This isn't the end of Marvel. It's where it starts getting really interesting.

You’ve no doubt seen a lot of articles in the past few days — like so damn many, ex. Slate.com — heralding the end of the Marvel Studios comic book era.

"Why is this happening?", you might ask.

Well, it’s all because three women, including one Black and one Muslim, failed to earn more than $100 million in a single weekend at the domestic U.S. box office.

That’s right, “The Marvels,” the sequel to 2019’s $1.1 billion-global-box-office smash, “Captain Marvel,” only generated $47 million its opening weekend. Immediately following a crippling actors’ strike that kept the stars from promoting the movie.

But, still, $47 million. The lowest debut of any MCU film dating back to 2008. Worse than “The Incredible Hulk,” the not-Mark Ruffalo Hulk movie.

And suddenly, just like that, comic book movies are done.

Thankfully, there’s also been a few counter-opinions offered that wisely advise the cacophony of pundits to pump the brakes. Ex, The Hollywood Reporter.

I hope you’re sitting down because I’m about to lay some truth on you. Not every movie needs to break box-office records. Not every superhero film needs to make $1 billion worldwide. And if anything, we should all be praising “The Marvels” because not only is it a good movie but it’s also an important milestone in female comic book movie history.

It’s directed by Nia DaCosta, who wowed us in 2021 with her gentrified-horror take on “Candyman;” it’s co-written by DaCosta with Megan McDonnell and Elissa Karasik; and it further bridges the gap between the MCU and Marvel’s Disney+ television division, incorporating Teyonah Parris’ Monica Rambeau, last seen in “WandaVision,” and Iman Vellani’s Kamala Khan, last seen in “Ms. Marvel.”

And it brings back Brie Larson as Carol Danvers, whose last movie made the Mouse House more than a billion dollars, but even more importantly, Larson is a fantastic actor who imbues Danvers with so many wonderful little notes, from insecurities and frustrations to empathy and defiance.

Have I mentioned that “The Marvels” is really freaking funny and packed with some of Marvel’s best comedy bits yet.

“Why did you touch it?” Nick Fury (Samuel L. Jackson) asks Danvers at one point.

“It was glowing and mysterious,” she responds, innocently and honestly.

“No more touching shit!” Fury barks.

Or that “The Marvels,” especially early on during several standout sequences, features some of the most breathtaking hand-to-hand fight scenes in all the MCU?

It’s unbelievably exciting to watch DaCosta bring her subversive approach to scene composition and movement across different frames and mix that with three superheroes whose powers keep causing them to instantly blink-and-switch places, regardless of where they are in time or space.

It’s just exhilarating to behold.

Now, before anyone starts accusing me of being a mouthpiece for Marvel, I will be the first to admit that parts of “The Marvels” work much better than the whole.

The villain, Dar-Benn (Zawe Ashton), is completely forgettable. I’m not even sure that I missed the part where Dar-Benn laid out her grand plan or clued some acolyte in to what she hoped to accomplish, or it just never happened, but I still don't know exactly what the plot was about.

But there’s also a lot of Easter eggs (hello, S.A.B.E.R.), a ton of teases — I’m pretty sure “The Marvels” will count as a building block toward “Young Avengers” — and, my lord, the mid-credits scene should give all fans everywhere serious X-citement at what’s coming.

Wait, did I happen to mention that the Flerken, including Danvers’ cat, Goose, play a huge role in “The Marvels”? That's right, so many hysterical hairballs get regurgitated.

Bottom line, “The Marvels” is a three-star comic book movie that doesn’t have to be “Avengers: Endgame” in order to be entertaining as hell, funny as hell, and a springboard for future storylines.

More importantly, it delivers not one, or two, but three exemplary female role models and heroes for young girls everywhere, and young boys, and grown adults, and your grandparents, if they’re into this genre, to embrace and champion.

Is this the end of Marvel?

Puh-lease.

This is where it starts getting really interesting.

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