From Shane Conto

I am so sick of hearing “The MCU is in Shambles!”... and it has only been a few weeks. That Variety article certainly caused a stir as it pulled the curtain back on the inner workings of a major studio. With creatives already jumping in to call out some of these allegations as misleading, it is hard to figure out what to believe. But I think there is one thing for certain… the death of the MCU is greatly exaggerated. 

Are there specific reasons to be worried? Sure. Kevin Feige and Disney have made some unfortunate decisions. There have been way too many projects coming out between films and television. Dilution of the MCU product has been the result and a bunch of rushed projects have been presented to audiences. The computer generated effectives have not been finished due to unrealistic timelines. At the end of the day, the introduction of the television series for the MCU has not been an overall positive for the product as most of them have been bloated and shaky to say the least. There are growing pains all over the place for the current Multiverse Saga.

Is there a deeply rooted issue when it comes to the narrative direction that Marvel chose to go in? That is certainly part of the issue. I personally never wanted to see a Multiverse story because they are too convoluted and are almost impossible to bring to fruition cohesively. The MCU is struggling on that front specifically. Many of the projects seem to have inconsistent approaches to this Multiverse logic and rules… and that’s not a good thing. We have yet to see too much crossover at this point, but it will be interesting to see how they finally thread things together. There is also a lack of stakes, too. With the possibility of replacing killed off characters with Variants… where does the emotional impact go? On the other hand, Marvel has delivered some awesome multiverse moments so far (The Spider-Men, The Illuminati, and the different Lokis to name a few), so it has not been all bad for sure. 

But is it all Marvel’s fault? No. There is a measure of responsibility on fans' expectations. If it is not Infinity War or Endgame, then it is not worth it; this is a legitimate perspective held by some. This unreasonable standard is not helpful and is unfair to the creatives expanding upon this established world. There is overall a much harsher take on all Marvel films at this point making a lot of criticism feel overdone. Sure, not every project has been the best they could be, but the nitpicking and aggressive criticism has gotten tiresome. There has even been an unfortunate backlash against the decisions to push the MCU into a more diverse existence which is a terrible take to have. The overall atmosphere around the MCU has become so toxic and unbearable. The reaction to the Variety article is the perfect representation of that. “Shambles” one minute and “Marvel is back” the next. There are also plenty of people on social media who constantly throw out theories and rumors about these films, creating a whole narrative that don’t exist. These narratives set expectations unreasonably high, leaving viewers constantly disappointed. Mephisto… every character in the history of Marvel films showing up in Multiverse of Madness… just to name a couple. 

What is one of the biggest complaints of the Multiverse Saga? Why haven’t we seen characters more often? Why has it been years since we have seen certain characters? Well, we did have a global pandemic. Then there were strikes. I hate these criticisms when most of the reason is due to circumstances way outside of Marvel’s control. If there were no massive delays of these projects, we would probably be at another Avengers movie by now, but that’s not what happened. Like everyone else, things got pushed back and now Marvel has a release schedule that is abnormally stretched out. I am sure once Marvel can get back to a more regular release schedule, they will start pulling things together. I just think viewers have lost a lot of patience. Honestly, Marvel should be taking its time even more to make sure they are delivering truly finished projects. 

What about the backstage craziness? Most movies have production issues. Some of the greatest films of all time like Jaws and The Godfather are miracles for even existing. What’s the difference? There was no internet to be spewing non-stop backstage drama for everyone to fixate on. There are accounts all over social media who dedicate so much time perseverating on the smallest of stories just to get hits and stir the pot. Most of the stories that break turn out to be way overblown or not true at all. But those stories certainly get views and likes while also creating this narrative that the films are complete mayhem and cannot possibly be good. That’s unfortunate and it creates a black cloud over all of the projects attached to this drama. 

Is the MCU in trouble? There are certainly concerns that need to be worked on. But they are actively trying to make improvements on the effects issues (releasing less projects in order to take more time needed) and the shakiness of their television situation (bringing in showrunners who know how to maximize the medium). There are going to be people perfectly happy with stepping away post Endgame and that is their personal choice. Others say they are experiencing “Comic Book Movie Fatigue”. Don’t watch them then. There are still plenty of people enjoying these stories and adventures on screen. We have WandaVision, Shang-Chi, Spider-Man: No Way Home, Loki, Black Panther: Wakanda Forever, and Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3. That is an awesome bunch of films and I appreciate getting to experience high quality comic book films after the massive success of Endgame. The road ahead is certainly bumpy, but to say that the MCU is dead or dying is a leap at this point.

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