It’s a given now that Marvel is no longer riding a wave of success. On the contrary, the studio that once made nothing but hits has been putting out middling movies since Avengers: Endgame in 2019.

Variety published a story about why that is happening and one possibility considered is that Disney’s demand for an unending stream of Marvel content for their Disney+ streaming service has just worn people (and the studio itself) out. Whatever the case, with the exception of “Spider-Man: No Way Home” in 2021, which was a massive hit, the studio is definitely having a tough time.

The latest release comes out this week. The Marvels is a kinda-sorta sequel to Captain Marvel which came out in 2019. The film has a pretty middling 62% rating from critics at Rotten Tomatoes but the audience score is a much more respectable 85%. Here’s a sample of what some of the critics are saying.

Poised between goofy and godawful, “The Marvels,” plagued by rewrites and reshoots, stakes its hopes on a trio of female avengers in training. If you’re looking for riot girls on the march to empowerment, here’s your movie…

“The Marvels” has moments of inspired lunacy. But DaCosta, who excelled with her 2021 horror reboot of “Candyman,” can’t cope with the horror of a movie that sacrifices continuity, logic and purpose for its place in a limping universe that’s grown too big for its own good. Marvel, once the spawner of glories, is stuck in a rut. The time for a rethink is now.

Here’s a bit of the NY Times’ review:

As with a lot of studio-created girl groups, the women fronting “The Marvels” are carefully styled, wear coordinated outfits during their big numbers, have a few flashily choreographed moves and, because they’ve clearly put in the rehearsal time, know how to harmonize (more or less). The group has been created for maximum bankability, familiarity and relatability, and to that instrumental end, it delivers exactly what you expect of it and not a single thing, idea or beat more. Its members are nice, even at their most ostensibly fierce, and so unrelievedly bland that it feels like an affront, especially to all the women here doing so much hard work…

It’s pointless complaining, I know (believe me), but it’s frustrating what weak tea this movie is because the director, Nia DaCosta (“Little Woods,” “Candyman”), has talent, the cast is appealing, and there’s a lightly gonzo scene that shows you what the other 100 minutes could have been. It’s almost as if the suits at Marvel Studios know it doesn’t matter if their movies are any good.

And to be fair, here’s one of the positive reviews:

For those who may be growing just a tad weary of the never-ending stream of Marvel Comics screen adaptations, note this about Nia DaCosta’s “The Marvels”: It is the first Marvel superhero movie to a) have a female trio at its center, b) utilize, to fine dramatic effect, the song “Memory” from the musical “Cats,” and c) get its job done in a swift, tidy 105 minutes. And while it’s full of all the expected Marvel metaphysical head-spinning — no, I don’t know how someone can jury-rig a wormhole or tear a hole in space-time, as happens here, please don’t ask me to explain — it’s also unexpectedly endearing, a pleasant popcorn-flavored joy ride into the cosmos, with three likable heroes as our guides.

I read a bunch more reviews and the gist seems to be that the plot makes no sense, the villain is forgettable but some of the film has a fun, breezy tone that makes the fact that there are no stakes that anyone seems to care about seem sort of charming. In short, it’s dopey but kinda fun.

I don’t know if that’s true since I haven’t seen it but if so it’s better than I expected. The word on this film is that it was shaping up to be a disaster. Forbes reported yesterday that it was shaping up as Marvel’s third worst-reviewed film.

With 68 reviews in, The Marvels has a 53% on Rotten Tomatoes, which makes it the third worst-reviewed MCU movie overall and only the third Rotten scoring one ever. It joins the previous MCU film, Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania, on that list, though that movie was even lower with a 46%, the worst overall. The third rotten film is Eternals, which I maintain after all this time, really got a bad rap.

As mentioned above, the film has now climbed up to 62% which is still third worst overall but at least isn’t considered rotten. But for anyone who was hoping against hope for a return to form for Marvel, this movie probably isn’t it.

Here’s the trailer. I’m definitely going to see this at some point but it might be one I wait to see at home.