Some of the rejection of THE MARVELS may be adolescent fanboy hate. You know, "Yuck! GIRLS!"

— Stephen King (@StephenKing) November 13, 2023

It’s a common refrain. Whenever a mediocre (or worse) Comic-Con style project fails it’s always the fans’ fault. Remember how the Left and the media (but we repeat ourselves) reacted to the Lady Ghostbusters film?

King’s comment is merely a variation on that theme, ignoring the fact that “Barbie” remains the year’s highest-grossing film. And it had many “yucky girls” in it. So did recent hits like “Wonder Woman” and, of course, the 2019 “Captain Marvel” blockbuster.

“The Marvels” downfall is due to the MCU’s inability to build on its past success, reliance on “diversity” over grand storytelling and the loss of iconic characters like Iron Man and Captain America. Plus, the recent MCU films can’t match the glory of the first dozen or so entries.

[I haven’t seen ‘The Marvels,’ but I don’t think adolescent fanboys are well known for saying, “Yuck! GIRLS!” Adolescent fanboys love female depictions in comics (or did in my day), because comic-book superheroes are essentially nudes with body paint. Ask the artists, and they’ll tell you the same thing. Adolescence is when the “Yuck! GIRLS!” stage passes, in fact. What’s happening here is probably more related to comic-book fatigue that Disney/Marvel have accelerated in the Marvel and Star Wars universes through crappy writing, clichéd conflicts, the overuse of the ‘multiverse’ to render any outcomes essentially meaningless and easily reversible, etc. Blaming disappointing product on its consumers is cheap buck-passing. — Ed]