The other day, I found myself rewatching all the Marvel films in chronological order, like every self-respecting Marvel geek does. Somewhere between Iron Man’s first flight and Captain America’s thawing from the ice, I was hit with a profound sense of sadness. It was like watching your favourite band from the noughties play their greatest hits, only to realise their latest album is just noise. The nostalgia was overpowering, but so was the sense of loss. What happened to the magic?

There will always be some who disagree. They’ll argue that superhero films have never been better or have at least maintained their quality. I’m sorry, but if you’re one of them, we can’t be friends.

The glory days

Marvel’s cinematic journey started out strong. Iron Man introduced us to a flawed hero (read: genius, billionaire, playboy, philanthropist) played by Robert Downey Jr., whose wit and impeccable timing made us believe in the impossible. Following suit, Captain America and Thor brought godly charm to the screens. Each film built upon the last, culminating in a superhero mashup so epic, it made everyone overlook the fact that we were essentially watching a multi-billion-dollar commercial for toys.

The Infinity Saga was the crown jewel. For those who (unlike me) don’t waste all their time dissecting every scene of these films trying to find easter eggs, the Infinity Saga consisted of all the films in Phases One to Three which started with Iron Man and ended with Avengers: Endgame.

Avengers: Infinity War and Avengers: Endgame were not just movies; they were cultural events that took 18 films to build up. Thanos became the villain to end all villains that would occasionally show up in your nightmares with the promise to “bring balance to all things”, and the stakes had never been higher. People laughed, cried, and then promptly lost their minds when Spider-Man got snapped away. I, myself cried at 13 different points during Endgame (yes, I counted) while my family down the row questioned whether or not I was for real.

Overhyped and underwhelming

But oh, how the mighty have fallen. The transition into Phase Four has been, to put it mildly, a train wreck. After the climactic showdown in Endgame, Marvel announced a slew of new projects, making promises bigger than The Hulk himself. Fans were ecstatic. But what did we get? A series of films and shows that felt more like filler episodes than anything else. WandaVision started on a high note but fizzled out, and Falcon and the Winter Soldier was forgettable. Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania should have been a fun romp through the quantum realm. Instead, it felt like a disjointed acid trip with jokes that fell flatter than a week-old soda. And don't even get me started on Thor: Love and Thunder. Taika Waititi tried to capture the magic of Ragnarok but ended up delivering a chaotic mess with more goats than a bakra mandi before Eidul Azha.

The CGI, once a marvel (pun intended), now looks like something out of a low budget video game. Remember that explosion scene in Black Widow? Yeah, the one that was so bad it spawned a thousand memes and Reddit chains. It looked like someone had cut and pasted it from an old action movie.

Casting Harry Styles as Eros in Eternals was the icing on this particularly underwhelming cake. Now, if I’m saying this as a die-hard directioner (I still strongly believe they’re only on a break), it must be BAD. Harry was even my favourite; I had a poster of him above my bed - but seriously? Expecting us to take a boyband member who needs acting lessons sincerely as a cosmic superhero might be asking for too much. Maybe I’m just too protective of the franchise.

The scripts have also become predictable and formulaic. It’s as if the writers are playing superhero movie bingo: insert quippy one-liner here, big explosion there, introduce a new and unnecessary planet here, a touching moment that feels forced over there. Rinse and repeat. One wants to feel the rush of waiting 15 minutes after the film ends for a post-credit scene and yelling “you’re missing out!” at those leaving. The excitement of seeing Tom Hiddleston’s Loki on screen, rooting for the perfectly written anti-hero and the subsequent trauma that was felt when he died (all three times).

The rare gems

Amidst the rubble, there were a couple of exceptions: Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 being one of them. Somehow, James Gunn managed to make me sob even more than I did during Endgame, which I didn't think possible. The movie had heart, humour, and a storyline that didn’t feel like it was put together in a corporate boardroom. It reminded me of what Marvel could be if it just got its act together.

Another film that defied the norm of its time was Spider-Man: No Way Home. For months we had been fed rumours that Tobey Maguire and Andrew Garfield’s Spider-Men (Spider-Mans?) would be reprising their roles. You had to have been at the cinema when they were proven to be true. The cheers were so loud, the next two minutes of the film were inaudible. Definitely one of my core memories.

DC: Always the underdog

Meanwhile, in a darker, grittier corner of the superhero universe, DC has been trying to play catch-up to Marvel and tripping over their own capes in the process. While they put up a more than formidable fight in the comic book market, not so much in film. Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice was supposed to be their big break, their answer to Marvel’s Avengers. Instead, we got a poorly lit brood-fest with a plot more convoluted than a time travel novel. Once again, after Christopher Nolan’s iconic Batman films starring Christian Bale - which weren’t even part of the DC Universe, they were under Warner Bros. - things have never been the same.

The saving grace?

So, where do we go from here? Can superhero films reclaim their former glory, or are we doomed to an eternity of mediocrity? That said, there's a glimmer of hope on the horizon. Deadpool and Wolverine are teaming up on the big screen next week. The hype is real, and I personally cannot wait to see Ryan Reynolds and Hugh Jackman—real-life best friends—bring their beloved comic book duo to life. If anyone can save the superhero genre from itself, it might just be this hilariously foul-mouthed pair.

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