This Plot Twist Killed the MCU Long Before Kang Controversy
Marvel finds itself in a tricky situation due to an event that has caused the entire narrative to become disjointed.
Summary
- With Disney 's firing of Majors, the current phase of the MCU is left without a main villain.
- However, many fans are convinced that the MCU was doomed much earlier, immediately after the release of Endgame.
- In their opinion, the writers' inability to handle the fallout from this plot twist led to the MCU becoming a chaotic mess.
Marvel fans hoped it would happen, and it did: Jonathan Majors was finally fired. After hard evidence of his abusive behavior towards his ex-girlfriend was presented in court, the actor was found guilty on two counts and the sentence will be announced in February. As a result, Disney has officially terminated his contract.
While this will undoubtedly bring a healthier atmosphere to the production of upcoming films and series, the MCU faces no small number of new problems because of Majors' departure, as his Kang was set to be the main villain of Phase 5 and Phase 6, just as Phase 4 brought terror to the entire Marvel Universe in the form of the Infinity Stones wielding Thanos.
Only time will tell if Marvel Studios will be able to fix the problem, but fans are convinced that the MCU has long been a lost game, as a major plot twist that happened in Phase 4 was handled so poorly that all subsequent events were doomed.
The MCU's Most Influential Yet Problematic Event
Even those who haven't seen Infinity War and Endgame know about the Blip, the moment when the all-powerful Thanos literally wiped out the existence of half the living beings in the universe with the snap of a finger. This event was so pivotal to the entire story, and took on the darkest and most tragic tone this time around, that it literally set the entire internet on edge and created infinite memes about the Infinity Gauntlet.
According to the story, the universe suffered the consequences of the Blip for a full five years, and in Endgame, the Avengers were able to turn the tide by using time travel and collecting the Infinity Stones themselves. Once back in the present, they brought the missing half of the living beings back into existence.
On the one hand, the story seems quite straightforward and coherent. However, many Marvel fans believe that it was followed by a huge amount of screw-ups, after which the MCU became a dumpster fire of wacky and inconsistent mixing of storylines and attempts to bring back the old drama.
Why couldn't the Avengers, for example, just come back in 2018 and immediately undo so much of the grief and suffering that followed the Blip? Why didn't any of the characters introduced in the aftermath, such as Moon Knight, mention these events in any way? Why, in such a vast universe, was it only the forever-changed Gamora who reminded us of such terrible consequences?
Kevin Feige and the team seemed to forget that the MCU had such pivotal events not so long ago, the impact of which will be felt for generations to come. Instead, the audience was overwhelmed by the abrupt shift in focus to other events, including time travel and the multiverse, completely ignoring the emotions of the pre-existing characters (well, except for Peter Parker, who quickly turned his attention to the multiverse, though).
Maybe the Storyline Should Never Have Existed in the First Place
At the same time, some fans feel that the Blip was too important and difficult to handle in the first place, and so it should have been dropped. Well, at the very least, they should have sent the Avengers back to 2018 to prevent it.
However, if the writers actually had to deal with the aftermath of the events of Infinity War and Endgame, we would never have gotten to Phase 4 and 5, and the story would have become too drawn out and unengaging. At the same time, the emphasis on empty action with no emotional investment is also unlikely to please anyone.