Why I’m Done with Marvel

Let me be clear about something. I’m not angry at Marvel. I’m not one of those guys who thinks superhero movies ruined cinema or whatever. The MCU gave us some genuinely good films. Iron Man. The Winter Soldier. Guardians of the Galaxy. Black Panther. Endgame was a cultural event unlike anything I’d experienced in a theater since maybe Return of the King.

But I’m done. Not rage-quit done. Just. Done.

Here’s what happened. After Endgame I felt satisfied. The story that started in 2008 with Tony Stark in a cave reached its conclusion. The heroes won. The sacrifices meant something. It was an ending. An actual ending to a story that earned it.

And then Phase Four started and I realized there was no ending. There’s never going to be an ending. This is a content machine now. It exists to perpetuate itself. Every movie sets up another movie. Every show connects to five other shows. You can’t just watch a thing anymore — you have to watch everything or risk being lost.

I tried to keep up. WandaVision was interesting. Loki had moments. Shang-Chi was fun. But somewhere around Eternals and Love and Thunder I felt it. The fatigue. The sense that I was doing homework instead of watching movies.

The Multiverse Saga is supposed to be the new big thing. Kang was supposed to be the new Thanos. Now Kang is gone because of behind-the-scenes stuff and they’re pivoting to Doctor Doom and honestly? I don’t care. I can’t make myself care.

It’s not that the movies got worse — though some of them did. It’s that the model broke something in my relationship with these stories. When every movie is homework for the next movie, when nothing can ever really end, when stakes are meaningless because death is reversible and timelines are infinite — why should I invest emotionally?

Compare this to The Batman. A standalone film. No universe obligations. Just a story with a beginning, middle, and end. I left that theater satisfied in a way I haven’t left a Marvel movie since Endgame. Because it was complete. It wasn’t a commercial for other products.

I’m not saying Marvel shouldn’t exist. People like these movies. Kids love these movies. They’re not doing anything wrong by making them. But I’m 42 years old and I have limited time to watch things. Every hour I spend watching a Marvel movie I’m obligated to watch is an hour I’m not spending on something I might actually remember next year.

So I’m out. Not bitterly. Not with a manifesto. Just. Out.

Thunderbolts* was the last one I’ll see in theaters. Maybe I’ll catch the big ones on streaming eventually. Maybe I won’t. The universe will continue without me. Hundreds of millions of people will keep buying tickets. The machine will keep running.

And I’ll be over here watching movies that end.