Summary
Marvel released a teaser forAvengers: Doomsdayrecently, announcing that the film was in production. It opened to a slow crawl of numerous chairs, all against the backdrop of a gradually building superhero theme. Disney was probably counting on it being an epic, thrilling hint at things to come. But was this the starting gun Kevin Feige was hoping for? Marvel is certainly pulling out all the stops to help forget the pitfalls of recent years.
The MCU has suffered sinceAvengers: Endgamein a post-Infinity War saga to find a purpose for its wide-ranging, interconnected cinematic lineup. The Multiverse Saga of Phases 4-5 failed to engage viewers on multiple fronts. COVID-19 damaged Marvel’s ability to fill out theaters, but their production strategy has been anything short of simple. The overwhelming number of Marvel projects released in Phase 4 alone dwarfed the entire MCU release slate from Phases 1-3. Not only did audiences have to stay up to date with the MCU’s theatrical releases, but now key plot details andcharacter moments were happening on a variety of Disney+ TV shows, increasing the watch time for dedicated Marvel fans tenfold.
This action plan of increased quantity led to an immediate drop in consistent quality across the board, with many key tentpole films, likeAnt-Man & the Wasp: Quantumania,flopping hard as box office bombs. These stories were essential to setting up Kang the Conqueror’s appearance in the nextAvengersouting, and audiences weren’t taking to them. Marvel has felt less like an exciting yearly event and more like an overwhelming all-you-can-eat buffet.
Ultimately, what was this era of Marvel all about? The multiverse saga collapsed after Kang the Conqueror’s actor, Jonathan Majors, was dropped due to a whole bunch of legal issues. His career fell apart, along with Feige’s dreams of seeing the overarching story of Phases 4-5 to completion. Marvel’s creative vision entered a period of freefall. Regardless of this, the Multiverse Saga felt extremely disconnected, unable to recapturethe magic of the Infinity Saga’s grand, universal narrative. Only a handful of films or TV shows included character interactions that carried over to the next. The passing of the end of Phase 4 into Phase 5 came and went without much fanfare.
With the MCU’s future set adrift after Majors' downfall, the heads at Marvel decided that their only option was to go back to where it all began. Robert Downey Jr., who spent over a decade as the MCU’s frontman in the role of Tony Stark, was recast as a parallel-universe version of Doctor Doom, the new archvillain of the MCU.Avengers: The Kang Dynastywas retitled toAvengers:Doomsday, and Feige even convinced the Russo brothers to return, who had directed the previous cultural phenomenons,Avengers: Infinity WarandAvengers: Endgame.Recently, in an interview withOmelete, the Russos discussed how they felt thatDoomsdaywas “a new beginning.” A slightly perplexing way to phrase the conclusion to what has been the MCU’s most expansive couple of phases, just in terms of the sheer number of projects.
Is This A New Beginning? Or Just A Very Slow March To A Drawn Out MCU Epilogue?
Phases 4-5 at a glance have a very confused tone across the board. As the Multiverse Saga was being jump-started with breakthrough popular shows likeLoki, many trilogies and storylines were being carried over from Phase 3, yet to receive their conclusion. TheGuardians of the Galaxystill had to finish their third act together inVol. 3,and Peter Parker hadone more outing as Spider-Man inNo Way Home.
No Way Homeis an interesting cross-section of many battling Phase 4 themes. It was a jumping-on point for the idea of a wider Marvel multiverse, a conclusion to Parker’s first trilogy, the end of a Tony Stark-funded Spider-Man, a soft reset for Tom Holland’s portrayal,anda setup for Doctor Strange’s interdimensional escapades inThe Multiverse of Madness. It was juggling a lot of spinning plates, pulling them in many directions, and perhaps slightly confused as to what it wanted to be. All of these underlying problems were masked with a heavy layer of nostalgia, seeing returning actors like Andrew Garfield coming back to the role of the web-slinging hero. But these red flags were present earlier on.
Some of the more successful projects to come from this Marvel midlife crisis were all endings or continuations to the stories of a lot of pre-existing MCU characters.Origin flicks post-Endgame likeEternalsbombed hard, whilst sequels likeDeadpool & Wolverinesaw great success, ending not just Deadpool’s trilogy, but also honoring the entire 20th Century Fox superhero legacy.
Can Marvel Studios And The Russo Bros. Stick The Landing?
So, how doesAvengers: Doomsdayhope to give this period of mixed results and confounding Marvel projects closure?It seems like the Russo brothersare more interested in wiping the slate clean completely and starting fresh, almost treating Phase 4-5 as a bad memory or in-between period for Marvel’s next, huge overarching storyline. During their interview, the Russo brothers admitted that they had outright refused to return to direct until writer Stephen McFeely suggested a series of story ideas for subsequentAvengersfilms afterDoomsday.This built the road map that the directing duo have now set themselves upon. Joe Russo described his relief and excitement at McFeely’s intervention:
“We went, ‘That’s the story!’ That story has to be told; it’s a really powerful story!”
To be honest, their forward-thinking attitude is exactly what the MCU needs right now.Doomsday’srecent teaser read as desperate, not confident. The trailer’s showcase of all the returning Marvel alumni from the MCU or Fox’s X-Men catalog felt less like an exciting celebration and more like a run of Marvel’s greatest hits. Imagine a burned-out rock star at the end of their career, and you’ll get the idea.
The high rate of returning Fox X-Mencould suggest that the Russo brothers are gearing up for a more Mutant-focused direction going forward. AfterDeadpool & Wolverineclosed the chapter on the former X-Men franchise, and with characters like Beast making a cameo at the end ofThe Marvels, now would seem like the right time to shift the MCU towards its own take on Xavier’s students. After audiences have seen the MCU lurch from one flop to the next, securing a confident, bold, and consistent creative vision going forward is one ofAvengers: Doomsday’smost essential tasks. Without that, the MCU could continue to spiral into a very slow, depressing epilogue that continues to struggle to gain traction as audiences leave the superhero genre behind for other emerging film trends.
