There's a strange, counterintuitive sense in which Marvel's Avengers movies and their success actually damaged the studio's plans for the Marvel Cinematic Universe. When Marvel Studios launched their shared universe in 2008, it was generally seen as one of the biggest gambles in the history of Hollywood, but it's transformed Marvel into a dominant force in the film industry. Rival studios have desperately attempted to mimic Marvel's formula, building shared universes of their own, but none have accomplished anything remotely comparable.
Even discounting the latest release, MCU Disney+ TV shows have been essential viewing, boosting subscriber numbers beyond industry expectations.
And yet, for all that's the case, Tara Bennett and Paul Terry's recent book The Story of Marvel Studios hints there's a sense in which the studio's own success has caused problems. In one early chapter, the book reflects on Marvel's concern to be known as more than just the studio that makes Iron Man films. It's why they greenlit a range of different movies and different genres of superhero films right from the start. This in itself was a challenge simply because of the popularity of Robert Downey Jr.'s Iron Man, but they seem to have pulled it off; 2018's Black Panther was the first MCU movie without Downey to gross over $1 billion, and the MCU is still flourishing after Iron Man's death in Avengers: Endgame. But, interestingly, there's another franchise that Marvel doesn't seem able to outgrow: the Avengers.
How The Avengers Became Marvel's Dominant Franchise
Marvel never made much of a secret of its ambition to make an Avengers movie. When the studio announced its Iron Man's post-credits scene introduced Samuel L. Jackson as Nick Fury and saw him mention the Avengers Initiative for the first time.
It's important to that, in those early years of the MCU, Marvel was the new kid on the block; a new studio, initially dependent on others to distribute its movies, experimenting in the hopes things would work out. The studio's decision-makers initially seem to have struggled to figure out exactly what audiences would be interested in. For example, they initially expected Iron Man 2, learning a lot of difficult lessons about how to make good sequels. Given Marvel's lack of experience, it's not surprising they soon fixed all their resources upon the thing people were really buzzing about, which was the impending team-up movie.
The Avengers was, of course, one of the biggest gambles imaginable; had it failed, the whole MCU could have collapsed like a house of cards. Fortunately, Joss Whedon's genius lay in the realization the various of the original Avengers really didn't sit comfortably alongside one another. Consequently, he made the story an of how a mismatched group of heroes, including a Runaways movie was the first greenlit project to be canceled, with writer Drew Pearce openly itting this was because of the Avengers. "Basically, The Avengers came along and everything else at Marvel got put on hold for a year," he reflected in an interview with Slashfilm; it never came back. Still, there can be no doubt Marvel viewed the success of The Avengers - which grossed a stunning $1.5 billion worldwide - as an indication their pivot in this direction was the right approach.
It's to Marvel's credit that Phase 2 included Avengers: Infinity War (initially intended to serve as a two-parter). This further elevated the Avengers movies, making them Marvel's definitive films, because viewers rightly recognized that everything Marvel was setting up, even the Guardians of the Galaxy movies, was intended to come together into an ensemble Avengers event.
Marvel Is Struggling To Escape The Avengers' Orbit
The Avengers franchise has essentially become the sun at the center of the MCU's solar system, its gravity holding everything else in place. The first wave of Disney+ TV shows have all spun out of Avengers: Endgame, while it didn't take long for Marvel to start marketing Eternals was the first movie Marvel has released since Guardians of the Galaxy that introduced a brand-new team that didn't have a clear link to the Avengers. Even then Marvel chose to drop trailers that kept reminding audiences they exist in the same universe as Earth's Mightiest Heroes, with one trailer revealing a connection to the Blip, and another seeing the Eternals joke about whether Ikaris could lead the Avengers given Steve Rogers and Iron Man are now gone.
There is some evidence Marvel Studios does intend to try to escape the Avengers' gravity, however. Back in 2018, then Disney CEO Bob Iger revealed Marvel was planning a Avengers 5, meaning there will be at least a five-year gap between Avengers: Endgame and the next ensemble (probably more). That will be the longest gap between Avengers movies since 2012, hopefully giving Marvel a chance to build these other franchises so they can break the Avengers' orbit and become well-established in their own right. Marvel started out not wanting to be defined by Iron Man - and they'd be wise to not want to be defined by the Avengers either.
