What are your biggest disappointments with the MCU?

[Andrew NDB]

I'll go first with mine, in order of what disappoints me the most to disappoints me the least.

1. Ed Norton's recasting as Hulk. I get it, but seeing him in the Avengers was the biggest thing I was looking forward to. Sidenote: also the complete forgetting about the character of Betty, after Incredible Hulk.

2. The disconnect between the TV and movies. I would've lost my sh** in Infinity War or Endgame if Jon Bernthal's Punisher popped out and started blasting Thanos troops, or seeing the Charlie Cox Daredevil saving some people on a street or something. I don't think this was ever too much to ask. I know the new Disney+ series will be far more interconnected with the films but this should have been the case all along, as they originally promised us.

3. Iron Man 3. It learned nothing from the mistakes of 2 and even double-downed on them. Also, huge disappointment on the Mandarin.

4. Thor 3. A largely brain dead summer actioner that just repeats the same "I need to prove myself worthy!" story from the first movie. With more laughs and none of the supporting characters from 1 or 2 except Loki. Thor 2 was flawed but deserved a proper follow-up.

5. No Death in Infinity War or Endgame. I thought for sure they'd reposition Hela from Thor 3 as Death (I thought that was the whole point in getting Blanchett at all) if not introduce Death herself... well, turns out none of the above, folks. No Death at all, even though she was like the sole motivating factor for Thanos in the comics. I guess we can thank China for that, or rather Disney's insistence on kowtowing to their weird sensibilities (no occult, skulls, ghosts, etc.).

6. Hulk and Thor's treatment in Endgame. Basically, they took the manliest characters of the Avengers... made one a weakened intellectual (Hulk) and made the other one a fat, depressed beer swiller (Thor). And to boot, they make another one a retired old man (Cap) handing his shield off to a person of color, even though that's not the way it shook out in the comics (at least, not in this order). And after that "preview" of a fight between Hulk and Thanos in Infinity War, I thought for sure there'd be a main event in Endgame. Turns out there was nothing at all. Just an "Endgame" for toxic masculinity, instead.

7. The Marvel Netflix decline. Daredevil season 1? AWESOME. Daredevil season 2? Pretty cool! Daredevil season 3? Maybe a LITTLE bit of a step back in some ways, but nice. Jessica Jones season 1? Cool! I dig it as the start of her arc. 2 and 3? Uh... no. No, not good. The people in charge seem to delight in not allowing her to evolve, just keeping her the same from beginning to end. Would've been nice to see a greater usage of her powers. Also, 2 and 3 seemed more interested in feminism than actually growing Jessica. Iron Fist? Both seasons were pretty OK... but I am NOT a fan of him having no costume. He SHOULD wear one. I also didn't appreciate him being emasculated in that 2nd season. Luke Cage 1 and 2? Both pretty cool, especially 1. Punisher season 1 and 2? WOW. It is actually criminal that we may never see the Bernthal Punisher again. Picture perfect casting and nicely executed (and brutal!) stories. Defenders? A SHAM! And the whole build-up to "is he ready for when the gate opens!" from Daredevil season 1 was completely ignored. Also, Marvel Netflix/Disney or whoever clearly fell on their sword to all the SJWs complaining about the evil Japanese ninja clan in Daredevil season 1 and 2 being Japanese. Morons.

8. No real advancement on Deadpool 3 yet. C'mon. You guys promised. Give us something here.

9. Agents of SHIELD. I still watch it and enjoy it... but its become a shell of its former self. It peaked in season 3, I think, with the alien planet and the living embodiment of HYDRA being the bad guy. Season 2 was awesome, too, with Kyle freakin' MacLachlan as Daisy's dad. We even had Samuel L. Jackson show up a couple of times and even Bill Paxton as an ongoing villain. For the last few seasons they must have had their budget hamstringed or something and it's all kind of by-the-numbers plot-driven stuff (rife with a lot of snarky SJW-type dialogue lately), no more character-driven stuff, and I think that really hurt things. Season 4 restored SHIELD to good public standing then it was almost as immediately yanked away... I've been waiting since season 1 for things to be restored to normality but it never seems to be in the cards.