Marvel Star Says MCU Movies Are for Fans, Not Critics

Somewhere around Phase 2 of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, it became difficult to review Marvel movies in isolation. While any number of punters could roll up at the theater, see the latest installment of their favorite superhero’s adventures and leave happy, having experienced callbacks, Marvel Comics references, and fan-pleasing moments, your average critic might have left a bit baffled. How do you objectively review a movie that’s part of a wider universe, another cog in a narrative machine decades in the making?

As the pile of MCU movies got higher and higher, critics were still expected to review them, whether they were fans or not, and if one got a lukewarm (or worse) reception, some grew more comfortable responding to those reviews with the defense that Marvel was making them for fans, not critics, so it ultimately didn’t matter what critics thought.

This perspective seems to be somewhat shared by one of Marvel’s brightest stars, Elizabeth Olsen. The Scarlet Witch actress was mulling her return to the MCU with People recently, saying that the once-juggernaut comic book franchise is “something that I love, and it’s something I always want to return to.”

She added, “I think the thing that’s been so special about the last five years is I’ve gotten to do so much with the character that I never thought I would. There are still character through lines that have happened in the comics that I’d love to do that I think fans also want to. I mean, these movies aren’t for critics, these movies are for fans.”

Arguably, she’s right to say it and is unlikely to get any less right. Those who still have fond memories of Phases 1-3 of the MCU and have even found some gems in Marvel’s post-Avengers: Endgame output are still at least somewhat invested in the franchise, while others have experienced “superhero fatigue” and found new things to invest their time in.

Olsen acknowledges this, too. “Some people have ongoing television series that they get to return to. Very few, I feel like, get to be a part of franchises that, I know we might culturally get a little bit exhausted by, but there is something about them that becomes very familial.”

Marvel also seems to have realized that its characters have become more like family than friends, even relaunching its first family, the Fantastic Four, yet again this year. Like family, some are always a pleasure to see, while others are better in small doses. Depending on which characters you’ve had enough of, they’re likely to fit into one category or another by now.

Still, the consensus seems to be that Olsen’s Scarlet Witch is welcome back any time, and the actress herself notes that this job security feels “nice.”

“I’d never really had the mentality of ‘one for them, one for me.’ Marvel has been such a consistent thing I’ve been able to return to and has created — what’s the word? — some feeling of insurance in my life that has given me freedom to choose other jobs.”

It remains to be seen if we’ll get more Scarlet Witch in Marvel’s upcoming Avengers movies, but it’s clear that Olsen hasn’t closed the door on her iconic character yet.