Marvel’s Biggest Fumble After Avengers: Endgame Is Still A Problem the MCU Has to Solve After Doomsday & Secret Wars

Skip to content Add Us On Google Avengers: Doomsday and Avengers: Secret Wars will bring an end to the mess that has been the Multiverse Saga, and give the Marvel Cinematic Universe a fresh start of sorts. Once all the multiversal hijinks are done, Marvel Studios will be picking and choosing which characters make it into the unified new reality, and the ones that have already been confirmed paint a very diverse picture. In addition to the Avengers team members and Wakandans, there will be mutants like the X-Men and demonic monsters like the Ghost Rider all in the mix.

That’s a lot of characters occupying several different genre lanes (action, espionage, sci-fi, horror). It’s also a bit of nostalgia, as we’ve been in this position before, after Avengers: Endgame. The MCU didn’t handle its opportunity to branch out properly back then, but there is certainly opportunity (and need) to do it right starting in Phase Seven.

When Marvel fans saw the slate of what was coming in Phases Four, Five, and Six, of the MCU, it looked pretty clear that the franchise was being divided into two lanes: One side would be an Earthbound saga, dealing with a new era of heroes stepping up to deal with supervillains and criminals being upgraded by fringe science or alien technology, as well as a global arms race for the next great weapon, serum, and/or resource that helps humanity counter the increasing threat of superpowered individuals. The other lane looked like a cosmic saga chronicling how characters like Thor, Loki, Doctor Strange, the Guardians of the Galaxy, Captain Marvel, and others (The Eternals) deal with the cosmic fallout and shift in intergalactic politics after Thanos ‘ reign of terror. The lanes grew wider when projects like WandaVision, Blade, and (later on) Werewolf by Night made it seem like a supernatural corner of the MCU might be opening itself up, as well.

“The Multiverse Saga” initially felt like Marvel Studios playing master chess. It seemed clear the franchise would maneuver big bad villain Kang in, out, and around various projects on both the Earthbound and cosmic sides, and eventually reveal himself to be a true mastermind working with multiple variants of himself to conquer the multiverse in Avengers: The Kang Dynasty. If done properly, it would be even bigger and better than The Infinity Saga. Of course, that entire chessboard got knocked over, and all the pieces on it got scattered.

Make no mistake, The Multiverse Saga started missing the mark long before Jonathan Majors was dropped from the franchise, and plans were revised to include Doctor Doom. It only took fans seeing the disconnect between projects like WandaVision (2021) and Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness (2022) for fans to start questioning if the MCU’s signature interconnectivity wasn’t broken.

That question only became a louder criticism as Phase Four transitioned into Phase Five; by then, every project felt like it was on its own island, and even projects that were seemingly directly connected when announced (Secret Invasion and The Marvels; Echo and Daredevil: Born Again) ended up having so many continuity gaps that it was impossible to believe there was any overarching story guiding the universe anymore. When projects like the Blade reboot ended up stumbling and utltimately crashing, it was clear the franchise was far from being the well-oiled assembly line it once was, and the fans started to check out.

The MCU didn’t scale properly after Avengers: Endgame; that’s clear now. But when Phase Seven arrives, the franchise needs to learn from the past and draw some clear lanes for the kinds of MCU content and story arcs there are to play in.

Maybe some fans will only be into the main arc, with Avengers movies and major character films like Spider-Man, Black Panther, and the X-Men; others may want a deep, immersive dive into a larger X-Men universe of spinoff films and shows. Ryan Gosling’s Ghost Rider is rumored to be kicking off an entire supernatural saga that horror fans can dive into, while Zodiac is expected to (re)open the espionage/spy corner of the MCU again. That’s already a wide enough spread of characters and genre blends that be expanded from lanes into full corners of the franchise fans can play in, without ever having to jump to other corners.

It not only keeps a massive franchise organized into a more manageable and digestible structure for consumers, but it’s also a more realistic reflection of what the Marvel comic book universe always was: a universe comprised of smaller pockets defined by “types” of books that fit together. Sometimes those pockets collided in fun crossovers, while universe-threatening events were defined by bringing the various pockets together for rare character crossovers and genre-bending conflicts.

What’s worked for comics will work for the MCU, and will give Marvel Studios a clear strategy for making and marketing the many different projects it puts out. Let’s not make the same mistakes again.

Avengers: Doomsday will be released in theaters on December 18th. VisionQuest is currently streaming on Disney+.