I’m talking about how the characters are portrayed or how well the movie stays with the subject, etc..

Please reference the movie and scene.

I think the biggest thing I struggle with is just the sheer amount of multiversal and shared-universe non-sense for the sake of "Look at this!" EVERYTHING feels like the clif notes of a story in the MCU, especially post-Endgame, rather than focusing on a small group of well-developed characters.

Look at Captain America: Brave New World. We get Leader, Red Hulk, Sidewinder, Ruth Bat-Seraph, etc - and none of them get meaningful development in the movie itself. I'm not sure Cap even really developed much in that movie.

Don't even get me started on Multiverse of Madness.

1 minute ago, Ben Kendrick said:

I think the biggest thing I struggle with is just the sheer amount of multiversal and shared-universe non-sense for the sake of "Look at this!" EVERYTHING feels like the clif notes of a story in the MCU, especially post-Endgame, rather than focusing on a small group of well-developed characters.

Look at Captain America: Brave New World. We get Leader, Red Hulk, Sidewinder, Ruth Bat-Seraph, etc - and none of them get meaningful development in the movie itself. I'm not sure Cap even really developed much in that movie.

Don't even get me started on Multiverse of Madness.

See I think Multiverse of Madness actually pulled off the character work where so many others don't. Yeah it had too many superfluous alt reality bits, but at its core the film is a two-hander. It's Strange and it's Scarlet Witch, and they both had so much to chew on throughout. Whereas Brave New World I'm fully with you, they had too many characters and also failed to really do justice by the ones that mattered. Which has absolutely been the biggest issue plaguing the MCU.

I think my biggest issue is a broad one, and it's just that everybody seems to continue taking the wrong lessons from every success within the genre. Ryan Reynolds as Deadpool in that first movie was pitch perfect. Instead of inspecting what actually made that film work (true emotional stakes, chip on your shoulder approach, great direction from Tim Miller), they pushed all their eggs into the "Reynolds quip at the camera" basket. The overall MCU with the multiverse is a similar situation. No Way Home and, to a lesser extent, Deadpool & Wolverine pulled off some big returns/appearances because they were in service of something bigger than a moment or even a single movie. Neither film is perfect but their gimmicks had real purpose and weight to them. So often that isn't the case.

Despite how many theater reaction videos go viral on TikTok or how many skins and dances get purchased on Fortnite or whatever, people still want authentic storytelling and characters they can connect with. Comic book movies aren't exempt from that, even if some studios got away with it for a bit. Guardians of the Galaxy wasn't good because Howard the Duck popped up on screen, it was good because it's about a group of flawed individuals learning to be vulnerable and fighting against their programming to become better people. At the end of the day that's all I need from these movies, and it's frustrating how rare that seems to be.

19 hours ago, Ben Kendrick said:

I think the biggest thing I struggle with is just the sheer amount of multiversal and shared-universe non-sense for the sake of "Look at this!" EVERYTHING feels like the clif notes of a story in the MCU, especially post-Endgame, rather than focusing on a small group of well-developed characters.

Look at Captain America: Brave New World. We get Leader, Red Hulk, Sidewinder, Ruth Bat-Seraph, etc - and none of them get meaningful development in the movie itself. I'm not sure Cap even really developed much in that movie.

Don't even get me started on Multiverse of Madness.

This is largely how I feel about the state of things, too. Every movie and TV show being so interconnected and self-referential makes it hard to enjoy the stories themselves. It's all about the big cameos and connections to things that happened in this obscure show over there. I miss solid superhero origin stories with emotional resonance and growth, that let a story be a little bit more self-contained than what we have now.

That said, I did largely enjoy Multiverse of Madness. Having the focus on just Wanda and Dr. Strange made it a bit easier to follow. Even with the multiverse nonsense, it still told a compelling story. Though I'll never forgive the MCU for handwaving Wanda's character development from "I'm truly sorry for the harm I caused in Westview" back to "I will destroy the actual world to find my kids."