The Amount Of Marvel Movies Makes Each Less Special, Says Lindelof

Writer and producer Damon Lindelof believes that the amount of Marvel movies makes each one less special. The Lost scribe has had a substantial career in both television and film with Star Trek, Prometheus, The Leftovers, and HBO's Watchmen. His latest writing credit came in the form of The Hunt, a controversial horror-thriller film that saw a group of working class conservatives hunted down and killed by rich progressives.

Following the Marvel Cinematic Universe's introduction in 2008 with Iron Man, Marvel Studios has steadily released a stream of superhero content for both television and film. With the first year of the MCU seeing only two films delivered to fans, 2021 alone saw the release of four films and five television series. 2022 has already produced the debuts of two films, two television shows, and a series of shorts centered on Groot, with one more movie, two television specials, and another show on the way. There is no question that the MCU has upped its output considerably over the years, and the franchise's recent SDCC panel only proved that won't change.

In a recent interview with Vulture, Lindelof reveals that he thinks that the sheer quantity of new Marvel movies makes each one less special. This came as part of a broader response to the question of how difficult it is to say no in the current age of Hollywood. Read what Lindelof says below.

"It’s always going to be hard because once you’ve got someone’s attention, you want to keep it. 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.

"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. But I watch all of them, Sam, all of them.

"People don’t want things to end. I do.

"I don’t begrudge them the right to keep it going. I’ve made prequels and sequels and reboots, so I can’t be a hypocrite and say, ‘God, come up with an original idea.’ Meanwhile, I’m making two ‘Star Trek’ movies and ‘Prometheus.'"

Unlike many of the other high profile MCU critics, such as acclaimed director Martin Scorsese who had likened the films to theme park rides as opposed to real cinema, Lindelof is a fan of the franchise. His admiration is clear, but he also has a right to voice his opinions about how the franchise operates. Lindelof has a point; while a Marvel movie might've felt like a major event back in 2013, it now feels like audiences have barely processed one before another comes along. The addition of various Disney+ shows has only increased the feeling that the Marvel train is constantly running. This can lead to an inevitable burnout of the franchise and the superhero genre as a whole.

Marvel Studios' recent announcement of the MCU's Phases 5 and 6 has shown that the franchise has no intention of slowing down. Phase 5 will cover the year 2023 and run through most of 2024, consisting of 13 entries split between six films and seven television seasons. This is not counting non-canon entries such as Spider-Man: Freshman Year. Whether MCU fans will grow tired of the amount of content remains to be seen. As Lindelof suggests, their frequency could lead to some reduced excitement. However, box office numbers for recent MCU films such as Spider-Man: No Way Home, Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, and Thor: Love and Thunder have shown that the franchise still has legs for the time being.

Source: Vulture