- My first pick is “What If…?”. In a multiverse of infinite possibilities, we ended up getting the same old same old. We could have gotten a nice, episodic, self-contained anthology series that had nothing to do with the rest of the MCU (as it was originally marketed as) but then they had to go and add a huge, connecting storyline. Not to mention the animation style could have been a bit better.
- And then there’s Secret Invasion, which by all accounts was a complete mess. A lot of people say that this should have been the main story arc of Phases 4 to 6 instead of the multiverse. They could have slowly teased the presence of Skrulls invading Earth (perhaps by revealing that some of the Avengers were Skrulls all along?) and maybe used the plot of Secret Invasion as a feature film instead of a series.
Everything post Endgame has largely been a waste.
It’s either “I got snapped and I’m sad” or “I didn’t get snapped and I’m sad.”
They had no over-arching plot the way they did originally, first with building the Avengers, then with Thanos and the Infinity stones.
When they tried to introduce a bigger plot, too late IMHO, Kang, it got smothered in the cradle first by starting in a movie nobody saw (Quantumania), crossing into a Disney+ show that, again, excellent, but nobody saw (Loki).
Then, of course, the actor problems.
They are just now trying to get back on track with Doom. Hope it’s not too late.
I feel like the MCU needed to take a breather after endgame, where stakes weren’t as big.
I feel like a major problem with the Snap, though, was that it wasn’t something the world could relate to. The MCU Earth is now very different from our Earth to where it is hard to write resonant movies in that universe.
Taking a breather would have been fine if it felt like they were building up to something, but instead it felt like they lost all direction. 😟
The first batch of movies built to the Avengers, the next batch built to Thanos.
Even if you assume post Endgame was “The Multiverse” the number of properties that touched on it were minimal.
Phase 4 movies:
Black Widow - No Multiverse
Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings - No Multiverse
Eternals - No Multiverse
Spider-Man: No Way Home - Multiverse!
Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness - Multiverse!
Thor: Love and Thunder - No Multiverse
Black Panther: Wakanda Forever - No Multiverse
Phase 4 Disney+:
WandaVision - No Multiverse
The Falcon and the Winter Soldier - No Multiverse
Loki - Multiverse!
What If…? - Multiverse!
Hawkeye - No Multiverse
Moon Knight - No Multiverse
Ms. Marvel - No Multiverse
She-Hulk: Attorney at Law - No Multiverse Werewolf by Night - No Multiverse
The Guardians of the Galaxy Holiday Special - No Multiverse
Phase 5 Movies:
Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania - Multiverse!
Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 - No Multiverse
The Marvels - No Multiverse
Deadpool & Wolverine - Multiverse!
Captain America: Brave New World - No Multiverse
Thunderbolts* - No Multiverse
Phase 5 Disney+:
Secret Invasion - No Multiverse
Loki Season 2 - Multiverse!
What If…? Season 2 - Multiverse!
Echo - No Multiverse
Agatha All Along - No Multiverse
Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man - No Multiverse
Daredevil: Born Again - No Multiverse
Ironheart - No Multiverse
Interesting.
So, of the 31 post-Endgame projects, the multiverse is the main focus of a grand total of seven projects.
Yup. Granted, the BIGGEST one was (Deadpool and Wolverine), but still… that’s a lot of production dollars spent going nowhere…