Top 10 Most Disappointing MCU Projects

Top 10 Most Disappointing MCU Projects

The MCU is the biggest and popular franchise of all time. It’s now nearly 20 years old spanning 37 projects. With all of the success they’ve had, they’ve also had some very disappointing and underwhelming projects. Here are my picks for the 10 most disappointing MCU projects. Let’s get started! 

10. Black Panther: I know this is going to get me in trouble with a lot of people because Black Panther is widely regarded as one of the best MCU films. To be clear, I do like this film. I think Black Panther is a good movie. But I’ve never found the movie to be as good as people make it out to be. I remember when this movie came out and the film debuted with a 100% on Rotten Tomatoes. People were praising it as one of the best comic book movies of all time,it was the first comic book movie to ever be nominated for Best Picture. I get the cultural significance of it and get why it’s important to so many people. I see a movie that has a lot of good things but also things that leave me frustrated. On the positive, Ryan Coogler’s world building for Wakanda is incredible. He makes a world that you want to go visit. You want to explore Wakanda’s history, future, and connections to the rest of the world. Everything down to the costume and production design makes it feel lived in. Michael B. Jordan’s Killmonger is a great villain and his plan is justified because of his worldview this causes T’Challa to grow and change in the film setting up the plot of Wakanda Forever. Ludwig Goransson’s score is fantastic, one of the best scores in the MCU. It won the Oscar for a reason. But, I do think this film has some issues with the CGI that really holds it back. I think part of the disappointment comes from going in expecting a fantastic movie and what I got was a really good but not great or fantastic film. I think audience expectations worked against Black Panther’s favor for my overall enjoyment of the film. 

 

9. The Fantastic Four: First Steps: The latest MCU film and one that I still liked but I don’t think is nearly as good as a majority of fans are claiming it is. It’s so fun that I’m a bit confused as to why people are loving it as much as they do. I saw a film that had a number of issues that hold it back from being a top tier MCU film. I think the film montages over way too much. They want to get the action quickly so they montage the first 20 minutes of the film. I think they needed to add in one or two scenes with Paul Walter Hauser’s Mole Man to better set up his role in the third act. There’s a number of plot points and the basic story that is very reminiscent of Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer, to the point where the film felt predictable as I felt like I knew where it was going because it followed the same story structure. There were just a number of things that left me very frustrated that it wasn’t as good as some of the early buzz indicated or as I hoped it would be. I did like that it felt and looked different. This film has this futuristic 1960s look to it that no other MCU film has. It’s interesting having this film, Thunderbolts*, and Captain America: Brave New World all released the same years because one of those movies has no distinct style or voice and two of them, First Steps being one of them. Michael Giacchino’s score is fantastic and continues to prove himself as one of the best film composers of all time. The cast all around is very fun, they all embody their roles nicely and have great chemistry with each other. Overall, I think this film is good and has things to offer but overall it’s not a great movie that many people are claiming it to be. 

8. What If…?: This is a show that got more disappointing as it went along. By the time we got to season 3 it was clear that Marvel had no idea what to do with this show. But season one was actually a pretty fun season that had some fun concepts and moments. That was the show in its prime with its freshest ideas that didn’t feel like they were running out of gas. I thought season two was a step down in quality but I still enjoyed it. It wasn’t a bad season but you could tell that it wasn’t as fresh as season one. The decision in season two of turning this show into a Captain Carter was bizarre. I like Hayley Atwell and Peggy Carter but when you’re limiting concepts around one character it takes away the fun and charm of What If…? When you have a tv show with this concept the ideas are endless with what you can do but choose ideas related to one character, Captain Carter. Like I said, by season three they had some of the most bizarre ideas that nobody was asking for. There’s literally an episode where Howard the Duck hooks up with Darcy Lewis and has a kid. That’s an actual episode in the season and instead of doing any other ideas that fans have come up with they choose the weirdest ideas that make no sense. People have been saying for years that an episode about what if the other side of the universe got snapped would be an awesome episode. They easily could’ve done that but they didn’t and that’s the most disappointing part, it’s wasted potential especially given the concept of the show and what character they’re allowed to use. 

7. Moon Knight: Another very disappointing MCU tv show that from beginning to end was a frustrating mix of good ideas while also having three different tones in the show. The first two episodes are this take on Jason Bourne of the lead character not remembering who he is, the middle two episodes feel like an Indiana Jones globe trotting adventure, and the final episodes get cartoonish and feel like Power Rangers. The three tones that they’re going for in this film don’t mix together. They feel like three different shows mixed into one. It’s also a show that’s called Moon Knight, but Moon Knight isn’t really in this show. Oscar Isaac is out of the suit more than he’s in the suit and that’s weird and odd to me. There’s so many interesting ideas in here with great performances. Oscar Isaac is a world class actor that can be very versatile in roles. He’s great in this show playing multiple different personalities and he’s able to portray all of them very convincingly. There’s scenes where he’s acting opposite himself that are done very well. Ethan Hawke as our villain is great, he’s a compelling and interesting villain. When it does lean into the split personality staff it can be very interesting and provides a different type of lead character in the MCU but it’s bogged down by all of this nonsense and weird choices. Looking back on this show three years later, it feels a bit pointless since we know Oscar Isaac is likely not returning for Avengers Doomsday and we don’t know if we’ll ever see him again because it feels so niche and pocketed for the MCU.   

6. Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness: There was a lot of hype surrounding this film likely because it was another multiverse film releasing after No Way Home. I think that’s why a lot of people were and are very underwhelmed by this project. I was one of those people that was very disappointed in this film when I first saw it, to this day I’m still disappointed in it but not as much. I’ve softened on this film a little bit. I still think it’s flawed and not as good as it could’ve been, but I think there’s a lot of things this film gets right. They do a great job of continuing Wanda’s arc from WandaVision with Elizabeth Olsen continuing to show off her acting abilities. In this film, they use the multiverse gimmick to help Doctor Strange grow and change. The film does have multiverse fun and cameos but it also has a purpose for the multiverse cameos. When the film leans into Sam Raimi’s style it’s really cool because it feels so different from other MCU films and leans into the campy horror edge that Raimi has. But this is one of the more infamous examples of recent MCU movies having a lot of rewrite and reshoots done. According to Elizabeth Olsen there were 33 rewrites done for the film which is crazy. The movie is just over 2 hours long and half of the movie feels like it’s directed by Sam Raimi and the other part feels like it was directed by a committee of people over at Marvel. When it’s campy horror Raimi it’s fresh and interesting, when it’s generic MCU well it feels like generic MCU. While I appreciate how they use the multiverse gimmick and tie it into the character arcs of the film, I do think the end result of the multiverse was very underwhelming. They teased that the multiverse fun was going to be more prominent in the film, but it’s really only one sequence. Even the title “Multiverse of Madness” I think misdirected audiences into how crazy and wacky the film was going to get. I’m not saying I wanted the film to 100% be a cameo fest but I wanted more cameos, especially the talent they got for the film. 

5. Spider-Man: Far From Home: This is an interesting one because when this film came out it was being praised as the best Spider-Man movie since Spider-Man 2. I even heard people call it the best Spider-Man movie of all time. I’ve always liked and enjoyed the film, but I’ve never understood the praise that it gets. I think it’s very flawed and some things make no sense about it. They do some very interesting things with Mysterio with the visual effects that create some of the best looking sequences in the MCU. But if you actually look at and think about his plan, it takes Mysterio from what could’ve been a good villain to a disappointing villain. He wants to create all of this AI technology to become a superhero so he uses drones to trick people. But what is Mysterio going to do when an evil threat actually does show up? Nothing. He’s going to die because he’s not actually a hero that can do anything. I think the bar sequence with Jake Gyllenhaal giving this speech telling the audience about his plan is one of the most distracting and cringy scenes in the entire MCU. Another reason why it’s disappointing is because this was the first MCU film after Avengers Endgame. Given how epic and special Endgame was, I wanted something more from this film. With No Way Home, I think this film is easily the weakest of Tom Holland’s Spider-Man trilogy. It has the weakest villain, the weakest plot, and it’s just not as fun or as special as those films. I know this is going to be a hot take for so many people because they love it. That's part of the fun of ranking like this no matter what movie or tv show I say somebody is going to passionately disagree with me. 

4. Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2: Spoiler alert, this is the highest rated film on this list to come out in The Infinity Saga. So the top three on this list are from post-Endgame. Like Far From Home, there’s a lot of people that really enjoy this film. For me, I have always viewed this as a HUGE step down from the first film. I think the original is one of the freshest and funniest MCU movies out there. 11 years later that movie holds up very well. I was very excited to see the sequel and while there’s things I like about it. I think with time it’s gotten better because it feels more like a creative vision from James Gunn than a movie directed by a committee and that’s what so many recent MCU films have felt like. The soundtrack is of course fantastic, filled with great songs in great sequences. But I think the film’s story and structure doesn’t really work for me. There’s so much tension between our Guardians that it takes away some of the fun of this trilogy and these characters. So much of the conflict of the movie comes from the interactions between Star-Lord and Rocket. Rocket himself is so selfish in this movie that you don’t really like him. The twist of Ego being a villain isn’t surprising whatsoever. We never really expected this guy to be good so when it’s revealed that he’s bad it doesn’t mean anything. They got a great actor with Kurt Russell that brings a gravitas to the movie, but he’s not given a great villain. I’m a very big fan of James Gunn and of the films/tv shows that I’ve seen, I think this is easily his weakest. 

3. Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania: I feel like most people will have this movie on a list like this. Marvel has hyped this movie up, trying to get people excited about it. It was the kick off to Phase 5 and it was the film to introduce a proper version of Kang into the MCU. Unfortunately, this movie fell way below expectations and disappointed critics, audiences, and the box office. Between this film and Jonathan Majors’ personal life, the MCU decided to pivot hard from Kang and move in a different direction. I feel like my thoughts on this film have gone down with more time to process it. I feel like this film is one of the biggest examples of a film feeling like a corporate producer then an actual film. So much of the charm and what the first two Ant-Man films work was that they were light hearted adventures that didn’t have earth ending stakes. When you get to this film it feels like a generic MCU film with Guardians of the Galaxy and Flash Gordon thrown in there. They all totally botch Kang in this film where they said he was going to be the big bad of the MCU that’s going to be a big threat for The Avengers. In this time he’s defeated by Ant-Man and Hank Pym’s ants so any threat level that there was for Kang was gone by the time the credits roll. It’s also disappointing that the film didn’t have any emotional bite or stakes to it. It should’ve ended on more of a cliffhanger that teased the bigger threat for Kang Dynasty. Instead they couldn’t figure out the ending of the film so they changed the ending a month before release. The film we got has interesting elements in it, it’s a watchable film but it’s also a film that should’ve been so much better than it actually was. 

2. Secret Invasion: The most disappointing project the MCU released on Disney+. I was super excited for this show when it was first announced in 2020 and every piece of marketing we got I got more and more excited. This is one of the most frustrating projects the MCU put out because the things it gets right, it gets REALLY right. It’s a more mature and grounded spy thriller in the MCU. It feels like a political thriller and Captain America the Winter Soldier, which are things that I enjoy. Putting Samuel L. Jackson’s Nick Fury front and center in a show like this sounds awesome. There was so much about this show that I enjoyed and gave me hope this would be something very cool and special. When we got the finale this show completely fell apart and didn’t feel like the logical finale to what was set up in episode one. The show established itself as being more dark and serious, taking things more mature aimed for adults was very compelling. By the finale they gave Emilia Clarke every hero’s ability from Endgame, making her the most powerful being in the universe which breaks the rules and logic of the franchise. What makes the show even more disappointing is it has a $250 million budget, they did massive reshoots for the film and have a massive budget but ended up making a show that has more people talking then big exciting action. On every single that this was going for it fumbled the ball and completely wasted any good ideas they had. This show and my #1 I think are the two worst things the MCU has done and also the most disappointing things the MCU has done. 

1. Thor: Love and Thunder: Oh man, it really breaks my heart that I have to put Love and Thunder on a list like this. It made me realize that I think Taika Waititi is a one hit wonder director with Ragnarok. I haven’t enjoyed any of Taika’s other movies, Love and Thunder included. This film feels like Marvel let Taika have full reign and creative control on the film after he won an Oscar for JoJo Rabbit. Because of this you get a movie that makes things so goofy and silly that it’s hard to take anything seriously. Ragnarok is very goofy and over the top but it was still anchored by emotion and a character arc for Thor. Love and Thunder takes everything that could’ve been grounded and made a joke out of it. The film is trying so hard to be funny and vibrant that it becomes annoying and cringey. There’s jokes about a love triangle involving a hammer, there’s a joke about genocide, screaming goats, and Chris Hemsworth’s bottom. Every low brow and gross joke you can think of is in this film. The film feels more like a parody of Thor rather than an actual Thor film. To me the biggest disappointment of the film is the utter waste of Christian Bale. If you don’t know, The Dark Knight is my favorite movie of all time and Bale is my favorite Batman of all time. When I heard he was going to be in the film I was super excited and he cares a lot about the genre. He’s a comic book movie legend that’s also an Oscar winning actor. I think everything with Gorr is good but they put him in the wrong movie. They created a dark and creepy villain and they dropped him in the silliest movie in the MCU. They wasted a legend and an Oscar winning actor in what should’ve been an easy win for the MCU. When I was putting this list together I knew this was going to be #1 because it’s the worst MCU film. It’s also one of the few MCU films I’ve seen one time and I don’t know if I want to rewatch it.