Previously, Marvel had been having a few off-years. Superhero fatigue led to dwindling box office for various films, and The Marvels actually lost the studio money. There were some diamonds in the rough, including Deadpool & Wolverine earning over a billion dollars at the box office. But last year, even the profits of Thunderbolts and The Fantastic Four: First Stepscombined didn’t equal that amount, and those movies got beaten at the box office by James Gunn’s Superman. Watching all of this unfold, cynical fans had every reason to worry about whether their favorite franchise was slowly, inexorably circling the drain.
Now, however, Marvel is having the comeback of all time. X-Men ‘97 Season 2 was a smash hit, Spider-Man: Brand New Day has earned over $2 billion dollars, and presales indicate Avengers: Doomsday will earn even more. Still, the studio doesn’t want to take chances, and they are pulling out all the stops to market their next Avengers movie. This includes everything from killer trailers to rereleasing Avengers: Endgame in theaters. Now, they’re taking it to the next level in the weirdest way: by bringing back Ms. Marvel star Iman Vellani to star in the Countdown to Avengers: Doomsday Official Podcast.
The Fabulous Ms. Marvel
For many fans (myself included), Iman Vellani’s Ms. Marvel felt like a breath of fresh air for the MCU. While the changes from her character’s comic book powers were admittedly annoying, the Ms. Marvel TV show really hit the sweet spot of being a killer origin story and an emotional, action-packed adventure. Unfortunately, the studio hitched her wagon to Captain Marvel, and Vellani subsequently co-starred in The Marvels. After that, she never appeared in the MCU again, despite a post-credits scene making it seem like she’d be part of the Young Avengers. Through all of this, however, Vellani has remained Marvel’s biggest cheerleader across social media.
Now, at least, she’ll get paid for her cheerleading. The studio has tapped the Ms. Marvel star to co-host the Countdown to Avengers: Doomsday Official Podcast. The other host is Frank Alvarez, best known for The Basement Yard podcast. The two should make for an engaging duo: he’s funny, she’s charming, and they’re both passionate. However, the truncated nature of the new podcast has some fans wondering why Marvel is even bothering to do this. Countdown will only be five episodes long, and it will end on September 25th, which is nearly three months before Avengers: Doomsday hits theaters.
The (Weirdly Short) Countdown To Doomsday
September 25th is also when Avengers: Endgame Encore hits theaters. Because of this, some are wondering if Marvel is more interested in promoting Endgame; after all, it will be embarrassing if their big theatrical re-release bombs at the box office. That leads to a natural question: Marvel claims that the podcast will cover one movie per episode, “recapping all the fan-favorite moments and discussing each film’s cultural legacy.” Their final episode covers Endgame, which forces us to ask: are there no movies after Endgame that are worth reviewing? Did the road to Doomsdayreally end back in 2019, and everything else is just treading water?
This is, of course, the danger with the Russos’ approach to Doomsday. They want the movie to be accessible enough that casual fans who tuned out after Endgame can still understand everything. But this approach tacitly admits that most of the last seven years (the better part of a decade!) of Marvel movies have been pretty meaningless. Now, the studio is trotting out Iman Vellani, someone originally hired to be the future of this cinematic universe, just to remind us of the cool stuff Marvel did before her show even came out. It’s bleak, but certainly not bleak enough to keep Doomsday from earning a gajillion dollars at the box office.
Still, if you want to hear Ms. Marvel dish about the good old days, you don’t have to wait long. Countdown to Avengers: Doomsday Official Podcast launches August 27th on YouTube, Disney+, Spotify, and Apple Podcasts.
