Entertainment giant Marvel is currently taking over the industry, with  an average of three movies a year as well as a handful of TV show releases. Though this release schedule and the universe building format of the franchise is copied by many other franchises of the day, many fans have experienced oversaturation.

This sentiment started  surfacing around the first few post-“Avengers: Endgame” releases. Many fans say the reaction is a response to the quantity-over-quality practice that the studio established.

The popular Marvel director Joe Russo, who made films like “Captain America: The Winter Soldier,” “Avengers: Infinity War “and “Avengers: Endgame,” even weighed in on the situation. 

“The corporate agenda is: Do you like chocolate ice cream? Well, here’s chocolate ice cream with sprinkles, here’s chocolate ice cream with fudge,” Russo said. “It’s their job to turn the money printer on.” 

Bailey Parker, a sophomore English major,  weighed in on the handling of the current MCU. 

“I’ve been keeping up with the MCU, probably since “Captain America: The First Avenger” was released,” Parker said. “I’ve watched ‘WandaVision,’ ‘Falcon and the Winter Soldier’ and ‘Hawkeye.’ Out of those, I do think that they’re worth watching. As far as the others go, I’m not really interested.” 

An interesting point brought up by Parker was the fact that the only Marvel shows that she had not watched were the ones that were more recently released.

“The direction that Marvel is going hasn’t really interested me,” Parker said. “I just feel like they’re starting on a decline. 

She even mentioned how the oversaturation of the franchise might affect the audience attendance of future projects. 

“I think the quality of the past few movies has been bad,” Parker said. “Show-wise, the ones that I’ve seen were good. The recent ones, I heard, weren’t the best. I think the quality will deter audiences.

Sloan Freeman, a sophomore environmental science major,  has also been keeping up with the MCU from  the beginning.  

“I think at least ‘Loki’ is worth a watch, since a lot of that show sets up the future MCU,” Freeman said. “I’m sure in shows like ‘She-Hulk,’ there are some references and lore, but at the same time, I’ll just figure it out on TikTok or YouTube.” 

He brings up an interesting point, as long-time viewers of the MCU can, in fact, start skipping certain projects  through recaps on social media sites, like YouTube, TikTok or Instagram. 

Freeman also thinks that the new oversaturation of Marvel with the introduction of the TV shows will hurt the franchise. 

“I think, potentially, it could,” Freeman said. “If they take it in the right direction, then everything is smooth sailing and fine. It just depends on if they want to keep focusing on the TV shows.” 

The oversaturation of Marvel and, more specifically, the MCU, could have a big negative impact on the future of the franchise. 

As of now, Disney announced that only “Loki,” a show about the multiverse that will establish the basis for the MCU going forward, season two and “Secret Invasion,” a show about famed alien villains the Skrulls taking over Earth, will be the only two shows released in 2023.