Since 2008 the Marvel Cinematic Universe has dominated the world's box office, with inter-connected stories and each film impacting on events on the next. In each, the heroes save the world from a deadly menace, yet in 2020 these very heroes faced a global threat that defeated their box office success: the Covid pandemic which closed cinemas worldwide. During the time that cinemas were closed, the popularity of home streaming services, such as Disney+, surged. Marvel fans viewed shows from the safety and comfort of their own homes, away from cinemas, which are enclosed spaces where an airborne virus might thrive.

By 2020, through acquiring 20th Century Fox, Disney had reacquired the film rights to almost all Marvel characters, with the most notable exception being Spider-Man, whose rights were held by Columbia Pictures' parent company Sony. Other exceptions were some rights to Hulk and Namor owned by Universal Pictures. This meant that not every film featuring Marvel characters made in this period was part of the Marvel Cinematic Universe.

Marvel was also dedicated to increasing the amount of LGBTQ+ representation within their films. This would have a negative impact on their overall box office as none of Marvel's films made between 2020 and 2022 were released in the world's largest film market, China. Consequently this was lambasted by critics with the slogan 'Go Woke, Go Broke'. However, this was a lesser factor influencing the films' success than audiences staying away from cinema in the wake of the pandemic and the rise in popularity of streaming service Disney+.

Marvel Films

Marvel 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 4 of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, which had failed to capture the excitement of earlier phases and was largely considered anticlimactic following the Infinity Saga¹. By the end of 2019, he Marvel Cinematic Universe consisted of the following films:

Listed below are all the Marvel film adaptations made in the period 2020-2022, 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.

The New Mutants (2020)

The New Mutants was an attempt to make a trilogy of low-budget superhero film that would take the X-Men in a new direction with a younger cast of mutant heroes and is the first Marvel film to have openly gay characters. Filming finished in September 2017. Originally intended to be a horror, the film was toned down during production only for the original release date of 2018 to pass by, followed by reshoots intended to make the film scarier. Release was again delayed as Disney negotiated the purchase of 20th Century Fox. After numerous release dates came and went, rumours implied that the delay was because the film was terrible, although the previous X-Men films had failed to do well also³. The film was finally released in August 2020 only to bomb, like many films released during the height of the Covid pandemic, recouping less than half its production costs. The proposed sequels stood no chance of being made.

Black Widow (2021)

This film is set between the events of Captain America: Civil War and Avengers: Infinity War. Ever since the character first appeared ten years earlier there had been calls for a Black Widow film, with more of a spy film feel than the science fiction of other instalments of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. As with many other Marvel films, a Disney+ spin-off series was expected.

This is the first film in Marvel's Phase 4, which to date had included three television series made for Disney+. One of the series, The Falcon and the Winter Soldier, had first featured the enigmatic character of Contessa Valentina Allegra de Fontaine, who appears briefly in this film - Black Widow had been intended to be released first but was delayed for over a year due to the Covid pandemic. The character of Yelena Belova would also return in Hawkeye.

The film had a surprising legacy. It was released on Disney+'s pay-per-view Premier Access on the same day as in cinemas due to the pandemic. This prompted a lawsuit from star Scarlett Johansson. While Johansson's contract entitled her to a share of any cinema revenue, this did not include profits Disney acquired from online viewing platforms. She claimed that Disney violated the terms of the contract, as home media releases were typically delayed by at least 90 days, but more often 120 days, after cinema debut. The treatment Disney afforded Johansson resulted in an immediate backlash, causing other actors and directors, including the Russo brothers, two of whose films are among the ten most successful of all time, to delay signing contracts with Disney in case they too were treated the same way. Disney have since stated that they will delay releasing films on Disney+ for at least 45 days.

Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings (2021)

The original comic book characters had Shang-Chi's father played by the racist Fu Manchu which was later changed to a still heavily-stereotyped character called the Mandarin. The Ten Rings organisation had been referenced in Iron Man and the Mandarin was revealed to be a fake in Iron Man 3, leaving the way for this less offensive character of Wenwu. This was the ninth most-successful film of 2021.

Venom: Let There Be Carnage (2021)

Andy Serkis was hired as director for this film due to his extensive experience in mo-cap. He agreed on the proviso that production be based in the UK. Filmed in both London and San Francisco, postproduction on this film was halted due to the Covid pandemic. Filming was also interrupted by the filming of The Matrix Resurrections in San Francisco at the same time. This was used to advantage, with helicopters used in that production being described as police choppers out searching for Cletus. Despite being delayed by a year, on release it was the most successful film released in cinemas following the Covid outbreak and ended the year as the seventh most successful film of the year⁴. It is also the shortest superhero film since Fantastic 4: Rise of the Silver Surfer (2007) and had better reviews than the original Venom film.

Eternals (2021)

Eternals is one of the weakest Marvel Studio films, being largely independent of the main run of Marvel films. It was also the second-longest film in the series at time of release. It features extra exposition and immortal characters it is difficult to care about, while the threat they face is vague until the very end.

The Eternals characters of Thena, Ikaris, Sersi, Makkari, Phastos are inspired by Athena, Icarus, Circe, Mercury and Hephaestus from Greek and Roman legends. The film has been praised for diversity, including both the first deaf superhero (Makkari, played by deaf actress Lauren Rodloff) and the first gay superhero in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. This film was banned in China for two reasons: director Zhao had criticised the Chinese government, and it contains a gay character. The film was also banned in many other countries, especially in the Middle East, after Marvel announced they would not edit out the few scenes in which Phastos' sexuality is mentioned. As the film features Kit Harington and Richard Madden, the 'Game of Thrones Curse' rumour continued.

This was the tenth most-successful film of 2021, just behind Marvel Studio's other film of the year Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings. Marvel Studio's domination of the box office seemed threatened as both films were beaten by two Sony/Columbia Pictures films based on Marvel properties, a James Bond film, three Chinese films, a monster mash-up and a car flick⁵.

Spider-Man: No Way Home (2021)

Originally Sony and Disney's deal regarding Spider-Man had ended following Spider-Man: Far From Home. Sony, who owned Columbia Pictures, and Disney, who owned Marvel Studios, had announced that they would no longer co-operate on future Spider-Man films, only for a fan backlash led by Tom Holland to convince both companies to change their minds. Disney agreed to fund 25% of the film for 25% of the profit and allow Marvel characters to appear in exchange for Spider-Man appearing in later Marvel Cinematic Universe films. As well as being set in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, this film features previous live-action Spider-Man characters in a way similar to Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse (2018) though without any direct reference to that animated film.

Charlie Cox had played Matt Murdock on Netflix series Daredevil (2015-18); this is the first time a Netflix Marvel spin-off actor appeared in an official Marvel film. Arian Moayed would again play Agent Cleary in the spin-off series Ms Marvel.

This was by far the most successful film of 2021 at the box office. In fact, both Sony's superhero films of 2021 out-performed all of Disney's Marvel films.

Morbius (2022)

This film was delayed by the Coronavirus pandemic for almost two years and it is notable that the film is quite different from the story portrayed in the trailer. Whereas in 2021 the Sony Spider-Man Cinematic Universe films Venom 2 and Spider-Man: No Way Home beat Marvel at their own game, Morbius flopped in March 2022, making back its production budget but losing Sony a vast sum. After an ironic internet campaign appeared to praise the film, Sony decided to try releasing the film in cinemas again in June 2022, only for it once again to lose money. Another internet campaign said that all the viewers were inadvertently busy that weekend and (unsuccessfully) called for Sony to release it in cinemas a third time.

Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness (2022)

This film is the first to bring many key Marvel characters whose film rights had been owned by 20th Century Fox into the Marvel Cinematic Universe for the first time, even if only in a parallel universe. Key among these are Sir Patrick Stewart who had been playing Professor Charles Xavier in the The X-Men films, with the third actor to play Mister Fantastic of the Fantastic Four.

Marvel's television series have also played a major part in this film, with references to three different shows. Wanda Maximoff's sons had previously appeared in WandaVision (2021), played by the same children. Captain Carter had first appeared in animated spin-off What If...? (2021) while Black Bolt played by Anson Mount had previously starred in the short-lived series Inhumans (2017). Bruce Campbell cameos, having cameoed in every film in Sam Raimi's Spider-Man trilogy (2002-7).

Filming was frequently delayed by the Covid pandemic. It had originally been intended for this film to be released in May 2021, before Spider-Man: No Way Home. In the comics America is an LGBT character and, though this is not hinted at during the film other than her wearing a rainbow badge, she does mention having two mothers. Consequently, when Marvel refused to remove this reference, the film was banned in the usual homophobic countries including Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Qatar, Egypt and China. It was the fourth highest grossing film of 2022, after Avatar: The Way of Water, Top Gun: Maverick and Jurassic World Dominion.

Thor: Love and Thunder (2022)

Bizarrely this film's plot is that Jane, dying of cancer, finds and decides to keep the hammer Mjolnir, which belonged to her ex-boyfriend. She then decides to dress in his clothes and give herself his name of 'The Mighty Thor', which is very odd behaviour. Thor is Thor's first name and he and Jane never married, and if they had she would be Mrs Odinson, not Mrs Thor. While some heroes have aliases based on their costumes, such as Iron Man which allows someone else to be 'Iron Man' if they wear that costume, that doesn't apply to Norse gods. The plot that there is a wish-granting omnipotent being at the centre of the universe also seems odd as it makes all the plots in which the characters collected infinity stones and the like, instead of visiting the omnipotent being at the centre of the universe, seem redundant.

The film was the eighth biggest box office success of 2022⁸.

Black Panther: Wakanda Forever (2022)

Chadwick Boseman, who played T'Challa aka Black Panther, died of colon cancer in 2020. After considering whether to recast T'Challa, as the Marvel Cinematic Universe had with Spider-Man, Hulk and War Machine, it was decided not to. The character of Namor from Atlantis was introduced, although his film rights are jointly held by Universal which means Disney cannot make a solo film featuring the character. Despite this the sympathetic villain's backstory was changed so he and his people are now Mesoamerican. The role of Riri Williams was also changed and expanded, setting her up for her own Disney+ spin-off series, Ironheart.

As the background characters Ayo and Aneka are seen to be gay, the film was not released in the usual homophobic countries, particularly China. Nevertheless it managed to become the sixth highest grossing film of 2022. The acting in the film was also highly praised, with Angela Bassett nominated for the Best Supporting Actress Academy Award.

Television Spin-offs

Before Phase 4 there were television spin-offs set in the Marvel cinematic universe that were an additional extra for Marvel fans to watch if they chose, but would have no impact on the films themselves. Occasionally things that happened in the films would be mentioned in these series, particularly on Agents of SHIELD in which the plot of Captain America: The Winter Soldier had a lasting impact. Overall, though, before Phase 4, television series existed but were not integral. Since 2020, this changed, with the plots of new home media series directly being mentioned in the films.

Phase 4 spin offs shown on Disney+ are:

• WandaVision (2021)
• The Falcon and the Winter Soldier (2021)
• Loki (2021)
• What If...? (2021)
• Hawkeye (2021)
• Moon Knight (2022)
• Ms Marvel (2022)
• She-Hulk: Attorney at Law (2022)
• Werewolf By Night (2022)
• The Guardians of the Galaxy Holiday Special (2022)

Into the Future

Before 2020 the Marvel Cinematic Universe expected audiences to watch one of their films roughly every six months. For most people who regularly either go to the cinema or watch films on home media, Marvel asking for four hours of their time a year is a reasonable amount. It also did not matter to the enjoyment of being able to follow Iron Man 2 or Iron Man 3 if you had not watched the earlier films, and the same with Thor: Dark World. But since the time of Captain America: Civil War the expectation is that the audience will be intimately familiar with every aspect of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, and that they will automatically recognise every minor character when they reappear in later films and series. This is notable in Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness.

The Marvel Cinematic Universe passed 100 hours of content at the end of Ms Marvel, with half of it appearing since 2019's Avengers: Endgame and the end of Phase 3. With Disney+ overtaking Netflix to become the world's biggest online streaming service, and adding to the amount of Marvel content produced, the trend of expecting audiences to be intimately familiar with an ever-increasing amount of content seems set to continue. While cameos and minor references are a nice way to reward core fans, too much can put off the casual viewer.