The Marvel Cinematic Universe as we know and love it today has been around for more than a decade. Starting back in 2008 with Iron Man as the first character to be introduced in the installment, the MCU peaked in 2019 when Avengers: Endgame hit the theaters across the globe, as it put the Infinity Stone saga to an end. After that, Disney's acquisition of Marvel Studios took place and changed the way we consume Disney's very own streaming platform and value from each MCU title that comes out afterward.
I remember the first time I saw Iron Man at my local cinema, not knowing that it was a part of something bigger. I didn't even know that there was a post-credit scene that hinted at the Avengers. When Captain America: The First Avenger came out, I immediately noticed the connection between the two when the name Howard Stark was mentioned. Of course, it piqued my interest. But when I saw Tony Stark make an appearance mentioning the super soldier in the post-credit scene during a rerun of The Incredible Hulk on TV back in the day, I got hyped. The first Avengers movie was the first of its kind. There were no superhero movies back then that featured multiple top-of-the-line heroes not only in the same movie but at the same scene constantly to defeat a common foe. It then solidified the next MCU movie releases as a lifestyle, as people who didn't have any prior interest started to hop on the bandwagon.
Ever since then, the trend has always been "What's the next MCU title to come out? How will it tie in with the current storyline? Who is this character shown in the end-credit scenes?" They keep expanding the universe while making the audience curious about the source material. To me, the release interval between films was paced so well that we have enough downtime as we wait for the next one to come out.
However, now that Marvel Studios produces more titles in the form of mini-series on Disney+, that downtime is growing thinner and thinner. The first one was WandaVision, a mini-series that tells Wanda's story post-Endgame. With new episodes coming every Wednesday, the mini-series released its first episode on January 15, 2021, and ended on March 9, 2021. It's a short run, but it was enough to quench the thirst for more MCU content. The Falcon and The Winter Soldier were then released on the platform in two weeks. For me, at first, it felt like, "Well, not gonna say no to that," and it was alright. And then there was Black Widow (after being delayed so many times), What If...?, Hawkeye, Loki, Moon Knight, and the feature films that were showing in the cinemas like Eternals and Shang-Chi: the Legend of the Ten Rings. It became too much to keep up too quickly.
It's MCU fatigue, as the internet calls it. What was once something to look forward to with excitement has become a chore. Do you feel it as well?
