You know the worst thing about The Marvels and Madame Web flopping financially? It gives those people who possess a weird problem with female-led superhero movies more fuel to whine about women clogging up comic book cinema. Sure, the aforementioned Sony bomb is, let’s be kind and say, a unique enterprise but one of its best traits is its ensemble female cast. Likewise, the unapologetic female energy of The Marvels is what made it stand out from the crowd.
So while it remains a bummer that the Brie Larson vehicle is tragically locked in as the biggest box office bomb in MCU history, at least its fortunes have done a complete 180 degree turn on streaming. Although it can’t quite dislodge the dismay of earning a mere $200 million worldwide (that’s just 1/5 of what Captain Marvel made), at least The Marvels is finally finding its audience on Disney Plus. Since its digital and streaming releases, social media has been stuffed with reactions from those who’ve been pleasantly surprised by its quality and wished they’d given it a go on the big screen.
The ultimate proof that the superhero sequel has gone from tanking in theaters to ranking on streaming? The Marvels has managed to dethrone perhaps the Mouse House’s hottest property right now on Disney Plus.
The Marvels‘ Disney Plus dominance cements its streaming redemption arc
According to FlixPatrol, The Marvels is the number one most popular film on Disney Plus the world over at present, managing to knock Moana into second place. This is a huge deal as the 2016 animated film had an enormous surge of popularity last year and became the most streamed movie on the platform for 2023. That no doubt had a lot to do with the fact that Disney is now fast-tracking Moana 2, set to bring back Auli’i Cravalho and Dwayne Johnson, releasing in theaters this November.
So for The Marvels to knock it from the top spot says a lot about how much streaming audiences are taking to it. Clearly, then, despite the knee-jerk antagonism towards the movie in November, the problem was not with The Marvels‘ quality but the marketing surrounding it. For whatever reason, people just weren’t incentivized enough to go see it in theaters. Now that they’re watching it from their own homes, however, it’s proving just as successful as any prior MCU flick.
So that’s one super-powered princess tag-teaming the streaming top spot from another super-powered princess. Cue incels everywhere losing it like the aliens from Mars Attacks! You love to see it.
