Marvel’s “Thunderbolts*” (bottom) seems to be another parallel team to “Guardians of the Galaxy” (top). Photo collage courtesy of senior Chase Philips.
From Marvel’s retro-styled “The Fantastic Four: First Steps” coming in July of 2026 to “Captain America: Brave New World” that came out back in February had mixed reviews with its audiences all over San Luis Obispo High School. Seeing the endless remake content Disney has been pumping out, will the new Marvel era give us hope for the state of Disney in 2025?
“It feels like I’m watching the same movie just with different characters,” said senior Brandon Stokes.
Marvel has been pumping out shows and movies left and right like there is no tomorrow and the anticipation just doesn’t feel the same anymore. Marvel’s “Thunderbolts*” brings characters no one hasn’t really heard of and tries to make them the new version of the “Guardians of the Galaxy” movies. Same formula, different characters.
“Although the new Marvel films are pretty decent, I enjoy watching older films to see old characters,” said junior Xavier Lara.
The newer films just don’t impact their audiences as much anymore. Marvel’s “Avengers: Infinity War” and “Avengers: Endgame” were movies that perfectly lived up to their hype. Not only being released one year apart but also following the same story as the previous movie.
These days movies are being released left and right and the only way to understand the characters is from multiple different series shown on Disney Plus. The disconnect between the streaming service and the big screen can be a little confusing. However the use of Disney Plus has Marvel trying some new things, to find out what the audience likes or not.
“I hope that Marvel keeps trying new things. I’ve enjoyed how with different characters they’ve explored different genres. Although they can be somewhat formulaic, I enjoy them doing some genre-bending from time to time. It might be tempting for them to keep bringing back characters and concepts that worked in the past, but I think that could get gimmicky quickly,” said Film Studies teacher Sholeh Prochello.
Marvel has previously been exploring horror elements as seen in “Dr. Strange In The Multiverse Of Madness” and different eras of sitcoms with “WandaVision.” Marvel’s “What If” series also explores what could’ve been with absurd and wildly different stories that give writers complete creative freedom.
Staff and students alike seem to have mixed opinions on the tedious future of Marvel’s movies, all they can really do is wait and see what comes up next. Whether that becomes the “Thunderbolts*” coming out on May 2 or “Avengers: Doomsday” coming out on May 1, 2026, officially featuring Robert Downey Jr. as Doctor Doom, Expressions will keep people updated on what’s coming out next.
