Marvel ruled the sales charts in 2022. The publisher relaunched some of their biggest characters in 2022, including Spider-Man, Steve Rogers, and Sam Wilson. The X-Men books continued to be strong and crossed over with the Eternals in A.X.E. Judgment Day, the best Marvel book in years.
Marvel had a great year in 2022, but that doesn’t mean that things were perfect for the publisher. Marvel dropped the ball multiple times throughout the year. From important franchises like the X-Men to the potential synergy between Miss Marvel books and Disney+, Marvel could have made 2022 even better for the company and its fans.
10/10 Hickman Could Have Still Been Writing X-Men Books In 2022
X-Men history is full of changes, and 2019 saw writer Jonathan Hickman drop a huge plot bomb on the team. The Krakoa Era has been hugely successful, both from a sales and a critical standpoint. Hickman had a three-act story that was meant to end, but Marvel and their other writers wanted the party to go on longer.
Jonathan Hickman helped plan A.X.E. Judgment Day and the 2023 event Sins Of Sinister. He left the X-Men writers a lot of gifts, and while there were a lot of good stories, they would have been better if he’d helmed them. Hickman could still be making amazing X-Men comics, but Marvel ended things prematurely.
9/10 Ms. Marvel Didn’t Get The MCU Bump
When a character appears in the MCU, especially in a starring role, they usually get a push in the comics. Marvel is all about synergy and trying to get MCU fans to pick up their books. Ms. Marvel made her Disney+ premiere, but Marvel didn’t really do anything with her in comics. Kamala hasn’t had a series in a while and this would have been the perfect time to give her a new start.
Instead, Ms. Marvel got a series of one-shots alongside more popular guest stars like Wolverine. It wasn’t anywhere near the push she should have gotten. Kamala Khan was easily the most popular character the company introduced in the 2010s and Marvel didn’t give her the chance she deserved in 2022.
8/10 Making Luke Cage Mayor Of New York But Not Giving Him A Book Is A Huge Missed Opportunity
Devil’s Reign ended with Kingpin losing his battle to consolidate his mayoral and criminal power over New York City. Afterward, Luke Cage won a run-off election and became mayor of NYC. In the 2000s, Cage was on his way to becoming an A-list Marvel character, but once his stint on the Avengers ended, Marvel stopped using him. He led the Thunderbolts for a time, but since then it’s mostly been bit appearances in lower-level books.
Making Cage NYC’s mayor is the first interesting development in Cage’s life in ages. However, instead of giving him a book that explores this entirely new development in his life, he just started another group of Thunderbolts for Hawkeye to lead. Marvel dropped the ball with Luke Cage.
7/10 Marvel Could Have Used His MCU Debut To Bring Back Black Bolt
Marvel should shake up its status quo because many concepts they’ve introduced over the years have been detrimental to the Marvel Universe. The failed Inhumans push basically signed the death warrant for the team, as Marvel has distanced themselves as much as possible from their huge failure. Until Doctor Strange In The Multiverse Of Madness, that is.
Black Bolt appeared in Multiverse Of Madness and, like other characters making their MCU debut in 2022, he didn’t get a push. Fans loved Bolt in the movie. Marvel might not have known that he’d be popular, but they could have tested the waters for him and the Inhumans.
6/10 Marvel Hasn’t Advertised Miracleman: The Silver Age Nearly As Much As It Should
Marvel put out some great books in 2022, but few of them topped Miracleman: The Silver Age. Writer Neil Gaiman and artist Mark Buckingham’s sequel to The Golden Age, fans have waited decades for this book, continuing the Miracleman story Alan Moore started in the early ’80s. Marvel’s never done well by Miracleman, and mishandling The Silver Age continued that trend.
The Silver Age is brilliant and Marvel should have be pushing it more than anything else they’re putting out. It’s easily the best new comic they’ve published in ages, but Marvel just won’t capitalize on it. Any other company would be screaming from the rooftops that they’re continuing Miracleman.
5/10 The Amazing Spider-Man Angered More Fans Than It Entertained
Marvel’s attitude toward Spider-Man makes being a Spider-Fan difficult. Lately, things had been looking up for long-time fans of the character. Spider-Man and Mary Jane were back together and things seemed good. Ben Reilly took over as Spider-Man, something that made fans happy, but then he was made into a villain. That was the first indication Marvel was going to mess up a good thing.
The Amazing Spider-Man was then relaunched, revolving around a mystery that made everyone hate Spider-Man. He and Mary Jane were no longer together, and fans were outraged by the way Marvel hit the reset button again. Marvel could have relaunched TASM and made fans happy, but they went made their fans miserable instead.
4/10 Marvel Didn’t Change The X-Men’s Writers When They Had The Chance
X-Men has been a big disappointment in 2022. Ever since Jonathan Hickman left the books, writer Gerry Duggan has failed to match the quality his predecessor established. Sales have fallen, and fans aren’t very happy with the book. Duggan’s first year on the title was underwhelming and Marvel had the perfect chance to change writers with the Hellfire Gala.
Marvel easily could have replaced Duggan with some up-and-comer who was wowing fans, but instead stayed with him. The book hasn’t really improved and fans still aren’t happy with it. Marvel could have fixed this major problem in 2022.
3/10 Marvel Didn’t Use Their Multiverse Correctly
Loki‘s influence made 2021 the year that multiverses became huge in pop culture. Marvel used to be good at creating stories that piggybacked off the MCU, so fans figured they’d have some multiverse stories ready for 2022. Unfortunately, all they had was the Multiversal Masters Of Evil in Avengers and Avengers Forever, hardly their most popular titles.
Marvel dropped the ball here. Instead of maybe bringing back What If…?, they put multiversal stories in books that few read as part of long-running stories. It would have been smarter to do it in a manner that was easier to consume for more casual MCU fans.
2/10 The New Hulk Series Failed As A Follow-Up On Immortal Hulk
Hulk is the strongest one there is, but until 2018’s The Immortal Hulk he hadn’t had a blockbuster book in ages. Fans loved the book’s horror tendencies, and while the last issue was disappointing, it’s a great comic overall. Issue 50 came out in 2021 and the book was relaunched as Hulk, by the superstar creative team of writer Donny Cates and artist Ryan Ottley.
Hulk started at the tail end of 2021, but 2022 saw fans turn against it. The Starship Hulk story completely missed with fans. They wanted a more serious story than the one they got. Marvel should have published a book more like The Immortal Hulk and worked their way over to the Starship Hulk story.
1/10 A.X.E. Judgment Day Set Up More Eternals But Marvel Dropped The Ball
A.X.E. Judgment Day shook the Marvel Universe, but Marvel hasn’t really capitalized on the way the story used The Eternals. The group had a twelve-issue series that began shortly before their MCU movie came out, and built into Judgment Day while also completely changing their status quo, which then left them in an interesting place. It seemed like The Eternals would either get a new book or Marvel would relaunch their old title.
Marvel didn’t capitalize on this opportunity. It told its most interesting Eternals stories in years and then just dropped them. Marvel will throw books at almost any character or team to see if it sticks, but perhaps because the movie wasn’t a hit, they haven’t given The Eternals much of a chance.
