The marketing of Marvel films has been different this year. One has received more ads on social media than God does in a southern diner. One received a modest amount. One had genius-level marketing.
Shang Chi was not promoted at the same level as some other Marvel films but turned out to be the sleeper hit of 2021. The Eternals, meanwhile, was advertised more than any Marvel movie I've ever witnessed. Maybe those ads were targeted at me directly. Marvel tracked my movement, what channels I watch, the websites I go to, and put The Eternals previews on loop. I couldn't escape it. It could have been the targeted ads towards me because I enjoy Marvel so much, but why didn't I get the same amount of advertisements about Shang Chi? The Eternals was good, but it seems like they should have switched the marketing campaigns of the two films.
Shang Chi was amazing and should have been the film that Marvel couldn't shut up about. It had all of the best aspects of Marvel; an interesting hero; strong relationships; comedy; brilliant visuals; hand to hand combat; connections to other movies. I loved it. Perhaps, the marketing was intentional. They knew that this character's first adventure was going to be a dark horse. If they had hyped it up, I still would have enjoyed it. I'm not sure they could have overinflated expectations for Shang Chi.
I am, however, wondering if The Eternals would have been served by less marketing and hype. I think that the marketing is in part why the reviews were not particularly great. The reviews, however, managed my expectations and made the film enjoyable. I expected it to be bad and ended up really enjoying it. I still don't think it was as good as Shang Chi, though.
This brings us to Spiderman No Way Home. This film has managed to create a self-sustaining internet hype machine based solely on rumors, alleged leaks, and hushed possibilities. Marvel has barely had to market it. People can't stop talking about the mystery. This seems to be an advantage to a character like Spiderman. Excitement about the character doesn't really need a lot of prodding. I expect that Shang Chi's sequel will be able to rely more on name recognition, and Marvel should follow this model for established franchises. Less is more. Let the internet create your free marketing. I actually wouldn't be surprised if the leaks were intentional.
Every time a leak or alleged leak gets on the internet, Spiderman dominates and trends. The only downside is if the rumors turn out to be entirely false. The expectations being too large can hurt the film once it's released. This was the downside of the internet rumors surrounding WandaVision. The finale disappointed me because I had built up the mystery far beyond what the show was actually about. The show is about Wanda and Vision, not the 18 million other things fans were hoping would be tied in. If I have to hear one more "It's Mephisto!" trend, I'll throw up. If the primary rumors are true for Spiderman, this is the best marketing campaign for a blockbuster I've ever seen.
I waited until after the second trailer was released to share this opinion. I still think there is plenty of mystery and surprises in No Way Home because they revealed more villains and confirmations of more actors from the past being in the film. We still have another month before this film is released. I haven't been this excited for a Marvel film since Endgame came out. The hype is self-sustaining. People will go just to see if their theories were right. This is some serious supply and demand going on. They have all of the supply (what is really in the movie) and we are demanding to know more so than caring if the movie will be any good. That's top-notch sales.