Has Marvel Comics ran out of story ideas?

[Gaastra]

The thing i can think of are redoing the same events over and over.

We have two civil war events, four secret wars, how many blasted "phoenix is coming we are in danger even though she was on earth for years in excalibur just fine" stories have we had and here we go again!

We are getting planet of the venoms again also. Ugh. Incoming is civil war 3 as well more or less.

[Riv86672]

The thing i can think of are redoing the same events over and over.

We have two civil war events, four secret wars, how many blasted "phoenix is coming we are in danger even though she was on earth for years in excalibur just fine" stories have we had and here we go again!

We are getting planet of the venoms again also. Ugh. Incoming is civil war 3 as well more or less.

Well you have to figure, Marvel is stuck in a loop.
It’s a money making machine. That money depends on the characters not becoming unrecognizable. They aren’t going to take chances, not permanent ones at any rate. Big changes are predicated on the fact that that things will go back to normal.

[JudicatorPrime]

No, they haven't run out of good story ideas. They've just run out of good story ideas that their readership will buy in bulk.

[Will Evans]

Writers of today are not as creative as those of the 60's, 70's or even 80's.

Drugs are no longer part of the creative process.

[Riv86672]

No, they haven't run out of good story ideas. They've just run out of good story ideas that their readership will buy in bulk.

Nice.

xxxxx

[LordMikel]

Thor is going in a new direction. Although I will say they fell back on some cliche issues. Thor vs Beta Ray for example.
Current Hulk run is truly all new.
Avengers is truly new.

I would say we've got new and original stuff out there.

[Tien Long]

The thing i can think of are redoing the same events over and over.

We have two civil war events, four secret wars, how many blasted "phoenix is coming we are in danger even though she was on earth for years in excalibur just fine" stories have we had and here we go again!

We are getting planet of the venoms again also. Ugh. Incoming is civil war 3 as well more or less.

Yeah, I've been getting that sense too over the years. For me, Marvel's big events just seem to cycle around all of these wars between heroes and against alien forces. Civil war this or Infinity Gauntlet that. All of this reminds me of something Jim Shooter said back in the 80s, that Marvel wasn't the "House of Ideas" but the "House of Idea" as in one idea that's just constantly recycled.

Now, I seem jaded, but I do see impressive things at Marvel. As has been mentioned, we are starting to see more BIPOC and LGBTQ characters becoming prominent. Seeing them in "the same old stories" is actually refreshing because we haven't seen individuals like them featured in these types of stories. I'm gonna cause a little controversy by saying I'm 100% supportive of a BIPOC/LGBTQ main Avengers team. Not a "mighty," not a "new," but the main team. Now, the end goal for the Avengers should always be inclusion and never denial. That means my ultimate dream team would include everybody, including cisgender, heterosexual, white males (I'll always argue for the inclusion of Steve Rogers on an Avengers team). But as for a "team for the time being", a team that deals with today's discussions of anti-racism and anti-discrimination, I'd love to see how a BIPOC/LGBTQ main Avengers team would be. (Sorry, I went off on a tangent there.)

In any case, even though Marvel uses the same story tropes, the storyteller's delivery makes a difference. For instance, Jason Aaron's War of the Realms miniseries was essentially just another story of Earth being invaded by exterrestrial forces. Even reading it, I could tell Cap, Spidey, and the others somewhat shrug their shoulders and say, "Eh, just another end of the world Wednesday." However, Aaron's writing, the character development, the small moments, and the big ones really stood out to me. Same thing with Hickman's Secret Wars. And though the upcoming Knull crossover may appear to be another Planet of the Symbiotes, I really enjoyed what Cates did during Absolute Carnage. Knull genuinely feels scary and dark. I'm honestly afraid of what he's going to do to the Earth and how the heroes will react to that.

Still, these new and interesting stories are built off of preexisting frameworks. I'd like to see a new framework. Maybe more personal stories. A hero battling an illness? Dealing with the loss of a loved one? Helping to build better community relations not through fists (though, okay a couple of fight scenes would be cool), but through working together and discussion? Maybe an issue with just talking heads (which me 20 yrs. ago would have just hated). Perhaps those things.

[PCN24454]

It's less a lack of originality and more lack of follow up. The reason why the world feels stagnant is because it is stagnant. We no longer expect any changes or progressions to make a lasting impact.

While they're presented story arcs, they're basically glorified MOTWs because of poor continuity.

[ed2962]

Keep in mind that superhero comics are formula genre fiction and tropes and storylines recycle all the time. I remember seeing a quote from some Marvel editor back in the late 80's where he was talking about how the audience turns over every 8 years or so ( that's no longer true but that's another topic). His point was was that that a reader in the 80's might not have seen The Hulk vs The Thing back in the 70's and that 70's reader probably didn't see it back in the 60's.

[Mike]

Writers of today are not as creative as those of the 60's, 70's or even 80's.

I'd have to say nowhere even close.

[Seren]

Agreed. In the case of Spider-Man, his rogues gallery should be transferred over to other departments to further develop their character. We've seen this with The Kingpin over to Daredevil. As a matter of fact, I have never seen Marvel Comics published a team-up mini series that featured Spider-Man and a super heroine. Mainly Wolverine and Deadpool respectively. It would be nice if Marvel could publish a team-up mini series that would give a super heroine some exposure to the masses. For example, I would love to see the following mini series with a heroine working alongside Peter Parker, such as:

1. Black Widow & Spider-Man
2. Spider-Woman(Jessica Drew) & Spider-Man
3. Captain Britain(Betsy Braddock) & Spider-Man
4. Tigra & Spider-Man
5. Captain Marvel & Spider-Man
6. She-Hulk & Spider-Man

There is a ton of story potential that could bring flood of $$$$ to Marvel Comics in terms of free marketing over their over reliance on cover variants. What would also do very well is the following mini series:

1. Silver Sable & Captain America
2. Silver Sable & Black Widow
3. Black Cat & Hawkeye
4. Black Cat & Daredevil
5. Black Cat & Mystique
6. Spider-Man & The Taskmaster

You didn't read the MS Marvel spider man team up? It was fantastic

[JudicatorPrime]

Writers of today are not as creative as those of the 60's, 70's or even 80's.

Writers had to do much more to create a market back then than they do now to maintain it. It's why you see retread stories or thinly veiled alternate takes much more now than in the past. Standing on the shoulders of giants is great until you realize that both you and the air you're breathing are lighter and thinner than what came before.

[Snoop Dogg]

Writers of today are not as creative as those of the 60's, 70's or even 80's.

in the 70's the average marvel book is a rehash of a 60's book with poor editorial management

the publisher has always and will always put out mediocre to good content simultaneously because they make so many books and the idea that any era had generally more creativity is a delusion we create for personal reasons

[Chubistian]

Marvel has a title called Immortal Hulk that has proven to be a success, I think they're fine in the ideas department. The new life Hickman and many other writers have brought to the X-Men is doing wonders for the readers as I've seen in various websites (and I'm eager to check them out in the near future). Repetitive ideas are part of serialized fiction, Spider-Man No More was already the second time Peter tried to get rid of the Spider costume and that was dated July 1967. The complaint that superheroes comicbooks ran out of ideas exist since the birth of fan mail. If you want a bigger mix when it comes to sharing villains is another thing. I think it can be interesting, but it's something that Marvel has always done. I don't think it's necessary to apply it as a new politic that goes through most titles

[Marvel Forever]

Some claim that the "House of Ideas", as some refer to Marvel and/or Disney, has run out of ideas. We hope not. Time will tell I guess.