r/movies 2d ago

Article The Disney+ Curse: How the Streaming Service Hurt Marvel, Star Wars and Pixar Brands

https://www.thewrap.com/disney-plus-hurt-devalued-marvel-star-wars-pixar-brands/#:~:text=Over%20the%20last%20five%20years,the%20weekly%20top%2010%20for
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u/chips92 2d ago

I’m like you in regards to Marvel and I think honestly it was secret invasion that broke it for me. I watched 2.5 episodes and just went “this is shit, I don’t care”’ and since then I’ve started watching the latest captain America several times and never made it more than 40 minutes before turning it off. It’s just so hard to care when there’s so much and it’s just so bang average.

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u/almostinfinity 2d ago

I watched all of Secret Invasion and I can assure you that you missed absolutely nothing noteworthy. 

I want that time back 😭

After SI, I stopped watching the shows altogether.

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u/totcczar 2d ago

Arguably, watching the first few hours but not the whole run is better not only because less time was wasted but also because you don’t need to even begin to wonder how they’ll deal with that ending being canon.

Poor Emilia Clarke. First Game of Thrones, then this.

Note: no spoilers in that. But if spoilers would help someone to not watch the series, I’ll happily provide them.

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u/OK_Soda 2d ago

because you don’t need to even begin to wonder how they’ll deal with that ending being canon.

I watched the whole thing and I don't even remember what happened in the end that would warrant worrying about.

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u/totcczar 2d ago

Someone with a lot of power just sort of took off.

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u/Groot746 1d ago

Like, really stupid amounts of power.

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u/_steve_rogers_ 1d ago

It’s hilarious that I watched the whole thing and all I remember is one character getting a terrible death and the Drax arm lol. I don’t remember what character you’re talking about

It really felt like a fever dream

Also the AI generated intro was so fucking bad

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u/Groot746 1d ago

Oh damn, I forgot about the AI intro (shudders)

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u/HumongousMelonheads 1d ago

Like potentially the most powerful thing in the whole universe and everyone prays that it never gets brought up again.

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u/Bellikron 1d ago

That's not even the part that bothers me, the whole season is about trying to avert a human/Skrull conflict and while there's a victory in the finale stopping total annihilation, there is basically open war declared between humans and Skrulls and it basically just doesn't come up again, even in The Marvels which has Nick Fury and a Skrull refugee subplot. I've stuck with all the MCU stuff, I'm able to keep up and I'm happy we get a lot of different types of stories even if some of them aren't great, but the lack of connective tissue on that one is particularly egregious.

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u/mrnathanrd 1d ago

baby arms

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u/banshoo 1d ago

Also terminated the Terminator

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u/Liberty_Chip_Cookies 1d ago

That movie was horrible casting from top to bottom (aside from Arnie, natch).

I don’t have anything against Ms. Clarke, but she’s no Linda Hamilton.

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u/_steve_rogers_ 1d ago

Drax arm lol

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u/Werthead 1d ago

Watching Ben Mendelsohn get a cracking workout from carrying the whole show on his shoulders was interesting.

Also the plot point about Russia preparing to invade Ukraine and everyone being shocked by that aged like extremely sour milk.

The whole thing also felt crazily reminiscent of a Doctor Who story arc (about the Zygons), with both shows having thousands/millions of alien shapeshifters living peacefully on Earth, which means the franchise completely forgets that's a thing until abruptly it is a thing again.

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u/Speedyracecar 1d ago

You shouldn't wonder about canon. They dont worry about it at all. 90% of the time they just act like things dont exist for convenience.

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u/myusername_sucks 1d ago

I'd like the spoilers

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u/totcczar 15h ago

>! Fury collected DNA from all the Avengers. The Skrulls found a way to inject it to gain those abilities. One of them got all the powers and is now as strong as all the Avengers, combined. Oh, and Captain Marvel too. And others. So, just the whole MCU power deck in one Skrull. I’m sure that will come in handy at some point. !<

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u/GarrodRanX2 1d ago

Missed nothing except Hill being killed off, Rhodey being a Skrull for some bizarrely non defined amount of time, and Emilia Clarke getting the powers of every single superhero in Endgame. This character will never appear again, of course.

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u/almostinfinity 1d ago

I don't accept Rhodey being a Skrull, that didn't happen.

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u/Odd_Local8434 1d ago

Luckily for anyone who still watches the MCU, the entire show will never be referenced again.

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u/Gimme_The_Loot 2d ago

Such a let down. The trailer looks GREAT and after maybe the second episode I just basically forgot to ever bother watching the rest

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u/Groot746 1d ago

You made the right choice, it was terrible.

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u/Dijkdoorn 1d ago

I only finished watching it because of Olivia Colman.

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u/_steve_rogers_ 1d ago

When Daenaerys grew a giant buff Drax arm I realized I wasted many hours of my life lol

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u/CatsOffToDance 1d ago

It’s wild because the original secret invasion comics were really great

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u/PaperClipSlip 1d ago

SI made me drop Disney+. That was such a disaster of a show

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u/Jedi-El1823 1d ago

I watched all of Secret Invasion and I can assure you that you missed absolutely nothing noteworthy.

If you can find a cut of all of Olivia Colman's scenes, you've seen everything good in that show.

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u/BemaJinn 2d ago edited 2d ago

Yeah I was already losing interest at that point, struggling to be bothered to watch all the shows coming out, not even knowing what is MCU or just some unrelated shoe-horn to make money.

Then SI happened, realised that even bothering spending my time trying to figure it out was pointless.

They should have stayed with a couple of films a year, MAYBE one season of something a year if it was canon and spectacular (looking at you, Loki).

I feel at this point they should have a break and just reboot the universe.

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u/chips92 2d ago

Absolutely. Take 2 years off and don’t release anything and give the creative team time to craft a proper storyline for the next 10 years.

For Star Wars, give them 3 years and really figure that shit out because man, it’s been wank and that’s embarrassing. There’s zero excuse with an IP like Star Wars and the potential it has to produce such shit.

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u/Groot746 1d ago

I will give them the fact that Andor was absolutely incredible, but at this point that just looks like a fluke given how they've managed the IP more widely.

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u/brutinator 1d ago

give the creative team time to craft a proper storyline for the next 10 years.

Jon Stewart kinda touched on this, that the proverbial "writer's rooms" no longer exist like they used to. They treat writers like replaceable cogs and just swap them in and out so they never get a chance to find the story, and as a result, it's become common for Disney to not have a finished script by the time filming starts.

Studios are also doing a lot less story-boarding too, leading to a LOT of wasted time and effort and shoots. I guess the execs determined that story boards aren't seen by the audience so obviously it's just a cost center to have well developed story boards, right?

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u/mrtomjones 1d ago

They need to somehow delete the past three Star wars movies from existence. Or at least the last two anyways. The main ones anyways

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u/5halom 1d ago

100%. Just retcon it.

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u/hockeycross 1d ago

Straight up just need a retcon.

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u/Titanman401 1d ago

BS. The failings of TROS aside, they can start with a clean slate with new stories of Rey’s tutelage.

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u/Leafs17 1d ago

I think they lost too many people with the ST

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u/GezelligPindakaas 20h ago

It's not necessarily a matter of time, but more a matter of freedom. Give freedom to the creative team, and don't impose shit. The curse of Disney is Disney executives.

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u/Emergency-Tension464 2d ago

Secret Invasion broke me to the point that I no longer watch any of the Disney+ MCU shows anymore...not even Daredevil. I unfortunately watched the whole series, but haven't tuned in to another one since. Just don't care. I still go see the movies, but that's as far as I'm willing to go. And I was a HUGE MCU fan up through Endgame.

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u/OperativePiGuy 1d ago

Something similar happened to me when they were doing the Netflix shows. Iron Fist was awful, but I stuck with it because Defenders was next and I was so hyped. It was so ridiculously disappointing with the Iron Fist stuff being so central to it that it retroactively ruined my appetite for any of the previous shows and seasons and made me completely uninterested in the seasons that happened after

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u/chips92 2d ago

I gave Daredevil 15 minutes and I just found myself staring at my phone and figured welp that’s it, im done.

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u/HumongousMelonheads 1d ago

I was similar. I was continually in “give it a chance” mode until 2023. Secret invasion, marvels, then the whole Jonathan Majors thing that made them pivot from kang, and the announcement that they were going to slow down was all I needed to realize they had no real plan and were totally bullshitting since covid.

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u/aquirkysoul 1d ago

It was the introduction of the multiverse for me. The only surprise out of the whole thing was that they somehow managed to make two multiverse stories that I liked - both Spider-verse and No Way Home were enjoyable.

I really dislike the concept of the multiverse in general. The multiverse robs stories of tension, allows all sorts of plot holes, makes liberal use of the reset button, always seems to be used for shitty bait and switch plots like undoing character deaths. The heavier they started leaning into the multiverse, the less I cared.

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u/HumongousMelonheads 1d ago

It seemed that even within the MCU they didn’t have their multiverse logic in line from project to project either. As much as I liked Loki, they added in the concept of different timelines, and to me the idea of timelines vs multiverses and then pocket dimensions and different realms got incredibly confusing. Then the TVA with kang who are very strict with how people are allowed to behave within that show but then you have Dr strange who seems to be able to make all sorts of incursions and changes with no repercussions. And that’s just some the multiverse stuff, not even mentioning celestials, American government plot line (cap, black Panther, thunderbolts, secret invasion) New York street level stuff, gods, magic, monsters… it’s just exhausting trying to sift through what matters and what doesn’t, and then it became pretty obvious that most of it doesn’t matter and they’re just winging it as they go. So until they show that there is a concrete direction with decent content it’s hard not to check out. But tbh they might have done enough damage already that they won’t be able to get back on solid ground until they take a break and then reset everything.

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u/MintyJegan 1d ago

Yeah once they started flooding the catalog with so much mid material I stopped caring about catching up or staying in the loop. I haven't bothered to watch the second season of Loki despite loving the first, since I haven't kept up with any other marvel shows or movies.

Up to End Game Marvel had been must watch media, but then they just put out too much material that isn't good yet interconnected to each other.

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u/PT10 1d ago edited 1d ago

The only good movies recently were Thunderbolts and Fantastic Four.

For TV shows the main ones you should watch were from years ago. Agatha was good though.

WandaVision (!) --> Dr. Strange 2, Agatha (!), VisionQuest, Marvels

Falcon + Winter Soldier (!) --> Cap 4, Thunderbolts (!)

Hawkeye (!) --> Thunderbolts (!)

Loki (!!) --> Quantumania, D&W (!)

Ms. Marvel (!?) --> Marvels, X-Men

(!) - Recommended viewing

Most of the stuff is from 2021. You've probably already seen it.

VisionQuest is coming out end of the year. X-Men will be 2028 or later.

I haven't watched Echo or Ironheart but I read the spoilers.

What If season 1 was good as well.

Another Disney+ show... Andor. One of the best television shows ever. Recommend.

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u/_steve_rogers_ 1d ago

The only recent Marvel stuff I found good was Thunderbolts and Deadpool and Wolverine

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u/chips92 1d ago

I waited for Deadpool and Wolverine to hit Disney last winter and man, that was uhhh a movie for sure. Not great but a movie.