[noiseman]

I think this article correctly nails the main culprits, especially woke ideology and the hiring of talentless, agenda-driven writers as a result. I also think there are two other factors in play here: “sequelitis”, the poor quality dreck that usually results when a studio does nothing but crank out endless sequels, and the lack of any dramatic weight to stories involving characters who can just use magical powers to get out of any predicament. Regarding the latter, I think that was fundamental weakness of comic book movies to begin with. It’s hard to suspend disbelief and become invested as a viewer in the story when you always know that the characters can at any time use some fantastical power to get out of any situation they find themselves in. Nothing matters in these movies, which makes them dull and boring beyond the initial novelty.

Even after Thanos killed off half the main characters I knew that the likelihood of any of them miraculously reappearing in later outings had more to do with the actors’ contract negotiations and desire, or lack thereof, to do any more Marvel than it did with any plausible plot device that could resurrect them. The end of the world didn’t even matter in the viewer’s mind because everything in the Marvel “universe” is so arbitrary and can therefore be completely changed on a whim.

[noiseman]

I should add one more thing: I think the reason Iron Man was so much more popular than other characters is that his character is the most reality-based, and therefore most relatable and believable. Not that Disney might not still invent some magical way to bring him back, but in the original storyline at least there was some real dramatic tension because he was mortal and could die. Not so with the menagerie of more fantasy-based characters. Of course, this isn’t entirely Disney’s fault; it’s a weakness of the source material. Comic books just don’t make very good movies. One exception was the Christopher Nolan Batman movies, and they were great because Batman, like Iron Man, has no fantastical powers, and because Nolan wisely made his movies even more grounded in plausible reality than than that.