Marvel has been on the struggle-bus lately. It seems like, since the first major arc of the MCU came to a close with Endgame, it has struggled to maintain the quality of storytelling and production it came to be known for (not that every recent show/film has been terrible or every early MCU film was a quality smash hit).
Apparently things have gotten so rough that there have been some talks of bringing the original Avengers back. In their big report that I linked above, Variety writes,
Sources say there have been talks to bring back the original gang for an “Avengers” movie. This would include reviving Robert Downey Jr.’s Iron Man and Scarlett Johansson’s Black Widow, both of whom were killed off in “Endgame.”
I think it’s safe to say that while this might draw in big box office numbers from intrigued viewers, it would be a storytelling disaster.
As I was pondering earlier today why this news was bothering me so much, I realized it’s because I think good stories have consequences, and Marvel has produced some prime examples of this, both in the past and recently.
The arc of Tony Stark/Iron Man in the first part of MCU is a perfect example of this. He starts off as a self-absorbed arms dealer who’s forced to confront his legacy, and we watch him grow from this cocky genius into someone willing to sacrifice himself to save the universe in Endgame.
We see a similar arc with Natasha Romanoff/Black Widow. We know she had a history as a KGB black operative prior to her time with SHIELD, and that she has “red on her ledger”. She struggles to open up to others because of her dark past, but in Endgame she also sacrifices herself for her newfound family.
There have even been some examples of this in the post-Endgame MCU. In Spider-Man: No Way Home, Peter tries to get Dr. Strange to undo Mysterio’s revelation that he’s Spider-Man, and ends up causing more problems by drawing villains from other universes into his own. In the end he has to undo things by having Dr. Strange make everyone forget him. The film ends with Aunt May dead, and MJ and Ned having forgotten who he is.
Another example of good consequential storytelling we saw this summer was the conclusion of the Guardians of the Galaxy trilogy. As you probably know, one of the original guardians, Gamora, is killed by Thanos in Infinity War, but then a past version of her is brought to the MCU present in Endgame. Many fans were curious to see how this would play out, since Gamora and Peter Quill/Star-Lord were lovers. Guardians 3 plays with this storyline quite interestingly, having Peter pine after Gamora even though she’s not the one he fell in love with. James Gunn doesn’t cheat however, and have Gamora magically fall in love with Peter again. Instead, they end the story as friends, and Peter comes to accept that he’ll never have the old Gamora back. It’s bittersweet, but realistic.
A final recent example of this was the end of the Loki series on Disney+. Now, obviously Marvel did a little cheating with this series by undercutting Loki’s death in the beginning of Infinity War. However, it was interesting to watch them use the show to continue Loki’s journey from villainy to heroism. In the finale of the series at the end of season 2, Loki learns what his “glorious purpose” was all along, and sacrifices his own freedom by taking He Who Remains’ place at the end of time so that the multiverse can continue to exist and thrive.
As many other astute critics have pointed out, stories begin to lose their meaning and worth if you can endlessly resurrect characters through the mechanism of the multiverse, or retcon their choices in later iterations. All the Marvel stories and other stories that have resonated with me deeply have not taken this route, but played out character choices and story consequences, even if they didn’t always end happily.
I hope in this case Marvel doesn’t fall for a major cop-out, because that would truly undo some of the great storytelling they’ve done in the past.