The Need for a Rebrand
There are several reasons why Phase Five of the MCU has constantly shifted its aesthetic and image. This phase kicked off in 2023 with the release of Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania, which was meant to introduce a crucial key villain, Kang the Conqueror, into the franchise. The problem was that Kang was portrayed by Jonathan Majors, whose subsequent legal troubles led to his sudden departure from the MCU. Many potential storylines were probably scrapped as a result, leaving the narrative momentum for the franchise in free fall.
Another ongoing issue is the departure of several key cast members following Avengers: Endgame. The comparative lack of star power in recent MCU entries has left the series floundering without a charismatic anchor to tie itself to, and it presumably hurt box office grosses solely due to name draw alone.
After struggling to solve the issues created by these big-name departures, the next attempt at a solution has been to undo them. Marvel recently announced that it would be bringing back big names for Phase Six with the recent announcements that Robert Downey Jr. and Chris Hemsworth, among others, will be returning in 2026.
In the meantime, however, Phase Five films have attempted to focus on secondary and tertiary characters from the MCU like Sam Wilson (Anthony Mackie) and, in the case of Thunderbolts*, Yelena Belova (Florence Pugh) by crafting new narratives around them. But having Sam Wilson carry the mantle of Captain America did not prove to be compelling enough for a wider audience to go to the movies. Brave New World performed under expectations despite all efforts to treat the movie as if it were just another Captain America installment. The absence of Steve Rogers (Chris Evans) surely played a role in the film’s lack of broad appeal at the box office.
The only MCU film in Phase Five to perform well above box office projections was Deadpool & Wolverine, which benefited from the true star power of Ryan Reynolds and Hugh Jackman. It also had the appeal of an R-rated script along with a tongue-in-cheek sense of humor that distinguishes itself from the rest of the franchise. Deadpool movies have always been positioned as if they were anti-Marvel movies, a burlesque take on the comic book genre. So while they technically fall under the MCU umbrella, they never followed the classic Marvel formula.
Aside from the success of Deadpool & Wolverine, Phase Five films have struggled to resonate with both comic book fans and the general public. In order for these movies to make a profit, both audiences need to be interested in seeing these films on the big screen. But with the new overarching villain gone and several key cast members absent for now, a new promotional strategy was desperately needed for Thunderbolts*, especially after Captain America failed to attract enough moviegoers.
Could it be that this angle of the anti-Marvel film, originally established by Deadpool, served as inspiration for the Thunderbolts* promotional strategy? While it certainly seems to be half of the inspiration, the other half is something that Marvel could truly never be: alternative and indie.
The Marketing Strategy for Thunderbolts*
At the beginning of March, a new teaser for Thunderbolts* entitled “Absolute Cinema” was released. If you weren’t aware of these characters beforehand, you might not have thought this was an advertisement for a superhero movie. After all, the title cards seemed to boast connections to a wide range of successful A24 films. One title card read “from the production designer of Hereditary,” while another name-dropped the beloved Oscar-winning hit Everything Everywhere All At Once.
That same week, the film’s star, Florence Pugh, described Thunderbolts* as an “indie, A24-feeling assassin movie.” Pugh knows something about A24’s sensibility, as she herself has appeared in several hits from the average millennial/Gen-Z cinephile’s favorite production company, including Ari Aster’s Midsommar. Last week, her Thunderbolts* co-star David Harbour also praised the upcoming film as “absolute pure cinema.” Interesting phrasing there!
These pull-quotes are not coincidental. Their alignment with the tone of the film’s teaser indicates a blatantly transparent PR strategy at work here. That strategy is not just drawing from the anti-Marvel tone of Deadpool. It is also attempting to steal A24’s thunder(bolt).
This makes for a confusing and potentially doomed rebrand for Marvel, as there is not much overlap between the A24 cinephile and the classic MCU fan. The former might scoff at the latter’s taste, while the latter might mock the former’s faux elitism. Based on the teaser and these early celebrity headlines, it seems that Marvel is banking on its core audience coming to Thunderbolts* no matter what. As a result, these executives have decided to use the bulk of their marketing budget to try to bring in the Letterboxd film bro crowd. You know, the kind of guy who owns far too many graphic T-shirts for one person’s wardrobe and who needed everyone online to know that they saw The Brutalist in 35 millimeter print thrice?
The problem is that this new audience includes the type of person who believes Marvel is to blame for the decline of quality cinema within the landscape of contemporary film. Perhaps some folks within that group can be convinced to see Thunderbolts* with all this pandering, but it’s hard to believe this niche group of intellectual moviegoers won’t see through the flawed strategy.
As Phase Five of the MCU comes to a close, what lessons can Marvel learn from their least cohesive phase yet? The most obvious one is that the star power of the secondary characters is not enough to bring in the big bucks. As we mentioned, the studio has already sought to rectify this by bringing back a star-studded cast for Avengers: Doomsday to save the franchise.
However, there are two other key lessons here, as exemplified by the already messy PR campaign for Thunderbolts*. The first is that false advertising is never the solution, and the second is that underestimating the intelligence of your audience is not a good strategy to expand your appeal.
via @TripleZ_87
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