This past week, Madame Web hit theaters, and well, let's just say it's not exactly the best superhero movie of all time. It's definitely entering the category of a film that is apparently so bad you just have to see it for yourself to believe it.
However, alongside all of the Madame Web discourse, I think there's an important discussion to be had about Madame Web vs. The Marvels. Two female-centered superhero movies, with one being treated as a bad movie you should see to believe, while the other was unfairly scrutinized, in my opinion.
In comparison, The Marvels holds a 62% on Rotten Tomatoes and an 82% audience score. It made headlines when it opened in November 2023 for having a "disappointing" opening weekend when it only cracked $47 million in the US, the lowest for an MCU movie.
Meanwhile, Madame Web currently holds a 13% on Rotten Tomatoes, with a 56% audience score. It made only $26.2 million in domestic sales during its opening weekend, which was six days because it opened on a Wednesday, thus hitting a reported record low for a Sony produced Spider-Man movie.
Mind you, The Marvels was released on Nov. 10, one day after the 2023 SAG-AFTRA strike ended, meaning the actors did no promo leading up to the release. Whereas Madame Web has undeniably capitalized on the "chaotic" press tour led by Dakota Johnson.
Also from the very start, The Marvels was battling review bombing, namely unnecessary hate toward Brie Larson's Captain Marvel, and backlash from right-wing critics, who accused the movie of being "woke" as it featured several actors of color in leading roles.
Following The Marvels, there were numerous pieces written about its box office failure, with the phrase "superhero fatigue" being thrown around as a reason why it bombed. Even Disney CEO Bob Iger reportedly said that The Marvels suffered from a "lack of supervision on the set."
As for Madame Web, it's still a little too early for pieces about the end of the superhero movie era to come rolling in as a result, but Sony has reportedly scrapped plans for a new franchise following the release.
For the failure of The Marvels, many people brought up director and co-writer Nia DaCosta, with one piece about the future of the MCU even calling out Nia for reportedly starting work on another project while The Marvels was in postproduction. Later, Nia had to set the record straight saying Marvel knew about her prior commitment.
With Madame Web, director and co-writer S.J. Clarkson has not been called out in a similar manner, with one viral tweet simply stating that it was wild she directed both Madame Web and an episode of Succession.
Now, in my opinion, The Marvels is a solid comic book movie, and I do not think it's the worst MCU movie. Yes, I think The Marvels suffers from a villain who needed to be fleshed out more. And, yes, it's not my favorite MCU movie, but it's fun.
I mean, the first action sequence alone where Monica (Teyonah Parris), Kamala (Iman Vellani), and Carol (Larson) are switching places as they use their powers is incredible and makes you feel like you are in the pages of a comic book.
Meanwhile, Madame Web, I'm sorry, is just not good. The writing is comical, the ADR is something that needs to be studied because I don't know how it happened, and not even this cast, who I do love, can save anything about the film.
And yet, Madame Web is being seen as comical and a fun kind of bad, while The Marvels was basically put into the category of "don't waste your time."
So, I guess what I'm trying to say here is The Marvels is, and always was, worth a watch. Somewhere along the way it was suddenly the prime example of why superhero movies are over. When in reality, I don't think the superhero genre is done, I think we need to step back, stop churning out so much content for the sake of content, and get back to grounding these movies in really compelling characters. I mean, that is why Iron Man worked so well in the first place.
