Now that the MCU concluded the Infinity Saga, Marvel is letting its directors take bigger risks. But that also means bigger falls.
With the release of Thor: Love and Thunder, the last three Marvel films released by Disney into theaters have all gotten B or B+ Cinemascores.
But prior to the release of Eternals, the only MCU film to get below an A was the original Thor way back in 2011. All that to say, it's clear that something has changed.
That change is two-fold. One of the major differences with the MCU post-Endgame is that, now that the franchise is no longer under the umbrella of the Infinity Saga.
However, now that the MCU is letting its filmmakers run wild, it means less consistency for audiences and that the franchise is no longer a guarantee for mass appeal.
In Phase One, it was all leading up to the formation of the Avengers, and in Phases Two and Three, the looming threat of Thanos and the Infinity Stones was the focus.
That meant the directors could not stray too far from moving the overall story towards that specific goal.
And while that led to films getting homogenized under the MCU banner, it still meant that each entry felt focused.