The MCU Has An ‘Inhuman’ Problem
The ‘Inhumans’ hit IMAX this weekend earned an estimated $2.6 million worldwide, but the reviews are not pretty.
“At best, Inhumans resembles a mediocre ’90s syndicated genre series, and blowing it up to IMAX size just puts a bigger spotlight on the flaws,” said Josh Bell of ‘Las Vegas Weekly.
From the start, the show never looked promising but let’s look at the bigger issue. When Disney bought Marvel the landscape drastically changed for the heroes we know and love. Instead of Disney trying to buy back the rights of characters, Marvel sold off over the years; the media giant decided to play with the toys it bought. Disney’s decision would have a huge impact for the Fantastic Four, the X-Men, and push to prominence the Inhumans.
Before Disney bought Marvel, the Inhumans were B-list characters that couldn’t carry a series. Now, these unpopular heroes are forced down the publics’ throat, and the public isn’t taking it too well, or simply they aren’t buying it. Since FOX has the rights to the word mutant, ‘Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.’ has one purpose, to promote the Inhumans. Guess what? It’s not working; the worst part is the series is wasting the talents of a great character introduced in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, Agent Phil Coulson played by Clark Gregg. ‘Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.’ premiered to 12.12 million viewers, the finale for season four reached 2.08 million people. There is no reason for the show to get renewed, but it did. The loss of 10 million viewers should have cost more than a few people their job.
Now, this fall there is an eight episode series for the Inhumans that looks cheap next to the MCU films. The competition on the television front is much tougher as well. ABC’s production of ‘Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.’ and now the ‘Inhumans’ can not compare to that of Marvel’s shows on Netflix and or FOX’s ‘Legion.’ The mention of a mutant leads to the next topic, the X-Men. Just imagine how amazing the MCU would be if all its heroes and villains were under one roof. Top tier talent on the biggest shows, instead of going down the list of heroes that are available. Sometimes competition builds a better industry, but in this case, it has created a watered down product. ‘Gifted’ looks to have the same quality issue as well; C-list mutants with a bad production team.
The Inhuman problem has negatively impacted Marvel Comics too. The Fantastic Four are no more, Wolverine was killed off, and the X-Men were at bare bones for too long. Luckily, fan support for the X-Men was too big for Marvel to put the characters on the back burner. Still, there are way too many Inhuman books published for the demand. As mentioned above, the same thing has happened with comics, a watered down product. Stop pushing the Inhumans and put top tier talent with top tier characters.
The Answer
The answer is simple, Disney needs to buy the X-Men franchise from FOX, and produce A-list films and TV shows. Then sprinkle a few B and C-list characters in to excite the fan base. Over the past 17 years, FOX has made just under $5 billion at the box office with the X-Men. Disney bought Marvel for $4 billion back 2009, the asking price for all the characters that FOX owns should be around $6 billion. No one turns down $6 billion, especially on a franchise that has had a less than average track record with quality movies. So far, the MCU has made $12.5 billion at the box office in nine years. Disney has the capital. At this moment we are at the peak of the comic book film market, but there is still enough quality material to keep the public satisfied for the next 15 years. That will be more than enough time for Disney to turn the $6 billion debt into a $6 billion profit.
The longer Disney waits to buy the X-Men from FOX, the quicker the superhero film genre will die a watered down death.
Disney most recently bought Lucasfilm for $4 billion in 2012. With the release of ‘Star Wars: The Force Awakens’ and ‘Rogue One’ the franchise has earned $3 billion in box office revenue. With the release of ‘Last Jedi,’ the mouse will turn a profit. Disney knows how to print money, the X-Men may not be on the same level as Star Wars, but they can still turn a profit.
Do you think Disney will ever buy the X-Men film rights back? Comment below.
