Did the MCU Peak with Endgame? (Yes. But Hear Me Out.)

Did the MCU Peak with Endgame?

Let’s be real. You’ve had this argument. Maybe at a watch party. Maybe in a group chat. Maybe with yourself at 2 AM scrolling through Disney+.

Did the MCU peak with Avengers: Endgame?

Was that the mountaintop, and everything since has been a slow descent? Or are we just impatient, nostalgic, and unwilling to admit that we’re living through a rebuild phase after one of the greatest dynasty runs in entertainment history?

Here’s my answer: Yes, the MCU peaked with Endgame. But no, that doesn’t mean the Multiverse Saga failed. And it definitely doesn’t mean Marvel can’t build another peak.

Let me explain.

The Box Office Tells Part of the Story

Let’s look at the numbers, because numbers don’t lie even if they don’t tell the whole truth.

Infinity Saga Anchors (source: Box Office Mojo, The Numbers):

• • Avengers: Endgame: $2.798 billion

• • Avengers: Infinity War: $2.048 billion

• • The Avengers: $1.519 billion

• • Black Panther: $1.347 billion

• • Iron Man 3: $1.215 billion

 

Multiverse Saga Anchors (source: Box Office Mojo, The Numbers):

• • Spider-Man: No Way Home: $1.921 billion

• • Deadpool & Wolverine: $1.338 billion

• • Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness: $955 million

• • Black Panther: Wakanda Forever: $859 million

• • Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3: $845 million

 

Here’s what jumps out: No Way Home and Deadpool & Wolverine are the only post-Endgame films that cracked the billion-dollar club with any real authority. Everything else is solid but not spectacular by MCU standards.

But context matters. No Way Home had Tobey and Andrew. Deadpool & Wolverine had Hugh Jackman back as Wolverine and rode an R-rated nostalgia wave. The films that worked best were the ones that leaned into what came before, not what came next.

And here’s the other piece of context that matters: the Multiverse Saga hasn’t had a proper Avengers team-up film yet. The Infinity Saga had four. Doomsday and Secret Wars will be the first true Avengers events of this era, and those are the films that historically do the biggest numbers.

So yeah, the box office is down. But we’re also comparing solo films to a saga that had multiple team-up events.

That tells you something about where audiences are emotionally, but it doesn’t tell you everything.

 

The Infinity Saga Had a North Star. The Multiverse Saga Has a Compass That Keeps Spinning.

The Infinity Saga was simple. Thanos is coming. The Stones matter. Everything connects.

Even when a movie felt standalone, like Ant-Man or Doctor Strange, you knew it was feeding into something bigger. You knew the Avengers would assemble. You knew the stakes would escalate. You trusted the plan.

The Multiverse Saga doesn’t have that same clarity.

Is it about the multiverse collapsing? Is it about Kang? Is it about setting up the Young Avengers? Is it about mutants? Is it about all of it at once?

The answer seems to be yes, and that’s the problem. When everything matters, nothing feels urgent.

That said, when the Multiverse Saga locked in, it locked in. Loki gave us the best character work Marvel has done since Endgame. WandaVision was bold and weird and emotional. No Way Home made a billion people cry over three Spider-Men hugging it out.

The highlights are genuinely great. But they feel like highlights, not chapters in a clear story.

 

Star Power and the Center of Gravity Problem

The Infinity Saga had Robert Downey Jr.

I’m not saying he carried the whole thing. But Tony Stark was the emotional center. When he showed up in Homecoming or Civil War, it mattered. When he wasn’t there, you felt his absence.

Chris Evans as Cap was the moral center. Scarlett Johansson as Natasha was the glue. Chris Hemsworth as Thor evolved into the heart. These weren’t just characters. They were anchors.

The Multiverse Saga lost all of them in one swoop.

And the new roster? It’s talented. Tom Holland is great. Florence Pugh is great. Simu Liu, Hailee Steinfeld, Iman Vellani, all great.

But they haven’t had time to become anchors yet. And Marvel hasn’t committed to making any of them the next Tony Stark or Steve Rogers. It feels like Marvel is hedging, spreading the love across 30 characters instead of building three or four into icons.

That’s a choice. Maybe it’s the right long-term choice. But short-term? It makes everything feel less important.

 

The Kang Problem (And Whether Marvel Ever Really Believed in It)

Let’s talk about Kang.

Jonathan Majors was incredible in Loki. He was menacing in Quantumania. The setup was there. Kang was supposed to be the next Thanos.

But here’s where it gets messy, and I’m going to be careful here because we’re separating facts from speculation.

What we know for sure: Majors was cast as Kang. The fifth Avengers movie was titled The Kang Dynasty. Majors faced legal issues in 2023. Marvel dropped him. The movie was retitled Avengers: Doomsday with Robert Downey Jr. returning as Doctor Doom.

What we can interpret: That’s a massive pivot. You don’t scrap your big bad and replace him with a completely different character unless you’re either reacting to a crisis or you were never fully confident in the plan to begin with.

Maybe both are true.

But here’s the thing. Whether Kang was ever going to work or not, the perception is that Marvel didn’t commit. And in franchise storytelling, perception is half the battle.

Thanos was teased for six years before Infinity War. We saw him. We feared him. We knew he was coming.

Kang showed up, got beat by ants, and then disappeared from the conversation.

That’s not entirely Marvel’s fault. But it’s also not entirely not their fault.

 

Should Mutants Have Been Introduced Earlier? (And Why That’s More Complicated Than You Think)

Everyone’s got the same take: “Marvel should’ve done mutants earlier. The X-Men would’ve saved Phase 4.”

Okay. Let’s reality-check that.

The facts: Disney’s acquisition of 21st Century Fox closed on March 20, 2019. That’s two months before Endgame even hit theaters. Legally, Marvel couldn’t touch the X-Men or Fantastic Four in any meaningful way until then.

And even after the merger, you’ve got practical problems. Do you reboot the X-Men immediately after the Fox universe just ended? Do you recast Wolverine right after Hugh Jackman? Do you shove mutants into a universe that’s already stuffed with 50+ heroes and hope it doesn’t feel forced?

Marvel’s approach has been slow. Namor in Wakanda Forever. Ms. Marvel’s mutation reveal. Kelsey Grammer as Beast in The Marvels. It’s breadcrumbs, not a feast.

Could they have moved faster? Maybe. But “just do X-Men” ignores the logistical nightmare of rebooting the most iconic superhero team of the ’90s and 2000s in a universe that already has Thor and Captain Marvel.

I get the frustration. But the real-world constraints were real.

 

Nostalgia Is Real. But It’s Not the Whole Story.

Here’s the easy argument: people only think the Infinity Saga was better because they’re nostalgic.

And yeah, nostalgia is absolutely part of it. Iron Man came out in 2008. If you were 15 then, you’re 31 now. Those movies grew up with you. Of course they hit different.

But nostalgia doesn’t explain everything.

The Infinity Saga had tighter storytelling. It had clearer stakes. It had a finale that stuck the landing so hard that it made $2.8 billion and became a cultural event.

The Multiverse Saga has been inconsistent. Some projects are incredible. Some feel like filler. And the throughline is muddy.

That’s not nostalgia. That’s structure.

So yes, nostalgia plays a role. But don’t let anyone tell you it’s the only reason people feel differently about these two eras.

 

Did People Want Tony and Natasha to Live?

This one’s tricky, because Endgame worked because Tony died.

It was the perfect ending for his arc. Selfish billionaire becomes selfless savior. “I am Iron Man” bookends the whole saga. It’s poetry.

But here’s what also happened: Marvel lost its biggest star, and they haven’t replaced him.

Same with Natasha. Same with Steve going back in time to live his life with Peggy. These were beautiful endings for the characters.

But they were devastating for the franchise’s emotional core.

And I think some fans, deep down, wish Marvel had found a way to keep them around, even if they know it would’ve cheapened the story.

That tension, that wish for both a perfect ending and a continuation of what we loved, is part of why the Multiverse Saga feels different.

We’re watching new characters in a universe that still feels haunted by the old ones.

 

The Dynasty vs. The Rebuild

If the MCU were an NBA team, the Infinity Saga was the Warriors with Steph, Klay, and Draymond. Or the Bulls with Jordan. Or the Lakers with Shaq and Kobe.

You had your core roster. You had a system everyone understood. You had a championship goal everyone could see from miles away. And when you won, it felt earned because you’d been building toward it for over a decade.

The Multiverse Saga? That’s the rebuild.

You lost your franchise players. Your coaching staff changed. Your system got more experimental. And yeah, the wins don’t hit the same when you’re trying to figure out who your next superstar even is.

That doesn’t make it a failure. It makes it a different era. And judging a rebuild by championship standards is how you end up miserable.

Rebuilds take time. They’re messy. They require patience. And sometimes, the pieces you’re building with now become the foundation for the next dynasty.

 

Doomsday and Secret Wars Could Change Everything

So did the MCU peak with Endgame?

Yes.

But peaks don’t mean it’s all downhill forever.

The Multiverse Saga has been a rebuild. It’s been messy. It’s been experimental. Some of it worked. Some of it didn’t.

But Avengers: Doomsday and Avengers: Secret Wars have the potential to be what Infinity War and Endgame were: the payoff for years of setup.

Robert Downey Jr. coming back as Doctor Doom is either going to be the most inspired casting decision Marvel’s ever made, or it’s going to be a disaster. There’s no middle ground.

If they pull it off? If they stick the landing the way they did with Endgame? Then we’ll look back at Phase 4 and 5 the way we look at Iron Man 2 and Thor: The Dark World. Necessary steps in a bigger journey.

And if they don’t?

Then yeah. The MCU peaked with Endgame, and we’ve been chasing that high ever since.

But I’m betting on them pulling it off.

Because the MCU has earned that benefit of the doubt. And dynasties don’t stay dead forever.