It almost seems as though Marvel is going to be reaching a little too far in 2021 since their plans are already including four movies in a single year. When a lot of fans think about this they might tend to get excited, but for those that have seen the saturation of an idea in the past, which is the recent past in fact, you can’t help but wonder if this is going to be a good idea or if it’s something that’s going to be a sure sign that they’re doing everything they can to stay ahead of the competition. As Ryan Scott of MovieWeb has relayed the 2021 schedule will start with Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings and move on to Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness. From there it will move on to the third Spider-Man movie, which a lot of fans are excited about since it means that Sony didn’t close that metaphorical door too tightly and Tom Holland will be allowed another appearance as the wallcrawler for at least one more movie. After that will come Thor 4: Love and Thunder, which sounds like a horrible 80s title that should have been left on the cutting room floor to be honest.
Kevin Feige stuck to two movies per year at best up until 2017 when the first solo outing of Spider-Man had to be pushed thanks to the deal with Sony. But while three during 2017 seemed ambitious, four seems to be reaching and seems a little desperate. One might want to state that the studio is kind of reeling from the loss of two heroes that were so instrumental to the franchise, but it’s likely that such a thing would be denied. Iron Man and Captain America were the big names that the MCU rallied around when it first got started, and to be honest it was hard to see the big picture developing at first, so it might be that the idea of making Captain Marvel the new face of the franchise simply has to be given time to really flesh itself out. Of course given that Brie Larson has already turned a good number of fans against her with the inflammatory comments she’s made in full view of the public it’s hard to see how she’ll be as influential as Robert Downey Jr. was just by being himself and seeking to push the brand instead of his own ideas about how things should be. That seems to be a big reason why some people are hesitant to take on Captain Marvel as the new face of the franchise, as Larson managed to alienate too many people too quickly without allowing her character to really be embraced by the fans first. RDJ played the character, for good or bad, and he lived the role as much as he could it feels without condemning or looking down on anyone. That alone is a big reason why he became popular.
At this point it doesn’t matter who becomes the new face of the MCU so long as they have the kind of leadership qualities that are needed, and sadly Captain Marvel just doesn’t seem to be the one that can fit the mantle. She’ll no doubt take it if offered as it comes with a huge payday and a lot of prestige, but until she earns it by playing the part the chance that she’ll be fully accepted is hard to predict. Larson gets to say what she wants and believe what she wants, that goes without saying, but in trying to gain fans it’s sometimes easier to play the role and let things fall as they will. Women in the MCU have been coming up in a big way and it’s great since there are a lot of strong and very influential female characters in the Marvel universe that should be included. But trying to dominate simply because of the the message that ‘the future is female’ is effectively spitting in the face of everything that’s come before. There are many strong females in the MCU that could lead, and in truth Captain Marvel has, in the comics and now in the movies, been more of a soldier than a leader. Josh Lezmi of the Cheat Sheet has shown that there are many skeptics no matter how many think that Larson is a good fit.
Getting back to the idea of four movies coming out in a single year it does seem as though the MCU is banking on the idea of people being willing to see this much material released in the same year, especially since as you can imagine the Disney+ streaming service is going to be a little over a year old and will have already released several shows likely that will coincide if not attach directly to the MCU. As Cooper Hood from ScreenRant might agree it seems like a very bold move for Disney to make, but then they’re not known for being meek these days.
