The stagnation of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, MCU, has become a focal point at the time of this writing. The premiere of She Hulk has split the fanbase, and indeed Marvel's community is the most divisive in its history. Content is standard on a good outing, and worse than ever on a bad one. With this in mind, it can be calming to look at what makes this sprawling library of movies special; it can even be interesting to galivant about in its source material. Nowadays we can take the MCU for granted, but like it or not, it is truly a one of a kind experience. Interconnected movies, shows, and novelizations is an incredibly difficult feat. The fact that fans are only questioning its quality now is a miracle. The only equivalent to this sort of interconnectedness are in other forms of media. Games, books, and yes, comics all have examples of this format. The MCU stands alone on its basis of films. The Marvel comics run in particular is a point of obvious comparison to these movies. Marvel has weaponized apathy in its comic runs. The consequences of this are extreme and unique to the comic genre. The Marvel movies use short form storytelling to create a larger narrative. In order to facilitate audience interest they put a lot of work into character investment. People get up in arms over these characters because they care about them. So when Marvel creates a fluke like Thor: Love and Thunder, it isn't only a blunder of a single high-budget film, but also of a long-standing character. The more mistakes the MCU acquires, the greater the damage to the whole project. Compare this to the comics. Marvel has created a fundamental status quo through their longform comic arcs. This means that audience investment is primarily attached to the character's fundamentals. If there's a bad comic run, Marvel tends to find a way to retcon back to their basics. This is bad writing; but the consistency of this crutch has resulted in an audience expectation. No matter how crazy a comic story gets, the audience has grown to expect a return to norms. This institutionalized apathy creates a buffer for other bad writing practices. The audience finds comfort in knowing that only the greatest decisions will stick around for a long time. The MCU does not have this buffer. Audience investment is still high with every arc, and descent writing is expected. The comics run has the benefit of expectations around that genre. People don't tend to expect great writing in comics; nonsensical plots are commonplace. By taking itself seriously the MCU has improved its quality and impact, but at the cost of its longevity. You simply can't write great stories forever; I salute the attempt to try.
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AuthorMcRae Walker, an 20-year-old writer and lover of many dorky topics. Archives
September 2022
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