Captain America: Brave New World has been released in theaters, and the latest Marvel Cinematic Universe film has followed an upsetting trend in recent years. Introducing a Red Hulk, a new Falcon, and updating the roster of Marvel’s Black Widows, the film opened to a decent worldwide gross. With an established franchise, and exciting characters that are both new and familiar, business for the new film has been satisfactory, at least to start. However, the response to the film has been a bit more concerning, and highlights a recent MCU trend.

With some of the most recent installments, there has been concern about the health of the MCU. Fortunately, in terms of box office, Brave New World has surpᴀssed the franchise’s biggest bomb already and, while the film is unlikely to be one of Marvel’s most successful, it looks hopeful to make a profit. After only one MCU film released in 2024, and the marketing for Brave New World did not make it seem imperative to see the film on its opening night to avoid spoilers, it seems likely that the film will have a healthy life in theatres, despite one enormous concern.

Many Of The Most Divisive MCU Projects Have Released Since 2021

The Multiverse Saga Has Had Enormously Divisive Responses

For a time, it seemed that Marvel could do no wrong. Every Avengers movie has been mostly adored, and virtually any project in between them garnered acclaim from both audiences and critics. Even Avengers: Age of Ultron, one of the less-liked Infinity Saga entries, scored 76% with critics and 82% with audiences on Rotten Tomatoes. Unfortunately, in the aftermath of Avengers: Endgame, Marvel’s output has been much less universally liked. While some projects have reached the same height as during the Infinity Saga, many of the most controversial projects have been more recent.

MCU projects have recently tended to be more divisive than ever before, with one exception from the Infinity Saga. Captain Marvel is said to have been review-bombed due to comments from Brie Larson. However, this trend of disparity between audience and critic scores has become much more worrisome in recent years, with projects like Eternals and Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania. While many have still been able to find good qualities in these projects, the fact is that the universal appeal of MCU projects seems to be changing significantly.

Captain America: Brave New World Has A Major Critical And Audience Divide

There Is Currently A 32% Disparity Between Critics And Audiences

The reviews for Captain America: Brave New World are split, following this worrying MCU trend. While the critic score for the film is rotten, at 48%, the audience score is a much better 80%. With that said, it does not seem that most audiences actually love this film; reviews and word of mouth have been tepid, and the film received a B- CinemaScore, the lowest for any MCU film. This suggests that many audiences actually feel mixed to negative about the film.

There could be many reasons why there is a divide over the score on Rotten Tomatoes. It is likely that, after films like The Marvels and Eternals failed to set the world on fire, audiences have tempered their expectations. No one expected Captain America: Brave New World to be the greatest MCU chapter yet, and that could have played into the resulting audience score. The critic reviews, too, have been much more tempered, with even the negative ones not being incredibly negative.

Why Marvel’s Post-Endgame Projects Have Been So Divisive

The Multiverse Saga Has Failed To Live Up To The Infinity Saga’s Quality

There are many reasons why recent MCU projects have been more divisive. Following the incredible culmination of Avengers: Endgame, the overall franchise has failed to find an overreaching story that has resonated in the same way. While projects like She-Hulk and Ms. Marvel seem to have faced levels of review bombing due to racism and misogyny, the fact is that most of these projects have also simply failed to connect as strongly as before. This response has led to a loss of faith in the overall brand.

The box office failure of The Marvels is an excellent reflection of this. The overall temperature on the MCU is not as high, and the studio needs to find a cumulative story to tell to make people feel invested in the franchise. While the overarching story of the Infinity Saga was exciting enough to compel audiences to care about more minor characters like Ant-Man and the Wasp, that goodwill is no longer there, and each project is being ᴀssessed on its own merits and demerits.

Captain America: Brave New World is not a terrible film, but nor is it an especially good one. Those who wish to find things to like in it can certainly do so, but those who see the film on its own terms, without the built-in goodwill toward the MCU franchise, have found much less to like in it. The new installment’s result is worrying about the state of the Marvel Cinematic Universe in general. Hopefully, as things ramp up into the next Avengers films, the franchise finds its way once again, and the response follows in kind.

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