The Marvel Cinematic Universe has grown larger than most ever thought possible. Since its rather humble beginnings with the release of Iron Man in 2008, the MCU now releases three to four movies each year, not to mention a handful of Marvel TV shows for Disney+. Is it too much? Some fans believe that Marvel should dial things back a bit, and that includes Damon Lindelof.
While speaking on Vulture’s Into It podcast, Damon Lindelof commented on Hollywood pressure to keep a franchise going, be it sequels, prequels, revivals, or spinoffs. “It’s always going to be hard because once you’ve got someone’s attention, you want to keep it,” Lindelof said. “And so the idea of letting it go and not knowing if you’re ever going to get it back again is sort of like it’s antithetical to the way that we’re wired.” In terms of Marvel, Damon Lindelof said that their great success has naturally led to more Marvel movies, but he thinks that so many installments might make each entry a little less special.
From a slightly sort of more cynical standpoint, this is a business. It’s an industry. And if you make a couple of great Marvel movies, the instinct is, ‘We need to make more Marvel movies, and we need to expand this.’ And I have this sort of interior feeling of like, ‘Wow, I wish they made less because it would make each one that came out a little bit more special.‘
That said, Damon Lindelof remains a firm Marvel fan. “I watch all of them,” Lindelof said. The upcoming Phase Five of the MCU includes Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania, Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3, The Marvels, Blade, Captain America: New World Order, and Thunderbolts. It will also include Secret Invasion, Echo, Ironheart, Agatha: Coven of Chaos, and the second seasons of What If…? and Loki. All of those projects are set to be released over the course of one-and-a-half years. That’s a lot of Marvel content.
Does Damon Lindelof have a point? Would you like to see Marvel tackle fewer projects each year?