As Marvel Studios nears the theatrical release of "The Fantastic Four: First Steps," which will serve as the kickoff of the McU's Phase Six (thus closing the book on the franchise's dismal Phase Five), fans can't help but be laser focused on next year's "Avengers: Doomsday." It's not that the quartet's first official appearance in the MCU looks dire; it's just that Marvel, smarting from the franchise-hobbling failures of "The Marvels" and "Captain America: Brave New World," sweatily upstaged their summer 2025 slate last March with a bizarre PR stunt involving a ridiculous number of chairs.

This is not the Marvel Studios of the 2010s, where almost every single movie was a potential billion-dollar event. With the film business still struggling to recover from the Covid-19 stoppage and the (absolutely necessary) union strikes, studios need to go above and beyond to convince potential ticket buyers that their latest theatrical offering is...