Marvel shows lead to the chaotic collapse of the Marvel Cinematic Universe – The Guilfordian | Popgen Tech

I come from a very nerdy family. I spent the younger years of my life playing Super Mario 3 on my Gameboy Advance, planning strategic Yugioh card dueling matches with my older brother while we watched old anime, and reading Marvel and DC comics.

As you can imagine, like many Marvel fans, I loved seeing some of my favorite comic book characters come to life on screen. Furthermore, as I get older, I want to see and appreciate how the ever-expanding universe has permanently changed the film industry. That said, nostalgia sometimes prompts Marvel fans to believe that the franchise can do no wrong, either in the movies or in some recently released TV shows, and I disagree. .

So far, Disney+ has released eight new shows in the past year. It’s also spawned countless movies and shorts, and even has a “Guardians of the Galaxy” holiday special coming later this year. These shows all add to the cinematic universe and range from character origin stories to spin-off side stories to shows specifically designed to move a character towards their next appearance in a movie.

I can hear some people complaining that: “If you love Marvel, why are you complaining about more content from them?”

First, quality over quantity. As someone who grew up on Marvel cartoons and comic books, I already know all of these stories. If they are brought to life, I want to see real justice done to these stories. I don’t want them to be cash grabs to keep a streaming platform relevant.

Second, context. The great thing about the older Marvel movies is that there is an overarching narrative, but each movie and franchise can stand on its own. It also went for shows. For example, “Agents of SHIELD” was, frankly, better than most of the Marvel shows I saw on Disney+ last year. It’s a show that plays with the lore of the Marvel universe while managing to exist in its own lane, referencing the movies and the overall universe without causing confusing inconsistencies.

This is something we don’t see with the current Marvel movies on Disney+. Now, you have to have seen almost everything to understand most of the new movies, or at least have a good amount of context of what has happened in the franchise so far. Even as someone whose life has been filled with Marvel characters since before I could walk, I don’t find the same appeal.

This is not to say that these shows have no appeal; quite a few of them are incredibly executed. My father spent years of my childhood thinking about what it would be like to see his favorite character, Moon Knight, on screen, and he did not disappoint. I was completely engaged as I watched my favorite fan character Loki in a whole new context during his series, with interesting new characters and interesting concepts. My personal favorite is the first Marvel show to kick off the ever-growing list, “Wandavision.”

“Wandavision” uses a mix of sitcom and romantic-comedy twists on your classic superhero, or in this case, supervillain story. It deepens Wanda Maximoff’s trauma and turns a tragic hero’s backstory into a future villain’s backstory. At the end of the show, it appears to the audience that Wanda left the town of Westview wanting to make up for the damage she caused due to the grief of losing her loved one.

However, the next time we see Wanda, she has fully transformed into the Scarlet Witch. He kills America Chavez, a new addition to the universe, and uses an evil book to steal America’s power and try to find his children. Sounds familiar, doesn’t it?

This is the biggest problem I have with the format that Marvel and Disney have chosen to use in expanding the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Not only do you have to research outside of movies to watch shows, but you now have to watch these shows before the next movie.

I also just think that the Marvel storytelling format works better in the movies. As I said earlier, great Marvel shows don’t necessarily connect to the larger story. I think it’s a good idea to use TV shows to introduce new characters in cases like “Moon Knight,” “Ms. Marvel,” and “She-Hulk.” They do what they need to and they do. But as much as I love “WandaVision” and “Loki,” all they’ve done is throw a complicated franchise into complete chaos for the don’t spend their lives flipping through the pages of comics.