The Ultimate Marvel Film Guide: 2023 - 2024
Created | Updated 4 Weeks Ago
1944-1990 | 1998-2004 | 2005-2009 | 2010-2014 | 2015-2016 | 2017-2019 | 2020-2022 | 2023-2024
In terms of money made at the box office, superhero films and particularly adaptations of characters created by Marvel Comics, are among the most successful of all time. Yet by 2023 the long-awaited Marvel fatigue was setting in amidst a universal sense that the best Marvel Cinematic Universe films had been made in the past. Many of the best-loved characters were no longer appearing in Marvel films, which often required viewers to be familiar with numerous television adaptations in order to keep up with storylines, all of which was becoming too big an ask for casual viewers.
In 2023 Phase Five of the Marvel Cinematic Universe began. The first three phases had been classed as the Infinity Saga, which were the films that audiences loved. Phases Four to Six were named the 'Multiverse Saga' and involve parallel dimensions filled with alternate copies of established characters and where historical events had played out differently. The Multiverse Saga consists not only of an ever-increasing number of films, but also series shown on streaming service Disney+, intended to boost subscribers to that digital streaming subscription service.
Yet not every film featuring Marvel characters was part of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. In the 1990s Marvel comics had sold off the film-rights to many of their characters, with Columbia Pictures, owned by Sony, still having the rights to Spider-Man and associated characters. While they were willing to collaborate with Marvel Studios to ensure that their live-action Spider-Man films appeared in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, their other films were unrelated.
Marvel Films
Marvel also conceived their films as having over-reaching story arcs and grouped their films into 'phases'. All the films made by Marvel in this period were part of Phase 5 of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, which had failed to capture the excitement of earlier phases and was largely considered anticlimactic following the Infinity Saga. The Marvel Cinematic Universe consisted of the following films to date - films shown underlined were made by Columbia Pictures:
| Phase 1: | Phase 2: | Phase 3: | Phase 4: |
|---|---|---|---|
1. Iron Man (2008) 2. The Incredible Hulk (2008) 3. Iron Man 2 (2010) 4. Thor (2011) 5. Captain America: The First Avenger (2011) 6. Avengers Assemble (2012) | 7. Iron Man 3 (2013) 8. Thor: The Dark World (2013) 9. Captain America: The Winter Soldier (2014) 10. Guardians of the Galaxy (2014) 11. Avengers: Age of Ultron (2015) 12. Ant-Man (2015) | 13. Captain America: Civil War (2016) 14. Doctor Strange (2016) 15. Guardians of the Galaxy, Vol 2 (2017) 16. Spider-Man Homecoming (2017) 17. Thor: Ragnarok (2017) 18. Black Panther (2018) 19. Avengers: Infinity War (2018) 20. Ant-Man and the Wasp (2018) 21. Captain Marvel (2019) 22. Avengers: Endgame (2019) 23. Spider-Man: Far From Home (2019) | 24. Black Widow (2021) 25. Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings (2021) 26. Eternals (2021) 27. Spider-Man: No Way Home (2021) 28. Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness (2022) 29. Thor: Love and Thunder (2022) 30. Black Panther: Wakanda Forever (2022) |
Phase One Complete | Phase Two Complete | Phase Three Complete | Phase Four Complete |
Listed below are all the Marvel film adaptations made in this period, with recurring actors and characters who appear in other films shown in Bold. Also mentioned is whether the films pass the Bechdel Test. This can be summarised as whether the film involves two or more female characters who have a conversation together that does not focus on men in general or specific male characters. A box office flop is a film that failed to make a profit after recouping its production costs, but not making enough to also cover its marketing costs, whereas a box office bomb is a film that fails to even make back its production cost.
Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania (2023)
| Director | Peyton Reed |
|---|---|
| Studio | Marvel Studios |
| Plot | Scott's daughter Cassie has been studying the Quantum Realm and developed her own super-suit like her father's. When Cassie, Scott and his girlfriend Hope visit Hope's parents Hank and Janet, she demonstrates a device to communicate with the Quantum Realm, only for someone inside the Quantum Realm to use it to transport them into it. Trapped, they learn that Janet had previously stopped a multiversal madman named Kang the Conqueror from escaping. He had been imprisoned in the Quantum Realm by his alternate selves as he planned to destroy whole universes and timelines. He now rules the Quantum Realm but needs the Pym particles that Scott uses in his Ant-Man suit to escape. Unless Scott helps Kang, Kang will kill his daughter Cassie, but if he helps Kang then the fate of the multiverse is at stake. He is also warned that if Kang is defeated, a worse fate will befall the galaxy. |
| Length | 124 minutes |
| Setting | 2020s America and Quantum Realm |
| Characters |
|
| Related Films | All Marvel Cinematic Universe, especially Ant-Man (2015), Captain America: Civil War (2016) and Ant-Man and the Wasp (2018) |
| Bechdel Test | Pass |
| Cameos |
|
| Post-Credits Scene | Both mid-credits and post-credits tying in with Loki. |
This film had intended to be the big introduction of Jonathan Majors as Kang into the Marvel Cinematic Universe, following his teased appearance in the first season of Disney+ show Loki. Kang was intended to be the next big villain on the scale of Thanos, with numerous versions of the character from across the multiverse to be encountered in subsequent films. Unfortunately the casting was overshadowed by accusations in March 2023 that he assaulted and attempted to strangle his girlfriend, followed by further accusations by other women, resulting in this storyline being abandoned and the character being dropped.
Kathryn Newton replaces Emma Fuhrmann and Abby Ryder Fortson to be the third actress to play Cassie. This is the fourth Marvel film in a row to have a girl genius as a pivotal character, following America Chavez in Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, Love in Thor: Love and Thunder and Riri Williams in Black Panther: Wakanda Forever.
Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania flopped, making back its production budget but failing to recoup the marketing costs. It was not among the ten most successful films of the year.
Guardians of the Galaxy, Volume 3 (2022)
| Director | James Gunn |
|---|---|
| Studio | Marvel Studios |
| Plot | While Quill is mourning the death of his Gamorra on Knowhere, they are attacked by Adam, Sovereign warrior created by Ayesha to get revenge on Rocket, who had stolen the Sovereign's batteries in the previous film. Rocket is injured before Adam is driven off, and the Guardians learn that they cannot heal him as he has a kill switch embedded in him - any attempt to cure him will result in his death, unless he is treated by Orgocorp, the company that created him and consider him their property. While unconscious, Rocket remembers his past and the experiments done on him and other animals by the High Evolutionary, who was aiming to create an ideal society with anthropomorphised animals on a planet called Counter-Earth. An alternate Gamora helps the Guardians infiltrate Orgocorp but learn that the code to disarm the kill switch was taken, and that this is likely with the High Evolutionary on Counter-Earth. Are the Guardians heading into a trap, or is it really a face off against the High Evolutionary? What experiments has he been running recently? Can they cure Rocket without killing him, and why has Rocket never spoken of his past? |
| Length | 150 minutes |
| Setting | Space, including Knowhere and Counter-Earth |
| Characters |
|
| Other Characters |
|
| Related Films | All Marvel Cinematic Universe, especially:
|
| Bechdel Test | Pass |
| Cameos |
|
| Post-Credits Scene | Mid-credits and post-credits |
A film that successfully tells Rocket's backstory and was considered to be the last film of the current cast of characters. The ending seemed very tacked-on, with one second the main characters hugging and saying how much they love each other and are a close-knit indivisible family, only for the next instant to each announce that they wish to go their separate ways and never see each other again for no readily apparent reason. The character of the High Evolutionary was inspired by film adaptation Island of Lost Souls of The Island of Doctor Moreau by HG Wells.
This film's girl genius superhero in waiting is Phyla, who in the post-credits scene becomes one of the new Guardians of the Galaxy.
This film was successful at the box office and had the fourth largest box office of 2023, the highest-earning superhero film of the year1.
Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse (2023)
| Directors | Joaquim Dos Santos, Kemp Powers & Justin K. Thompson |
|---|---|
| Studio | Columbia Pictures & Sony Pictures Animation |
| Plot | In the prologue Gwen Stacey, the Spider-Gwen of Earth-65, is being hunted by her police captain father as he suspects her of killing her best friend, Peter Parker. When he learns the truth after they both encounter a villain from a different dimension, she is taken through a dimensional portal to the Spider-Society realm led by vampire Spider-Man Miguel O'Hara. 16 months after the events of Into the Spider-Verse, Miles Morales on Earth-1610 struggles balancing his schoolwork with being Spider-Man, feeling alone and unable to discuss his problems with his parents, particularly his father who is about to become police captain. Suddenly he encounters Spot, a former scientist who mutated at the collider during the events of the first film, and blames Miles for this. His mutation has infused his body with transdimensional portals which allow him to travel to different universes, and he swears vengeance on Miles. Spot is being sought by the Spider-Society, which leads Gwen to encounter Miles again, and he secretly follows her to be able to help. After first arriving in Earth 50101's main city Mumbattan - a cross between Mumbai and Manhattan, he learns from Miguel about 'canon events'. These are unchangeable moments in time that must happen to each Spider-Man to prevent the universe from collapsing. This includes the death of a beloved uncle followed by the death of a police captain. Will Miles risk the entire multi-verse to stop his father's fate, and will his closest friends be forced to fight him to stop him? What of Gwen and her relationship with her police-chief father? |
| Length | 140 minutes |
| Setting | New York City and across the Spider-Verse, different dimensions containing a Spider-Man or equivalent |
| Characters |
|
| Bechdel Test | Pass |
| Related Films | Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse (2018) |
| Cameos |
|
This is the second film in the animated Spider-Verse trilogy, with additional spin-off films also announced. At time of release, this was the longest American animated film with the largest crew of any animated film, 240 characters and set in six different universes. The LEGO Spider-Man scene was made by a 14-year-old Spider-Man fan that had impressed the production team of Phil Lord and Chris Miller, who had previously produced The LEGO Movie, when he recreated the film's trailer in LEGO. It is revealed that the spider that bit Miles was a trans-dimensional traveller originally from Earth-42, with mentions of 42 frequently appearing throughout the film.
At time of release this was Sony Pictures Animation's highest-grossing film and the second-highest grossing animated film of the year, behind only The Super Mario Bros. Movie, and the sixth highest-grossing film of 20232. Widely praised by critics, it was nominated for the Best Animated Film Oscar.
The Marvels (2023)
| Director | Nia DaCosta |
|---|---|
| Studio | Marvel Studios |
| Plot | When Carol Danvers aka Captain Marvel tried to free the Kree Empire from its ruling AI known as the Supreme Intelligence, she instead caused a civil war on the Kree's home world that results in it losing air, water and sunlight. When Kree leader Dar-Benn discovers one of the all-powerful Quantum Bands, used to create galactic jump points, she uses it to steal other planets' air and water, and threatens to destroy Earth's sun in a bid to restore her own, seeking revenge against Captain Marvel at the same time. Meanwhile, teenager Kamala Khan, who is wearing the other Quantum Band and gives her power to make solid light and goes by the name Ms Marvel, finds herself swapping locations with Captain Marvel (who has Infinity Stone granted light powers) and Captain Monica Rambeau, who also has Infinity Stone granted light powers. Monica, daughter of Carol's best friend Maria, feels that Carol abandoned her as a child. With the three now quantumly entangled, whenever two of them use their powers at the same time they swap locations across the universe, making defeating Dar-Benn and saving the Earth difficult. |
| Length | 105 minutes |
| Setting | America on Earth, SABER Space Station in Earth's orbit, and across the Universe |
| Characters |
|
| Related Films and Disney+ Series | All Marvel Cinematic Universe, especially:
|
| Bechdel Test | Pass |
| Cameos |
|
| Post-Credits Scene | Both mid-credits and post-credits |
The Marvels was a box office bomb, failing to make back its production budget and the lowest-grossing Marvel Cinematic Universe film. Sadly the Marvel Cinematic Universe has killed off most of its most popular characters, male and female alike. As a character, Captain Marvel does not have the charisma of Black Widow, Scarlet Witch, Peggy Carter or Gamora and as an actress Brie Larson has sometimes come across as arrogant and unlikeable in interviews. Teaming her up with Ms Marvel, the star of the least popular Marvel Disney+ show, failed to increase the film's appeal. The film also met with controversy with the inclusion of actor Mohan Kapur, who has been accused of sexually harassing a 15-year-old girl.
One positive is that the film featured a very enjoyable blink-and-you'll-miss-it cameo from X-Men actor Kelsey Grammar as Dr Hank McCoy. The film ends with Kamala Khan planning on recruiting a team of teenagers who have been in Disney+ shows and recent Marvel films to make her own gang.
After its failure, Disney CEO Bob Iger pronounced that the reason was that the film did not have enough executive oversight, which was interpreted as meaning that he believed that there weren't enough executives, while it is more likely that his meaning was that the executives there were were not doing their job. This has since been criticised as a sexist remark, as the film starred three women and was directed by a black woman. A more realistic reason might be that following a glut of good superhero films made before the Covid pandemic raised the bar very high, this film was mediocre and starred characters that audiences do not care about. It failed to trouble the top ten highest grossing films.
Madame Web (2024)
| Director | SJ Clarkson |
|---|---|
| Studio | Columbia Pictures |
| Plot | In 1973 heavily-pregnant scientist Constance Webb seeks a rare spider species she believes to have incredible healing properties that will revolutionise medicine. Her guide, Ezekiel, shoots her to keep the spider for himself. Her daughter Cassandra, or 'Cassie' for short, is born with the help of a secret tribe of spider-people before Constance dies. In 2003 Cassie works as a New York paramedic as Ben Parker's partner and, after a near-death experience, starts getting visions of the future. One vision shows her that Ezekiel - her mother's murderer - plans to kill three teenage girls. He too has premonitions and powers granted by the spider and has seen that in the future these girls will get spider powers too and kill him, so he decides to pre-emptively murder them first. After she saved their lives at a train station and stealing a taxi to escape Ezekiel, the media believe that Cassie has kidnapped the girls, printing newspapers showing all their photos within seconds. This means that when the girls pop into a diner for dinner and have a quick dance on the tables they are recognised, leading to their being located again by the baddie. Will Cassie be able to bond with the girls, who all have been abandoned by their parents? Will she be able to pop to Peru to learn the backstory, able to recognise where precisely in the whole country to go aided only by the 30-year-old photograph of a tree? Will Ben become an uncle, and what is the name of his nephew? How will the girls get superpowers? Who is dying for a Pepsi, or possibly just needs a P? |
| Length | 116 minutes |
| Setting | Peruvian jungle and New York, America |
| Characters |
|
| Related Films | Sony's Spider-Man Universe, Spider-Man and Venom |
| Bechdel Test | Pass |
Another heavily criticised film and another box office bomb. The basic premise is sound, of a woman forced to protect three teenagers who she knows will gain powers at some point, which presumably would occur in a sequel as it does not take place in this one. The films spends much of its time trying to include references to Spider-Man that are as subtle as the Pepsi product placement. The main problem is that the audience have no way of knowing anything about the villain. He says generic things like 'I won't let them destroy what I have built' but the audience do not know what he actually has built, only that he employs a hacker, but what she does when not trying to find the locations of teenage girls is also unknown.
After Sony received a large fan petition calling on more Spider-Man films starring Toby Maguire or Andrew Garfield, instead of making a film the fans wanted Sony decided to make a vaguely-related one. It failed to make the top ten most successful films of the year.
Deadpool & Wolverine (2024)
| Director | Shawn Levy |
|---|---|
| Studio | Marvel Studios |
| Plot | Wade Wilson is celebrating his birthday with his family when he is abducted from his universe by the Time Variance Authority (TVA), an organisation that monitors the multiverse. He is informed that his timeline is being wiped out because its 'anchor being', Logan aka Wolverine, has died. Paradox, a rogue TVA agent, plans to use a Time Ripper to destroy his universe's entire existence quicker. Determined to save his closest friends' lives, Deadpool decides to find a spare Wolverine from a different universe to act as a new anchor being, and choses a Logan considered to be 'the worst Wolverine'. The TVA catch up with them and throw them into the Void, which is where the discarded remnants of different universes end up. The Void contains the remains of Marvel superhero films that were made by studios other than Marvel Studios and so aren't part of Disney's Marvel Cinematic Universe. The Void is ruled by Cassandra, the all-powerful but unstable unborn sister of Charles Xavier, who was deleted from her timeline before her birth. A small number of pre-MCU superheroes have teamed up to oppose her rule. Will Deadpool and Wolverine stop fighting each other long enough to save Deadpool's world from destruction and stop Paradox from unleashing the Time Ripper? Will they avoid being destroyed in the Void? |
| Length | 128 minutes |
| Setting | 21st Century America on Earth-10005, the Void and the TVA |
| Characters |
|
| Resistence |
|
| Deadpool's Adopted Family |
|
| Related Films | All Marvel films, especially:
|
| Bechdel Test | Fail |
| Cameos |
|
| Post-Credits Scene | Yes |
Deadpool officially enters the Marvel Cinematic Universe in a way that plays tribute to many of the non-Disney Marvel films by having their characters appear in the Void. This includes Blade, the titular character of the first successful Marvel film. Star Wesley Snipes famously did not enjoy working with Ryan Reynolds on film Blade Trinity but the actors buried the hatchet with this film. Channing Tatum finally appears as Gambit, having been attached to star in a proposed Gambit film that was frequently announced was entering production between 2009 and 2019. Making Gambit was delayed when X-Men Origins: Wolverine (2009) underperformed, delayed again when X-Men: Apocalypse (2016) also did worse than expected and then in 2018 when Disney began negotiating to purchase 20th Century Fox the project was again put on hold, scheduled to be made following The New Mutants (which flopped) and then finally cancelled.
This was the only Marvel Cinematic Universe film of 2024, and includes a rant by Wade Wilson in which he criticises Marvel for doing Multiverse plots excessively, despite this film having a plot set in the multiverse. At time of release it was the highest R-rated4 film. It was the second highest-grossing film of the year, after only Inside Out 2, and the only Marvel film in the top ten.
Venom: The Last Dance (2024)
| Director | Kelly Marcel |
|---|---|
| Studio | Columbia Pictures |
| Plot | On the run having been accused of murdering vanished Detective Mulligan, Eddie plans to travel from Mexico to New York to clear his name. However Eddie's alien symbiote Venom is being tracked by an alien creature called a Xenophage. This works for Knull, an alien big-bad who created the symbiotes and exploited them, until the symbiotes imprisoned him. As Venom once brought Eddie back from the dead in the previous film, this created a Codex which the Xenophage can use to release Knull which would result in much death and destruction. An organisation called Imperium, based in Area 51, which is being decommissioned, is also tracking Eddie. This facility is joint run by soldiers and scientists. Meanwhile Eddie is travelling that way, having hitched a lift from some hippies. Can Eddie avoid the soldiers sent to capture or kill him and save the universe from the xenophages? |
| Length | 109 minutes |
| Setting | Mexico, Nevada Desert, Las Vegas, Area 51 |
| Characters |
|
| Related Films |
|
| Bechdel Test | Pass |
| Cameos |
|
| Post-Credits Scene | Both mid-credits and post-credits |
A modest financial success, this was the least-successful film in the Venom trilogy. The film was made in Britain with a predominantly British cast, but set in America with all the characters American or alien. The way that symbiotes work in this film is inconsistent with major plot points in previous films.
Curiously, while Tom Hardy as Venom cameoed in the Marvel Cinematic Universe in a post-credit sequence in Spider-Man: No Way Home (2021), many of this film's cast have played main, recurring roles in previous MCU films. Rhys Ifans was Dr Curtis Connors aka The Lizard in The Amazing Spider-Man (2012) and Spider-Man: No Way Home (2021), Chiwetel Ejiofor was Mordo in both Doctor Strange (2016) and Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness (2022) while Andy Serkis played Ulysses Klaue aka Klaw in Avengers: Age of Ultron (2015) and Black Panther (2018). This had led to numerous fan theories after the first trailer was shown.
Kraven The Hunter (2024)
| Director | JC Chandor |
|---|---|
| Studio | Columbia Pictures |
| Plot | After his mother's death, young boy Sergei Kravinoff and his half-brother Dmitri are taken by their drug-lord father Nikolai to a hunting safari in Ghana, where Sergei is attacked by a lion. His life is saved by a girl called Calypso, who uses a magic potion her witchdoctor grandmother gave her. This gives Sergei incredible animalistic strength and agility. He leaves home to live in the Russian wilderness. 16 years later, Sergei, now known as Kraven the Hunter, is a famed and feared criminal-killing vigilante. When mercenaries kidnap his brother Dmitri, Kraven seeks to rescue him, helped by Calypso who has since become a lawyer. The kidnapper is Aleksei Sytsevich aka the rhino for his invulnerable skin and great strength, who has also hired the world's greatest assassin, the Foreigner, who hypnotises his enemies. |
| Length | 127 minutes |
| Setting | Ghana, London, Russia |
| Characters |
|
| Related Films | Sony's Spider-Man Universe |
| Bechdel Test | Fail |
Another box office bomb. While the intention had been made to make a sequel, this was quickly abandoned when its failure became apparent. Aaron Taylor-Johnson had previously played Quicksilver in Avengers: Age of Ultron (2015).
Television Spin-offs
In 2023, the number of Disney+ subscriptions worldwide plummeted. Despite headlines being quick to claim this was due to 'Marvel fatigue' or viewers' tastes moving away from superheroes and the perceived reduction in quality since, the truth was simpler; Disney+ in India was outbid for the rights to show cricket6, and promptly lost 4 ½ million subscribers as a result, with a loss of 12.5 million subscribers reportedly lost by the end of 2023. Additionally they had lost over 300,000 subscribers on the North American continent following the raise in subscription rates to compensate for operating losses. A 2023 Writers' Strike also impacted production of new content, which may well result in further subscription loses worldwide.
Spin offs shown on Disney+ are:
- Loki - series 2
- Secret Invasion (2023)
- Echo (2024)
- Agatha All Along (2024)
Into the Future
In this period, of the Marvel films made, as many lost money as made money:
| Bomb | Flop | Success |
|---|---|---|
|
|
|
This was even after the number of Marvel films released in cinemas had dropped below what had been intended to be made due to the 2023 Writers' Guild of America Strike. This strongly implies that audiences are getting more discerning as to what they are prepared to watch in cinemas. Also, Disney+ subscription services may still mean that many of Marvel's fans are now paying for the privilege of watching Marvel content from the comfort of their own homes. Increasingly it appears that audiences would prefer to see a new Marvel film at homes at a later date rather than rush to see it on release.
Following this trend of hit and miss films, the sensible approach would be for the quantity of superhero films made to reduce in order to increase the quality, but whether this will happen is unclear. Columbia, having only made one successful live action film in this period, is expected to either close the Spider-Man Cinematic Universe or at least concentrate on making Venom films in future. What is clear is that the era in which every superhero film is a recipe for success is over and that Marvel should not take their audience for granted.
