skippable intro/pre-amble:
Not trying to be overly negative, but I honestly wasn’t happy with the overall direction of the MCU since Endgame. At least not until 2025/6.
Discussing this with other fans, I stated that the vast majority of Marvel shows since Endgame were superfluous to the overarching narrative, and someone said “you can’t say that about Loki”
Well, fair. But I still have hang-ups even there, because:
- Making all major plotlines into movies and only making seasons out of side plots worked really well for the MCU prior to Endgame.
- The feeling of “we have unlimited film at hand” or “people will watch whatever we put out,” seems to have lead to very basic stories in the movies
- Disney+ series all follow the same formula. All of them. Maybe Born Again breaks this formula a little, and it’ll be because it underwent major reshoots and rewrites to be more in-line with netflix precursor.
I believe that every series should be a companion to one specific movie which it will build around - leading straight into it, following it or taking place alongside it.
Key Example: Loki and Ant Man 3
Loki’s series has major plot points, picking up the story thread from Endgame and providing context for Doomsday, and arguably for F4: First Steps. However, another story that deals with Kang is Ant-Man & Wasp - Quantumania, and this one is very open and closed as a story. Villain is defeated and they escape the strange world they’re trapped in.
Better if: Loki series becomes a film, albeit a long one, and Ant-Man 3 becomes a series. I know it would be possible - Loki’s plot would fit into 2.5 hours of cinema time, if not less, and could tell exactly the same story as it did.
Ant-Man 3 would be more interesting with a drawn out revolution against Kang, and some deeper exploration of the Quantum Realm. “Stranded in a strange world” is pure science fiction and something the MCU deserved to have explored better.
AM3 would ideally feature crossover with Loki, since both feature a Kang Variant as villain, and it gives the feeling that both stories are con-current, much like when one comic references another comic you can read alongside it.
This approach provides more structure and reduces homework, because it becomes clear to the viewer that the series is the less important bit… But definitely something to pick up if they enjoy the current story thread or that particular character.
Thus the phase-4-5 slate can become:
- Loki Movie + Ant-Man in the Quantum Realm Series
Wandavision (series) + Dr Strange MoM (film)
(pairings don’t have to be released at the same time but it’s definitely better if released near to each other)
Ms Marvel (film) + The Marvels (Series)
The Marvels was a busy movie, with 3 super-powered leads. But I found Ms Marvel’s storyline simple enough to be contained in a movie. So I would switch them. It didn’t feel like The Marvels presented much new info to the multiverse narrative.
Eternals (Film) + Brave New World (Series)
[I think Eternals contributed nothing to the larger narrative except for Adamantium. BNW feels fairly open-shut, but also a series about running around fighting red hulk or a bunch of hulks could be fun and could include Bruce Banner or Jennifer Walters]
Ironheart (Series) -> Armour Wars (Cancelled) (Film)
These two were clearly a bonded pair, and could see Rhodey team up with Riri, except Armour Wars was supposed to come out as a series. Rhodey deserves his own movie so I figure it’s not too controversial to make Armour Wars a movie.
If you try and pair up every series to a movie in this way, you’ll reveal which stories (like Secret Invasion + Thor 4) are too weak to stand alone, thus shouldn’t really exist. Moon Knight doesn’t have a matching property, and for cohesiveness they probably should’ve thought about giving it one.
Another problem is that the 8 short-length episode format prevents characters like moon knight having satisfying origin arcs, especially when shows follow the same formula of “fight minor villains for 7 episodes, then dedicated a messy, crowded eighth episode to fighting big villain”
Even more than “nobody reads every Marvel comic”, writers used to create with the idea in mind that any comic could be someone‘s first comic.
I like to think of Hawkeye’s role in Thor as the perfect introduction. He’s there as a nemesis for Thor and over time you see he’s not the bad guy, just a guy doing his job. When they work together later, there’s no hard feelings.
I have watched everything since Endgame assuming we’ll get payoffs like that one. In fact, so much has been built up that I’d like to make my official wrong prediction of the year: Secret Wars and Doomsday will be in theaters as a trilogy.
You mean you think they’ll have a third film after Secret Wars?
Makes sense to me, I’ve seen other people predict the same thing. I think that would redeem the lack of overarching story development through phases 4 and 5. And of course Disney is wont to simply make the choices which make the most money - if every film was an avengers film you could theoretically max out viewership.