How Studying the Marvel Franchise Can Make You More Money

The Marvel Cinematic Universe had the greatest run in film history.

When Robert Downey Jr. said, “I am Iron Man.” at the end of the 2008 film, we knew something special was happening. Marvel and Disney caught lightning in a bottle and made brilliant business moves. The films from 2008 to 2019 were unstoppable.

But in recent years, things at Marvel have gone astray.

Audiences aren’t lining up the way they used to.

At the end of The Infinity Saga, Marvel had to switch directions. A massive increase in output caused their films and television shows to diminish quality. Plus, audiences feel the product has changed and not for the better.

Let’s look at Marvel’s meteoric rise, where they went wrong, and the lessons you can learn to apply to your business.

The Good

Marvel wanted to take over Hollywood.

It’s no small feat since the entertainment industry is highly competitive, and the cards weren’t in Marvel’s favor.

Marvel faced a unique challenge as Sony and Fox already owned the movie rights to its most popular characters, including Spider-Man, the X-Men, and the Fantastic Four. While initially a setback, this situation ultimately led to a strategic shift that proved highly lucrative for Marvel.

Because competing studios took the heavy hitters, The Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) had to start its run with “B-Level” comic book characters.

Under Kevin Feige's leadership and vision, Marvel Studios embarked on a ten-year plan that began with Iron Man in 2008, which was a runaway success.

The film was so good that The Walt Disney Company–the largest and most successful entertainment conglomerate in the world–swooped in and bought the MCU.

Now, Kevin Feige had Mickey Mouse’s budget to play with.

Fiege was a genius. He relentlessly researched the marketplace, discovering what audiences wanted from films and what was missing.

He created a detailed plan and then executed it.

He broke the plan down into three categories:

-Phase One
-Phase Two
-Phase Three

These phases would accomplish particular goals of telling great stories, introducing characters audiences would love, bringing them together, and then intertwining these heroes and stories to face the ultimate threat ten years later.

It was a total of twenty-three films over eleven years.

Fiege created the now iconic Marvel “post-credit scenes” to ensure continued excitement from the fans to market the next film in the series. This tactic kept audiences staying through the credits (something people never do) to catch a sneak peek at what was to come.

What was the result of Kevin Feige’s plan?

Marvel became history's most successful film franchise, earning over $11 billion. The runner-up is Star Wars, and Marvel beat it by an additional $6 billion.

By studying their target audience and filling the void in entertainment (solving problems), Kevin Feige and the MCU were able to break box-office records, and the marketplace paid them for it.

The Bad

After Marvel’s historic run and the box-office juggernaut Avengers: Endgame, creatives and fans felt a similar sentiment:

“How the hell do you top that?”

The Walt Disney Company saw how profitable Marvel was, and under the direction of new leadership, Disney wanted to flood the marketplace with even more superheroes.

In July 2019, Marvel Studios held a panel at San Diego Comic-Con where Kevin Feige announced the full Phase Four slate, including five films and five television shows.

A month later, at D23, Feige would announce three more television shows and three sequels.

If you’re keeping track, that’s sixteen projects slated to be written, shot, and released within four years. Yes, four years.

Now, volume is usually a good thing for business and life.

If you want to do more pull-ups, train and do more reps.

If you want to grow on social media, post more and create more content.

However, volume is useful when there’s an absence.

Marvel had already conquered Hollywood and the box office. They were established and had nothing to prove. What was the reasoning behind the increase of material other than money?

Sure, fans were ecstatic to see the MCU continue. But the creatives–the people who actually make the films and television shows–were worried.

The jump in volume was too much for VFX artists, writers, and directors.

This massive output not only diminished the quality of Marvel’s projects but also caused dissension among its workers.

While speaking to Vulture, an unnamed VFX tech describes the studio as "infamously awful" to work for.

They are said to "underpay and overwork, have no idea what they want, demand endless last-minute revisions, and will blacklist anyone who comes up short."

Yikes. Not a good look for Marvel and the “happiest” company on earth.

In this instance, the volume backfired.

The quality of the work and lives of employees suffered. Marvel’s invincible aura was beginning to crack.

The Ugly

Things have continued to spiral downward for Marvel ever since.

After they took over the marketplace, competitors tried to follow in its shadow.

Warner Bros. took a run at the Justice League franchise, Shazam, and even The Rock debuted Black Adam–all in an attempt to capture Marvel’s magic.

It didn’t work.

With the increasing growth in competition, Marvel still didn’t take its foot off the gas. They just kept pumping out film after film to a marketplace suffering from “superhero fatigue.”

2023 was the worst year for Marvel yet.

Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania and The Marvels had some of the highest budgets of any Marvel films.

Quantumania’s budget: $326.6 million.

The Marvels’ budget: $274 million.

The box office returns were lackluster, and The Marvels is a massive flop.

Where did Marvel go wrong?

It’s simple, really: They stopped doing what made them successful, to begin with.

Yes, Iron Man was a big-budget film ($140 million), but that film always retained sight of what mattered: created a product the marketplace wanted.

That film wasn’t rushed or proselytizing politics or agendas. It told a story. And a damn good one at that.

Until Marvel returns to its roots–doing market research, telling incredible stories fans want to see, and focusing on quality–audiences will stay home.

The BMM Takeaway

Is this the end for Marvel?

We don’t think so.

Kevin Feige is a brilliant producer and visionary.

However, it provides a cautionary tale for us regardless of what industry we may be in.

We can never lose sight of the actions that make us successful, and we must always focus on solving problems in the marketplace while maintaining our standards for the best possible quality.

Never let quantity sacrifice the quality of your business or product.

The second our product doesn’t fill the needs of our buyers, we lose the buyers.

The beautiful takeaway to apply is what Kevin Feige did at the beginning of Marvel’s run:

-Do relentless market research
-Find the problems in the marketplace
-Create a detailed plan and execute it
-Deliver the solution

If you can implement his formula in your life and business, the marketplace will pay you handsomely for the value you provide.