Marvel actor Sebastian Stan, who plays The Winter Soldier / Bucky Barnes in myriad films including the upcoming Thunderbolts*, has slammed MCU critics and said the film franchise would leave a big hole behind if it ended.
Stan told GQ that Marvel puts more heart into its films and shows than any other company he's worked for, so didn't express much in the ways of understanding for those who've criticised the MCU in recent years.
"I’ve never been part of a company that puts so much heart and thought into anything," Stan said of his decade working with Marvel Studios. "I think if Marvel was gone, it’d be such a big hole to try and fill up. Don’t just go out there and shit on something without offering something better."
The 25 Best MCU Heroes
The MCU has faced increased criticism since the end of Phase 3, when it wrapped up its first main saga with Avengers: Endgame. Saying goodbye to characters like Robert Downey Jr.'s Iron Man and Chris Evans' Captain America, the MCU pushed a new wave of heroes including Shang Chi, the Eternals, Ms. Marvel, Moon Knight, and more to the forefront.
It's not just the quality of content being criticised, but the quantity. The original Phase 1 of the MCU lasted just 12 hours and 24 minutes, for example, but Phase 4 lasted 54 hours and 40 minutes. And that's before Marvel made 161 hours of Netflix shows canon too.
Fans are seemingly struggling to stay engaged with each and every release, evidenced by The Marvels, which was well received by critics, but endured the worst box office results in MCU history. CEO of Marvel owner Disney Bob Iger himself admitted the volume of content has "diluted" the "focus and attention" of fans.
Who Will Be the New Avengers in the MCU?
Marvel therefore cut its output to just one film in 2024: the incredibly successful Deadpool & Wolverine. The movie hit theatres on July 26 and was a much needed smash hit for Disney. Its wealth of references and cameos from comic book movie history pulled in characters from well beyond the worlds of its two titular heroes, and it crossed $1 billion at the global box office in just its third weekend available.
Whether Marvel can keep up that momentum remains to be seen. Captain America: Brave New World and Thunderbolts* remain as the final two films of the ongoing Phase 4, the latter of which stars Stan's Winter Soldier.
In what's sort of Marvel's take on DC's Suicide Squad, Bucky joins a team of other anti-heroes to take on a threat the Avengers apparently cannot. It also stars Florence Pugh's Yelena Belova, David Harbour's Red Guardian, Wyatt Russell's U.S. Agent, Olga Kurylenko's Taskmaster, Hannah John-Kamen's Ghost, and Julia Louis-Dreyfus' Valentina Allegra de Fontaine alongside some new faces.
Ryan Dinsdale is an IGN freelance reporter. He'll talk about The Witcher all day.