The mad titan of cinema: Looking back on the MCU

Ever since the release of Jon Favreau’s Iron Man in 2008, the Marvel Cinematic Universe has dominated and influenced the contemporary cinematic landscape, provoking both praise and scrutiny in equal measure. However, more or less since the release of the earth-shatteringly successful Avengers: Endgame in 2019, the MCU has received far more of the latter, with films, television shows, and creative decisions earning lukewarm or even negative reactions. Nevertheless, to what degree is this reception justified?

Part of what made the first twenty-two films in the MCU so effective was their interconnectedness and cohesion. Its first three films – Iron Man, The Incredible Hulk, and Thor – are all tangibly part of the same universe, despite featuring different protagonists; Robert Downey Jr. cameos in Hulk, while Thor’s hammer is later teased to feed into Thor itself. The ‘Infinity Saga’ – the umbrella title given to the MCU’s first twenty-three films – was dependent – for better or worse – upon building up the narrative to such titanic levels and then paying it off in a singular piece of ‘event’ cinema; hence, The Avengers – the final film of Phase One of the MCU – succeeds at least structurally because its six focal figures were previously established and thus a certain emotional resonance is produced by seeing all six now united. Even Hawkeye – a character who has still never received a feature film of his own – is established in Thor, and consequently feels just as integral to the film’s roster as, for example, the foundational Iron Man. For the most part, this structural stability was threaded throughout the ‘Infinity Saga’. Take Thanos, the eventual primary antagonist: he appears intermittently throughout the MCU, thus ensuring that his role as villain for the climactic Avengers: Infinity War feels as significant as it should.

The lack of existing interconnectedness between these characters will almost certainly result in a jarring cinematic experience

While it would be rather questionable if the MCU tried to replicate this formula for its current ‘Multiverse Saga’, there does now exist an atmosphere of fragmentation within the current MCU. Part of this issue arises from the lack of recognisable faces now supposedly representing it. With the departures of Robert Downey Jr., Scarlett Johansson, and Chris Evans (at least, as their primary characters) it is currently difficult to pin the MCU down to its flagship characters. Case in point: Sam Wilson – the new Captain America and thereby apparently leader of the post-Endgame Avengers – only received his first feature film this year, with his 2021 television series locked behind a Disney+ subscription paywall. Similarly, characters like Shang-Chi and Yeleva Belova feel absent from the MCU’s universe outside of the feature films in which they star. In theory, the MCU’s dangerously increasing roster of characters will join forces in next year’s Avengers: Doomsday, yet the lack of existing interconnectedness between these characters will almost certainly result in a jarring cinematic experience.

Doomsday in particular is indicative of the problems that now plague the MCU. Initially subtitled The Kang Dynasty, this narrative was hastily restructured when legal issues arose involving Kang actor Jonathan Majors. However, even before these issues came to light, the MCU’s handling of Kang is simply bizarre. Rather than intermittently teasing and building tension surrounding Kang through preceding films – in the vein of the treatment of Thanos throughout the Infinity Saga – Kang served as the primary villain of Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania. Not only is Quantumania one of the MCU’s most damning efforts of recent years, its heavy inclusion of Kang absolves the then-forthcoming Kang Dynasty of much of the buildup that made Infinity War such a success. Furthermore, the decision to cast Robert Downey Jr. as Doctor Doom in Doomsday – regardless of one’s opinions of the actor himself – is an undeniable signal of Marvel trying to recapture past successes and reel back in disinterested audiences. Rather than fostering excitement through original and unique narratives, Doomsday is permeated by a reductive vision of backwardness to artificially create anticipation.

Tony Stark – bolstered enormously by Robert Downey Jr.- experiences a clear-cut development across the narrative and thus it’s easy to become attached immediately to the character that would define the next eleven years of the MCU.

Besides the general structure of the two MCU sagas, what can be said about the quality of the films themselves? What made the first three phases of the MCU work was their ability to tell strong, foundational stories, without the reliance upon past successes. Take the original Iron Man, for example: it remains one of the MCU’s best efforts simply because it tells a good story. Tony Stark – bolstered enormously by Robert Downey Jr.- experiences a clear-cut development across the narrative and thus it’s easy to become attached immediately to the character that would define the next eleven years of the MCU. On the other hand, Black Widow marked the first film in the MCU’s Multiverse Saga. However, by focusing on a character that – within the chronology of the films’ releases – is dead, it is virtually impossible to be invested in a storyline that really should have been explored years prior. As a result, what could have been a fresh start for the MCU is backward and hollow.

Similarly, the MCU is now swamped by a dependence upon fan service. Yes, you could criticise Endgame for succumbing to a similar temptation, but I do not think it is an entirely futile argument that – by that point in the MCU – such enormous call-backs did feel earned. On the other hand, you’ve got Deadpool and Wolverine: despite marking the entry of Ryan Reynolds and Hugh Jackman’s characters into the MCU, the film is drowned into nonsense through shock appearances from Elektra, Blade, and Gambit, among others. Rather than simply telling a compelling story, the MCU is all too willing to take the easy option, providing a brief moment of fan hysteria in order to garner acclaim.

I do not think anyone complained about Willem Dafoe, Tobey Maguire, or Andrew Garfield reprising such iconic roles.

However, I do not wish to give off the impression that everything the MCU has released after 2019 is worthless. Individually, there have been strong movies. Take Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3, for example: before James Gunn scampered off to helm DC, he delivered a phenomenal conclusion to one of the MCU’s best trilogies, and as a result one of the best MCU films full stop. As an introduction, Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings was also a success; much like Black Panther, the film does a great job at taking the MCU away from its traditional Western focus – it is a shame the MCU does not try to do so more often. Finally, while I may have criticised the MCU’s dependence on fan service previously, Spider-Man: No Way Home is yet to be topped in that department. While No Way Home has been viewed with a bit more scepticism since the hysteria of its release, there are two reasons why it still works for me. One, it was the first time the MCU really went all out with its cameos, compared to the over-saturation of recent years. Two, these cameos do make (some) sense within the context of the story, and are well-utilised; I do not think anyone complained about Willem Dafoe, Tobey Maguire, or Andrew Garfield reprising such iconic roles. Therefore, while the average quality of the MCU has perhaps declined since Endgame, to criticise the Multiverse Saga as an unencumbered whole is rather generalising.

In conclusion, I think I have made it clear that the Marvel Cinematic Universe is not what it used to be. However, this is not to say that the MCU is now bankrupt of quality; there seems to be a tendency now to perceive everything before Endgame with rose-tinted glasses, whereas everything since is derided. However, MCU fans have clearly forgotten travesties like Thor: The Dark World when making that assertion. Film to film, I would argue that both sagas of the MCU are fairly consistent, especially if you disregard the heights of Phase 3; what really lets the Multiverse Saga down is its structuring, whether arising from narrative decisions or logistical issues. When viewing each film as an individual entity, this is not a grand problem. Yet, as the MCU is so dependent upon build-up, the climax of the Multiverse Saga – Avengers: Doomsday – will never be able to recapture the magic of its Infinity Saga counterparts because its preceding films have not been designed to substantiate it. Consequently, there is a malaise of negligence pervading the MCU currently; its focus should lie on the future, rather than the past.