Marvel, you have over 8,000 characters in your arsenal. Use any of them. When you picked Iron Man to launch the MCU, it wasn’t because he was beloved - it was because you had no other choice. Nobody cared about Iron Man in 2007. Same with Cap. Same with Thor. You took B-listers and made them global icons through smart storytelling, great casting, and a little bit of magic.
But now? You’re giving me their stunt doubles. Not new heroes. Just off-brand versions of the ones I already loved.
I mean YOU killed them. Let them rest in piece. No one asked you to bring them back. Just let them go. Give us something new. Really new. Start from scratch like you did in Phase 1. Build again. Earn it.
Because right now, you’re doing the cinematic equivalent of putting your fingers in your ears and yelling “la la la ICONOGRAPHY!” while everything burns. Somehow It’s the symbol that counts now, not the person in the suit. Just stick anyone in the armor, hand them a shield, and hope we clap. But that’s not how heroes work. And you, of all people, should know that.
“If you’re nothing without the suit, then you shouldn’t have it.”
Tony Stark said that. Maybe someone at Marvel should watch their own movies.
And let’s talk about Ironheart specifically. Riri Williams, in the comics, had a hard road - but she was brilliant, flawed, interesting. Here, she’s just… kind of awful? In episode one, she brags about helping hundreds of students plagiarize their work in exchange for money. Gets expelled. Steals school equipment. Joins a literal gang of thieves and spends most of the pilot episode Moping around about not being Tony Stark because she’s not a billionaire. (Reminder: Tony built his first suit in a cave. With a box of scraps.)
This is your new Iron Man?
Marvel, I’m not asking for a perfect protagonist. Tony sure wasn't, but I am asking for a hero. Someone who earns it. Someone I want to root for. But Riri’s just another example of how you’ve stopped understanding your own stories. The armor doesn’t make the hero. You said that. Repeatedly. But now? All you care about is the icon. And the merch. Mostly the merch.
What Ironheart shows us is what Marvel’s become. It’s not about surprise anymore. Not about growth. Not even about entertainment. It’s about keeping the illusion alive - the illusion that this is still the same universe, with the same heart, the same stakes, and the same magic.
It’s not.
And now we’re headed toward Avengers: Doomsday, where they’re planning to bring everyone back. Tony. Steve. Probably baby Groot too. All of them. And I can’t even pretend to care. I should care. I loved these characters. But now? I’m just tired.
Marvel, you told one of the greatest cinematic stories of all time. You ended it perfectly. You had your Endgame.
And instead of giving us more, you decided to give us more of the same. You dressed other heroes up in the same costumes and hoped we wouldn't notice.
We noticed.
and we're tired.
