While ‘Blue Beetle’ Embarrasses Phase 5 Big Time, ‘The Flash’ Avoids Repeating the McU’s Disney Plus Mistakes

As of right now, DC Studios is getting the jump on Marvel Studios. It’s an uncommon occurrence, but — who knows — it might start to happen a lot more now that James Gunn is in charge. First up, Blue Beetle is showing up the MCU’s recent Multiverse Saga offerings in a big way, thanks to its rave reviews. What’s more, and now this one is a real shock, the much-maligned The Flash has even managed to land a win over Marvel itself by avoiding a streaming pitfall that has plagued the House of Ideas a lot of late and probably will continue to as Phase Five expands.

Blue Beetle‘s reviews are crawling so high only Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 can beat it

Blue Beetle is here and, while its box office projections are looking more Shazam!-alike than we’d prefer, at least it’s getting critically acclaimed. Sitting pretty at a Certified Fresh 78% on Rotten Tomatoes means the Xolo Mariduena vehicle is easily the highest-rated DC movie released in 2023, but also higher rated than all but one of the MCU’s films released this year. Yes, unsurprisingly, the only one it can’t beat is Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3, but even then it’s nipping at its tail as the threequel is only 3% above at 81%. James Gunn is likely A-OK with that close competition as it means his DCU is off to a strong start.

The Flash speeding onto streaming at short notice means it’s going to avoid copying Marvel’s Disney Plus curse after all

With Max revealed its full slate of new releases for August and The Flash wasn’t on there, it heavily suggested the Scarlet Speedster’s stinker of a solo movie would be doomed to take such a long time to hit streaming that it would rival Marvel’s own extreme gaps between its movies’ theatrical and streaming dates. However, in an unexpected twist, Max has now dropped the bombshell that The Flash is coming to the platform in a week’s time on Aug. 25. That means the biggest, most expensive DC flick of the year is hitting streaming without any fanfare, but at least that’s only 70 days since it opened in theaters — which is a lot less than both Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania and Vol. 3.

You think you know what to expect from Thunderbolts? Director Jake Schreier tells you to think again

All of a sudden, Thunderbolts has risen up as a Marvel movie that we should really be paying more attention to as everything we’ve been hearing about it lately indicates it could actually be a low-key breath of fresh air for the franchise. Following on from confirmation it’s definitely not a sequel and something fresh, director Jake Schreier is doubling down on his comments that Thunderbolts will offer a “different perspective” than what fans may be expecting. Now, the filmmaker is promising it’s a “very new take” on its concept, so don’t expect this anti-hero team-up to be a copy of The Suicide Squad.

From Spider-Man fans seemingly wanting to undo No Way Home‘s beautiful ending to Thunderbolts star David Harbour is outing Marvel for remaking Black Widow‘s whole third act at the last minute, the Marvel news train never derails, so stay tuned for more.