I think you'll find that, like Andor and Loki, in the eyes of most people shows and movies justify the existence by being good.
I agree wholeheartedly that diversity and representation matter. Which is why it sucks when stuff like The Marvels comes out and hurts the careers of everyone involved. It doesn't help anyone. So I don't know what positive impact can be claimed to stem from it.
I feel like this is discounting the fact that generally women and minority led projects have to jump an even higher bar just to prove themselves and if they miss, well then they failed at representing what they are in the entire genre. Madam Web is a great example of this.
The positive impact is trying in the current and having an actual impact in the future. It may not sound like much but my kids are growing up at a time when Marvel (and Disney) are going to be pushing out a lot of franchises that not only represent them, but also give them alternate ways to view the world. A lot of people (especially now) mock superhero movies for imperfect projects that aren't as good as they were, but the push for representation is going to cause a whole generation of kids (and even young white men) to see worlds and characters that represent a diverse world view.
We saw a microcosm of this in the reaction to Ms Marvel - people are still saying, to this day, that either they didn't get the project, missed the tone, etc where it people stopped to think about it, for one second, you'd see a project that whole flawed, is an attempt to not only give a POC character her own show, but to also represent a completely different culture AND represent a world view that most 20-40 year old white men are just not going to connect with.
The worst you can say about most of Marvel's recent misses is that they were either middling or unappealing. But to encourage them to drop these characters or focus on the old guard is missing the forest for the trees, and is basically on the same level as Sony pooping out Madam Web and then saying that female superhero leads don't work.
You know what Marvel and Disney need to keep doing? Try again for almost all of these characters and make sure you get them right. They seem to be listening in that respect and we will see how they do.
It's why the whole conversation around Marvel is so hyperbolic - its a bunch of people overreacting to a downturn in superhero movies and much like the comics, we will go through Bronze, Silver, Gold, etc ages and things will evolve, especially as the kids growing up on these things hit the point where they can join the creative process.
And it's important as hell (even if it's gross) to encourage Disney, etc to keep trying with these projects and telling them to get them right and why the people cheering for the death of "capeshit" are so goddamn exhausting.
But most of all, blockbuster franchises starring women and/or minorities should be allowed to be "meh", or "okay", or "uninteresting", or mediocre or even "bad, but I could see what they were going for". We've had decades of white male led franchises and movies be just that, and arguing for companies to pivot away from these characters right now is just giving ammo to people who DO want these characters gone because they want the all white male teams with the one woman in a sexy outfit back.
And it sucks that we are at this point but we are.
I doubt Young Avengers will still happen. It needs to be announced ASAP since the people involved aren't getting any younger.
It would make zero sense to release a movie called "young" Avengers that has characters older than the original avengers.
Currently marvel should focus on getting back on track but I'm not sure how.
Marvel is already focused on getting back on track by adding actual showrunners to their shows, changing how they produce TV and by changing their film pipeline through getting rid of people like Victoria Alonso.
Will it work? Who knows but we are past the point where they are getting back on track and we are currently in a timeline where they feel that they are back on track and producing stuff to hit that point.
Time will tell of course.
