Rumors are circulating that Avengers: Secret Wars may cause a soft reboot for the MCU, and recent reports suggest it’s best off happening that way.

Split image of Iron Man crouching down and Captain America with blood on his mouth

If rumors of a possible MCU soft reboot following Avengers: Secret Wars are true, then a recent survey suggests Marvel should make it as soft as possible so as not to alienate audiences. As of now, reports of Marvel’s supposed reboot are based on some vague comments reportedly made by Kevin Feige. The suggestion seemed to be that Marvel would be keeping what they liked, and changing what they didn’t about the current MCU timeline. Though this sounds like Marvel is trying to keep things on the lighter side, some rumors make it seem otherwise.

There has been speculation that an MCU reboot could see the return of characters like Iron Man and Steve Rogers. If Marvel is really considering this, they should start reconsidering it. While the original MCU characters did well for Marvel in the past, the same might not be true going forward. In fact, with certain audiences, it seems like even Bob Iger’s new Marvel strategy to focus on sequels might not be the right course of action.

A Marvel Reboot Would Alienate Younger Audiences Even Worse Than Before

Surveyed Millennials And Gen Zs Said They Wanted More Original Content

Brie Larson, Iman Vellani, and Teyonah Parris in an artistic render for The Marvels' poster

A recent survey reported by IndieWire showed that 74% of Millennial and Gen Z audiences would prefer to watch original content over sequels and remakes. While this group is often dismissed, in truth, this is a significant portion of major demographics. Millennials range anywhere from 27 to 42, and older members of Gen Z are in their mid-20s. As such, this range reflects a considerable chunk of the theater-going population that Marvel could lose out on if they fully reboot their franchise.

A full Marvel reboot would mean a lot of remakes of movies like Iron Man, introducing new versions of already established MCU characters. Even if the MCU just brought back old characters, that would just mean more sequels, this time not even featuring fresh versions of the characters. The Marvels already showed that the MCU is struggling with younger audiences. If Marvel wants to court these viewers, they will need to tell more original stories.

Leaving The MCU Mostly Intact Would Force Marvel To Tell New Stories

Marvel Still Hasn’t Used Many Characters From The Comics In The MCU

Marvel Comics panel showing a huge range of Marvel's heroes, including the Avengers, X-Men, and Inhumans Marvel may have already adapted a good number of comic book characters for the MCU, but they still have a lot to work with. While some of the X-Men have been adapted before, there are still many who have never been on the big screen, like Forge or Firestar. There are also plenty of other popular Marvel characters that have never had a movie, like Squirrel Girl or Captain Britain. The Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 box office proved that even some of the most obscure comic book characters could be huge hits if they were in good movies.