What you probably don't realise is that Marvel Comics editors have been working tirelessly to change that for nearly two decades – but may actually have done some damage in the process.
There's a lot to say about all three topics, but today, we're focusing on the oft-stated decline of Marvel Comics and its connection to the Marvel Cinematic Universe's own fading fortunes; both are the wounded victims of their own success.
Let's reminisce for a moment about a lovely little year called 2012, when the first The Avengers film hit cinemas and surpassed expectations in every conceivable way.
This jargon term describes a symphonic relationship between the brands owned by a corporation, like the Walt Disney Company. In other words, it's why Dairy Milk and Oreos are often grafted onto one another now (you can thank Kraft for that one).
For example, paper Peter Parker developed the ability to produce organic webbing shortly after 2002's Spider-Man film did away with his mechanical web-shooters, thus creating consistency with Tobey Maguire's version of the character.
But as the MCU grew into an unprecedentedly large franchise, so too did its influence become a disruptive force in the eyes of many readers.
View Green Video on the source websiteWhen the MCU was at the height of its success (i.e. up until late 2019), there was some tolerance for these decisions, even if it stuck in the craw of longtime followers of the affected characters – those who now resemble canaries in the coal mine.
But the Richter scale registered a major quake during the tumultuous period from 2014 to 2017, which saw two of Marvel's most beloved teams caught in the crossfire of an apparent corporate feud: the Fantastic Four and the X-Men.
In the stated period, efforts were re-doubled, with ill-fated reboot Fant4stic (as the poster regrettably stylised it) preventing those rights from lapsing, while X-Men prequels Days of Future Past and Apocalypse kept that franchise chugging along.
When it became clear that Fox wouldn't be relinquishing its grip on either property, Perlmutter ordered that the historic and decades-long Fantastic Four comic book be axed.
The most notable product of this era was Kamala Khan, a teenage girl from New Jersey, who quickly became Marvel's most prominent Muslim character after her latent Inhuman gene was activated. Her eventual fate is a grand irony.
View Green Video on the source websiteIn one exchange on Tumblr in 2014, Marvel Comics' senior vice president Tom Brevoort even joked that the claims amounted to readers believing they have "magic mind-reading helmets".
That same year, prolific writer Jonathan Hickman appeared to break rank in an interview with now-defunct website Newsarama, where he stated that "Marvel isn't publishing Fantastic Four because of their disagreement with Fox".
Marvel insisted that Fantastic Four was cancelled due to low sales. The comic returned in summer 2018, at the same time that discussions were well under way about the since-completed Disney/Fox merger. Of course, this could be a coincidence.
Marvel Studios boss Kevin Feige is thought of by many as one of the most effective producers in Hollywood history, having crafted a franchise that showed no signs of slowing after its 22nd entry.
Adding to this sense of expansion was the imminent launch of Disney+, which promised new avenues in which to tell MCU stories, such as 'prestige' limited series (these would go on to cause a few headaches).
At the time, many fans celebrated that 'nerd king' Feige had essentially defeated the aforementioned Perlmutter in corporate combat. The latter executive was eventually laid off in a March 2023 restructure (via The Hollywood Reporter).
"I called Ike and told him to tell his team to stop putting up roadblocks and ordered that we put both Black Panther and Captain Marvel into production," Iger wrote.
By contrast, Feige was the friendly face behind dozens of generally well-received Marvel adaptations. But more than six years on, some comic readers have become apathetic to the machine that he represents.
Or, as editor-in-chief CB Cebulski put it in December 2023 (via SciFi Now): "If you take Marvel Studios as a body, Disney+ is now the head. The arms are our games and our animation division. The legs are the consumer products – the T-shirts, the bedsheets... but Marvel Comics is the heart."
However, if we're to go along with this analogy, one could argue that an infection in a certain part of the Marvel 'body' might conceivably cause a life-threatening case of sepsis in the larger organism.
In that year alone, the MCU had seen a string of critical and commercial disappointments, including Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania, The Marvels and Disney+ series Secret Invasion. It hardly seems a reassuring transfusion.
View Green Video on the source websiteYet synergy efforts sustained, from a resurgent Kang the Conqueror in the pages of Timeless and The Avengers (an arc that inadvertently coincided with Jonathan Majors's firing) and a second Secret Invasion that proved as successful in-universe as it did in real life (not very).
Coming up, comic book event Avengers: Armageddon (is that a synonym for Doomsday?) kicks off its plot in Doom's homeland of Latveria – although the big man himself (soon to be played by Robert Downey Jr) is notably absent.
A source close to Marvel Comics told Radio Times that Red Hulk's central role in Armageddon has nothing to do with the character's recent appearance in the MCU. Rather, it was the independent choice of writer Chip Zdarsky.
"When there's [an adaptation] going on, you want to have things that can take advantage of that cultural zeitgeist," he said on the Word Balloon podcast.
To be fair, it isn't the case that all of Marvel's comics look identical to the MCU, with notable experiments including its horror-tinged Hulk stories ('Immortal' and 'Infernal') and the twisty Ultimate Comics line (set in an alternate reality).
In Cebulski's own words, the current style of storytelling is intended to grant "easy access" to the world of comic books for those who have first encountered Marvel via films, streaming shows or video games.
According to industry trade ICv2, the North American comic book industry was commercially stagnant between 2016 and 2018, while the MCU was in rude health and synergy was operational (see event books Civil War II and Infinity Wars).
In October of that year, Variety even wrote that "comic books create relatively little revenue for Marvel", before disconcertingly describing the artistic medium as "R&D [research and development] for TV and film" – as if it were a Silicon Valley start-up.
In short, while sales data is not comprehensively available to the public, the connection between Marvel's box office success and its total readership has never been strikingly obvious from what we do know.
As far back as February 2015, IGN columnist Jesse Schedeen was warning that a fixation on MCU-affiliated characters could cause Marvel's comic books to "become boring and repetitive".
Both of the 'big two' publishers have found recent success in boldly re-imagining their characters as part of surprising and subversive alternate universes (see Marvel's aforementioned 'Ultimate' line and DC's range of 'Absolute' comics).
View oEmbed on the source websiteIndeed, the Ultimate line has been a source of comfort to anyone disillusioned by the editorial's comparatively pedestrian stewardship of the main '616' universe (i.e. the majority of titles).
It's a situation that starkly contrasts with life at DC Comics right now.
In a notable example, writer Skottie Young expressed relief to the Off Panel podcast that his new monthly Lobo comic wasn't expected to line up with Jason Momoa's version of the character (featured in this summer's Supergirl film).
View Green Video on the source websiteFortunately, that proved not to be the arrangement. "I really can't believe they let me do some of the stuff I've done in that first issue, and say some of the stuff I've said," added Young.
Estimated figures suggest that DC Comics took pole position in the fourth quarter of 2025 (via ICv2), fuelled by its Absolute titles, action-packed event DC KO, and a popular range of budget-priced manga-sized collections, dubbed Compact Comics.
It's not schadenfreude or fanboy-ism, but genuine disappointment that is fuelling dissent in the community.
Perhaps the most contentious example of perceived MCU synergy involved the distinctly wholesome Kamala Khan aka Ms Marvel.
View oEmbed on the source websiteOf course, we all know what eventually happened: Disney swallowed Fox; the X-Men came home; the Inhumans suffered 'death by under-funded network television show' (it's a horrible way to go).
As a result, Kamala's powers were revealed to be caused by her mutant gene instead.
Suddenly, the comic and live-action versions of Kamala Khan – a potential heir to the post-Secret Wars MCU – were knocked out of alignment in a major way.
Ms Marvel was killed off in the pages of The Amazing Spider-Man in May of the following year, having nobly sacrificed her life to save Mary-Jane Watson... from a throwaway villain named 'Emissary' (don't worry, it's not important).
In fact, Ms Marvel was gleefully bounding back into action by July of that same year, with her comeback being announced (through Entertainment Weekly) a mere two days after her poignant funeral comic in a baffling piece of scheduling.
A source close to Marvel Comics told Radio Times that, contrary to a heavily reported claim made by comic book writer Cody Ziglar, there was no pressure from the film and TV division to turn Ms Marvel into a mutant.
Following the Disney+ series, Marvel Comics editors saw the potential to tell exciting stories with Kamala in the X-Men books – and they weren't wrong to do so. In the years since, she has somewhat settled into that corner of the universe.
View oEmbed on the source websiteThis heavy-handed amendment exemplifies how Marvel Comics' approach to film and streaming synergy is often perceived; not subtle or gradual in its execution, but simply hammered into long-standing continuity with blunt force.
Around the time of Kamala's induction, the wider X-Men books experienced another shock as the high-concept 'Krakoan Age' came to an end sooner than expected, essentially reverting the characters to a more conventional set-up.
Of course, that may well be completely wrong.
A source close to Marvel Comics told Radio Times that, over the past year or two, the publisher has been busy making plans that are distinct from the MCU and should please readers calling for greater experimentation.
This includes the mysterious Avengers: Armageddon and the top secret projects set to follow it.
View oEmbed on the source websiteRecently, readers have questioned whether the comics are honouring their side of that agreement. Of course, nerds getting angry about stuff is not, in itself, headline news, but in this case, there is at least a valid argument to be heard.
After years of ever closer union with the MCU and a recent editorial tendency to 'play the hits', it's not hard to imagine the comics themselves falling into a similar lull, unless bolder creative choices do materialise. Synergy giveth and synergy taketh away.
Hence then, the article about why marvel s problems don t end on screen was published today ( ) and is available on Radio Times ( Middle East ) The editorial team at PressBee has edited and verified it, and it may have been modified, fully republished, or quoted. You can read and follow the updates of this news or article from its original source.
Read More Details
Finally We wish PressBee provided you with enough information of ( Why Marvel's problems don't end on screen… )
Also on site :
- U.S. government is spending $88 billion a month in interest on national debt—equal to spending on defense and education combined
- Goldfish Is Offering Fans Free Crackers for Tax Day—Here’s How To Claim Yours
- John Travolta Gushes Over Daughter Ella Bleu As She Flaunts Strong Family Genes in Rare Red Carpet Photos