Study Reveals That Fatigue is Setting in Among Marvel Fans

A recent study by Fandom (via Variety) concluded that Marvel fans are getting fatigued by the release of too many creatives this year.

Marvel was at the peak of its powers just after the release of Avengers: Endgame. Phase 3 ended with the death of many titular characters like Ironman, Captain America, etc. This forced the creators to hit the reset button and start afresh.

Phase 4 of the MCU has been a hit-and-miss among the fans. Some creatives like Spiderman: No Way Home and the recently released Black Panther: Wakanda Forever have been massive hits, while the others have not fared well at the box office.

Thor: Love and Thunder didn’t please the fans much, while Chloe Zhao’s Eternals was a complete catastrophe, sitting at 47% on Rotten Tomatoes. These failures, in concoction with the barrage of shows and movies releasing almost every month, have drastically brought down the level of MCU.

Now, Let’s look at some numbers:

The extensive study by Fandom was conducted by surveying around 5000 gaming and entertainment fans between ages 13 and 54, along with the data from Fandom’s ‘proprietary insights’, which has over 300 million monthly users.

It concluded that 36% of Marvel fans feel fatigued by the oversaturation compared to 20% of DC fans. This can be attributed to the significantly lower number of DC releases annually. 

The study also showed that 81% of Marvel fans would watch anything with a Marvel tag. That number reduces to 67% for DC fans.

Conversely, just 38% of Marvel fans focused on specific superheroes, while the number rises to a staggering 57% for DC fans.

Reaching consumers in an impactful way is not a one-size-fits-all formula. Understanding the spectrum of fan identity and how it affects fan behavior has never been more critical across the ever-expanding entertainment landscape.

Perkins Miller, CEO of Fandom

The MCU’s downfall can be attributed to the fact that the creators did not understand the fans’ psychology. The problem lies in both quality and quantity.

However, with movies and shows planned till 2032, MCU isn’t going to stop anytime soon.

Hopefully, Phase 5 will start a resurrection arc in the legacy of this franchise.

About Marvel Cinematic Universe

The Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) is an American media franchise and shared universe centered on a series of superhero films and TV series, independently produced by Marvel Studios and based on characters that appear in American comic books published by Marvel Comics.

The franchise includes comic books, short films, television series, and digital series. The shared universe, much like the original Marvel Universe in comic books, was established by crossing over common plot elements, settings, cast, and characters.