The Russo Brothers Are Right About How Disney+ Is Causing Issues For The MCU

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The directors of some of Marvel’s most popular films believe they’ve identified the main issue with the Marvel Cinematic Universe – and it seems to stem from Disney+. In a recent interview with The Times, Anthony and Joe Russo admitted the MCU has become too sprawling and lost its clear story direction, echoing concerns fans have voiced for years. Anthony Russo even said they faced this same challenge themselves. Their answer? To return to a more focused storyline for upcoming Avengers: Doomsday and Secret Wars films, similar to the tightly-woven narrative that made Infinity War and Endgame massive hits.

The Russo brothers are politely suggesting a change in direction, but they’re avoiding the main problem. The reason Marvel movies feel disjointed isn’t the multiverse or people getting tired of superheroes. It’s Disney+’s push to create a lot of content, which has turned Marvel’s once-focused universe into something overwhelming, even for dedicated fans.

How Disney+ Broke What Phases 1-3 Built

The success of the Infinity Saga stemmed from Marvel Studios’ careful and consistent approach to creating its universe. From Iron Man to Endgame, Marvel prioritized its theatrical films as the core storyline, treating other content as supporting material. Shows like Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. and the Netflix series added to the Marvel Cinematic Universe, but weren’t essential to understanding the main events in films like The Avengers or Civil War.

As a huge movie fan, I always thought the way Marvel built its universe was just genius. Kevin Feige, the head of Marvel Studios, really got that the key was making these films easy for anyone to enjoy. You didn’t need to have watched a ton of other stuff to jump in and have a good time. They definitely connected the movies, with little nods and references, but each film still felt like a complete story on its own, while also contributing to a bigger picture. It was a brilliant balance!

Then Disney+ launched, and Marvel’s content philosophy underwent a seismic shift.

The Marvel Cinematic Universe quickly expanded beyond just movies. In 2021, Phase 4 included six series on Disney+, each with six to nine episodes.

  • WandaVision wasn’t just a fun spin-off; it was required viewing to understand Wanda’s motivation in Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness.
  • Loki introduced the multiverse concept and set up Kang as the next Thanos-level threat.
  • The Falcon and the Winter Soldier explained Sam Wilson’s journey to becoming Captain America, making it an essential context for future appearances rather than just a subplot.

It wasn’t that the shows themselves were bad. WandaVision, Loki, and What If…? actually featured some of Marvel’s most imaginative stories. The real issue was how these shows fit into the bigger picture. Originally meant to be extra content, the Disney+ series started to feel essential to understanding the main storyline, creating a confusing and fragmented narrative. Essentially, the side dishes became the whole meal, and you needed to watch everything beforehand just to follow along.

Unlike DC, which generally keeps its movies and TV shows distinct, James Gunn is incorporating shows like Peacemaker into his DC Universe plans to add to the moviegoing experience, not require it. DC isn’t using streaming to limit access to its stories; it’s using it to complement what happens in theaters.

The Marvel Cinematic Universe, however, went in a different direction, and ended up alienating the more casual fans who had originally helped make Marvel so popular.

The MCU’s Homework Problem: When Expanded Universe Becomes a Burden

Let’s look at how Disney+ has changed how much you need to watch to follow the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Over the 11 years of the ‘Infinity Saga’ – from 2008 to 2019 – Marvel released 23 movies, adding up to about 50 hours of content. To understand the overall story from the first Iron Man to Endgame, those films were all you needed to watch. It was a fairly simple commitment.

Between 2021 and 2024, with Phases 4 and 5, Marvel Studios released almost half the number of films as in its previous years, plus over 10 series on Disney+. These series alone totaled around 50 hours of viewing time, and that doesn’t even include animated content. It quickly became a real commitment to stay current with the Marvel Cinematic Universe, almost like a part-time job.

The sheer amount of Marvel content turned off many regular moviegoers who had previously driven the franchise’s success. The Marvels serves as a warning: the movie assumed viewers had seen WandaVision, Ms. Marvel, and Secret Invasion to understand the characters and story. Someone who enjoyed Captain Marvel in 2019 would now need to watch three separate Disney+ series before seeing the new film. It’s not surprising the movie didn’t do as well as expected.

As a big Marvel fan, I thought Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania had a tough time landing. It really tried to establish Kang the Conqueror as the next major villain – and there’s a lot of buzz about what’s going on with him now. But honestly, if you hadn’t seen Season 1 of Loki, a lot of the stuff about alternate versions of characters and why Kang even matters just didn’t quite connect. It felt like you needed that background to really understand what was happening.

Recent movie ticket sales reveal a concerning trend. The Marvels brought in $206 million worldwide, making it the lowest-performing film in the Marvel Cinematic Universe to date. Even Quantumania, which featured a villain intended to be as powerful as Thanos, only earned $476 million – a decent amount, but significantly less than expected for a story connected to the Avengers.

I was thinking about how different movies do with their audiences, and it reminded me of Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3. That movie left Star-Lord’s future pretty open-ended, but it still made a huge $845 million! Then there’s Spider-Man: No Way Home, which blew everyone away with almost $1.9 billion. I think a big part of its success was that it appealed to Spider-Man fans, no matter how long they’d been watching – you didn’t need to be an expert to enjoy it.

The data shows a clear trend: Marvel movies that require a lot of prior viewing on Disney+ aren’t performing as well as those that can be enjoyed on their own. Marvel has unintentionally created a system where fans who don’t follow every detail are left behind – a problem because those casual fans were key to the franchise’s initial success.

Why This Matters for Avengers: Doomsday

With the Russo brothers returning to direct Avengers: Doomsday and Secret Wars, Marvel has a prime chance to get back on track after Endgame. The Russos have consistently delivered strong films for the franchise, including redefining its style with Captain America: The Winter Soldier, expertly handling a large cast in Civil War, and successfully concluding the decade-long storyline with Infinity War and Endgame.

When Anthony Russo says they want to focus on telling a clear story, he’s pointing out what made their Avengers movies so successful: they didn’t make audiences feel like they needed to watch a lot of other films beforehand. While Infinity War had extra details for dedicated fans, someone new to the Marvel Cinematic Universe could still easily understand and enjoy the plot. Thanos’s motivations were clear, the dangers were obvious, and the emotional moments resonated even if you hadn’t seen every MCU film.

The upcoming Doomsday project has a tough road ahead. After a long time of loosely connected stories in Disney+ shows and movies, the filmmakers need to pull everything together into a cohesive narrative. They also have the challenge of making audiences see Doctor Doom as a compelling villain, even though he hasn’t been properly introduced yet. Perhaps most importantly, the film needs to appeal to viewers who lost interest during the large amount of content released in Phase 4.

Suggesting Disney+ shouldn’t be required, but offered as an addition, isn’t about having less content—it’s about valuing viewers’ time and prioritizing the traditional movie theater experience.

Disney+ series have the potential to enrich characters and explore more of the Marvel world, but they shouldn’t overshadow or become essential to the core storyline. That’s what made the early phases of the Marvel Cinematic Universe so successful, and it’s a principle Marvel seems to have lost sight of.

The Creative Freedom Counterpoint

Disney+ actually gave Marvel a lot more creative control than traditional movie releases. Shows like WandaVision—with its unique blend of sitcom style and exploration of loss—needed the space of a series to work, and wouldn’t have fit into a two-hour film. Loki‘s complex time travel plot and thoughtful questions about choice were better suited to a longer, episodic format. And What If…? was able to play with different versions of events without changing the core storyline.

These shows were captivating because they were innovative and weren’t afraid to try new things. The issue isn’t that they exist, but how they fit into the larger Marvel Cinematic Universe. When the first season of Loki ended by revealing the Multiverse, it provided crucial background for everything that followed in Phase 4. This is a problem with the overall structure of the MCU, not with the quality of the shows themselves.

Some people suggest viewers can simply avoid the shows and stick to the movies. While technically correct, this overlooks the way Marvel has built its success. Marvel promised a connected universe where every story element contributes to the larger picture. Telling fans they can skip significant parts of that story breaks that promise, creating a divide: some fans will fully understand references and character arcs, while others will always feel like they’re missing out.

The key is to rethink how shows connect to movie releases. They should add to the experience for dedicated fans, but not be required viewing for those who are just casually interested. It’s a tricky line to walk, but Marvel successfully achieved this during the Infinity Saga with shows like Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. – fans could enjoy the show without needing it to understand the films.

The Path Forward for Marvel Studios

The Russo brothers’ observation about the MCU becoming overly complex is important because they successfully directed several large-scale, connected movies within the universe. Their recent comments suggest Marvel Studios acknowledges this issue, even if they’re still figuring out how to fix it.

First, we need to acknowledge that Disney+ has made the Marvel Cinematic Universe feel less focused. Next, Marvel should rethink how it balances content released on streaming versus in theaters. Finally, Marvel should create extra content that people enjoy for its own sake, rather than making it feel required to follow the main Avengers storyline.

If Avengers: Doomsday revitalizes the Marvel Cinematic Universe’s story, it won’t ignore Disney+. Instead, it will recapture what made the Infinity Saga so successful: valuing the audience’s time, prioritizing straightforward narratives, and making movie theater releases the primary experience, rather than requiring viewers to complete a lot of streaming content first.

The Russo brothers are correct – the Marvel Cinematic Universe needs a clearer, more unified storyline. This can only happen if Marvel admits that its Disney+ approach, while aiming to expand the universe, actually damaged what made the MCU great: the ability for anyone to enjoy a movie without needing to watch a lot of other content first.

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2026-03-02 04:38