, a project that spins out of the mixed reception to The Falcon and the Winter Soldier (a show that, to be fair, was heavily impacted by COVID production).
Delayed nearly an entire year since its original release date, the movie has reportedly gone through multiple reshoots that added some actors (Giancarlo Esposito) and removed others (Seth Rollins). It's also spurred on a fair amount of controversy for initially casting Shira Haas as Israeli superhero Sabra, who has since been changed to a non-Israeli Black Widow. Add in that the movie is repurposing characters from 2008’s not-exactly beloved The Incredible Hulk and picking up plot elements from the outright maligned Eternals, and there are, to be kind, a lot of questions going into this Valentine's Day release.
The next two theatrical releases this year also have similar question marks. Thunderbolts*, an anti-hero team-up movie, has also gone through a fair amount of churn behind the scenes, with actors and even directors leaving the project. Heck, it even has an asterisk next to its name, a confusing promo move that Marvel’s Kevin Feige has said won’t be explained until the movie hits theaters.
And then there’s The Fantastic Four: First Steps. Not only does this movie have the responsibility of introducing Marvel’s first family into the MCU, a cast of characters that are likely crucial to the franchise's future, but this is the fourth time Marvel has tried to introduce the FF on screen. While assuredly every version of Fantastic Four on-screen has its fans from Roger Corman on, if this take doesn’t work not only will it capsize any sort of future for the team on screen, it could take the MCU with it.
Eyes on the small screen
Marvel TV, too, has an interesting year. Daredevil: Born Again is a highly anticipated reboot of the beloved Netflix series, but it is built on the bones of an MCU series that was stopped mid-production and entirely reassessed. The first trailer seemed to rest entirely on the idea of ultra-violence, something that may appeal to the hardcore Netflix crowd but could be an odd fit with the rest of the MCU.
Ironheart debuts later this year, after first being announced in 2020 and sitting on the shelf for several years, which is never a promising sign. And at the end of the year we’re getting a superhero parody, Wonder Man (announced in 2022), as well as two short-form animated series: Eyes of Wakanda (announced in 2023) and Marvel Zombies (announced in 2021).
While all of these shows have the chance of being creative high points, and/or pleasant surprises like Agatha All Along, with multiple projects left over from Disney’s original directive to flood the zone on Disney+, rather than their more recent “chill, dudes” directive, there’s a sense of worry around these series too. Not to mention that once again releasing multiple TV projects at the same time as multiple movies has the potential to wear out more casual fans who were, perhaps, refreshed by the restraint of 2024’s release schedule.
In the previous decade and a half, whenever there was a hiccup in the MCU (think Thor: The Dark World or Iron Man 2), there was always the next movie to pick up the slack. In 2025, the MCU is being afforded far less leeway by the fans, the general public, and critics. It’s entirely possible all of these TV shows and movies hit, and here’s hoping they do. But if this turns into a repeat of 2023, rather than the franchise rejuvenation Marvel and Disney are hoping for leading into the upcoming superhero mash-ups Avengers: Doomsday and Avengers: Secret Wars, we may be looking at those pair of high-budget blockbusters (which given the money and resources already invested will happen no matter what) as the MCU’s swan song.
Captain America: Brave New World is next on the agenda, hitting theaters this February 14. In the meantime, check out our guide to all the upcoming Marvel movies and shows for everything else the MCU has in store, or prepare for a marathon with our guide to watching the Marvel movies in order.
