Things have been a little… off at Marvel Studios lately. With its varsity team of heroes like Captain America and Iron Man entering retirement, the company’s attempts to find similar breakout stars among its extensive back catalog of heroes have proved less sure of success. The latest to land in theaters, “The Marvels,” was plagued by the need for extensive reshoots, a relatively weak opening, and a massive drop in second-week box office figures.
That’s not to say that the hit factory behind “Avengers: Endgame,” the second-biggest box office smash of all time, is preparing to shutter. If anything, the “The Marvels” is the biggest victim yet of a strategy from Marvel, and its parent company Disney, to rush an endless stream of content out the studio door. It’s reminiscent of a period that brought Marvel Comics itself to the brink of total collapse in the 1990s. If the company’s executives are looking for a supervillain in all of this, they should start by looking in the mirror.
Now, comics weren’t just a fun read for kids — they were an investment.
Let’s jump back to the late 1980s and early ‘90s, a time when superhero comics suddenly became a literal hot commodity. Tim Burton’s “Batman” — based on a character from DC Comics, Marvel’s eternal rival — was a blockbuster success, helping to revive interest in the genre as a whole. A new stable of artists like Todd McFarlane and Jim Lee were reinvigorating the industry. And the first Sotheby’s auction of old comic books saw issues selling for tens of thousands of dollars. Now, comics weren’t just a fun read for kids — they were an investment. This shift spawned a legion of speculators and collectors who scoured publications like Wizard Magazine, which listed the estimated value of back issues each month, turning comic shops into mini-stock market trading floors.
Marvel responded by leaning into the craze. Limited-edition variant covers became all the rage, sending…
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