The MCU Should've Never Gone To TV
Alright, hear me out. I'm getting tired of the fact that I have to justify my opinions when I'm constantly accused of being the guy who hates everything. I will defend the MCU and the Infinity Saga until the day I die. Those movies mattered. Yes, they vary in quality a little bit, but as a whole, what Kevin Feige and his collaborators pulled off was remarkable. And I'm also not coming here and claiming that every Marvel Cinematic Universe TV show needs to be of better quality. I quite enjoyed "WandaVision." Yeah, the finale sucked, but I appreciated how weird it got, and I thought Elizabeth Olson's performance was legitimately fantastic. I also enjoyed "Loki." I don't believe "Loki" should've existed. Loki died in 2018 when Thanos murdered his ass, but for what it was, it was a well-directed show, and Tom Hiddleston was fantastic as always. I won't claim that Marvel has destroyed itself due to oversaturation. If all of these movies and shows were well-written and good, nobody would complain about too much of a good thing. We only complain about oversaturation when the products themselves are subpar. So with all that said, Marvel should've never gone to television, and I'll tell you why.
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Marvel was indeed one of the last to drive home the idea that movies can still be events. I've gone off on this before, but I don't find much appeal in sitting alone watching a film in a movie theater. If it won't be necessary, just put it on streaming. Marvel was one of the few exceptions to that rule. When the MCU was rocking and rolling, you had to see their movies in theaters, and it was a blast. I remember I was in college when "Avengers: Infinity War" came out, and going to that movie surrounded by a bunch of rowdy college kids gave off a concert-like vibe. The Infinity Saga was largely important because the films' quality was quite good. This may sound very contradictory coming from me, but magic came with the shared experience of seeing an MCU movie in the theater. There's a big difference between stories that need to be told and stories that get to be told. The MCU, as it pertains to its TV programs, is, unfortunately, the latter. They've ruined they idea that MCU products are events.
I would champion Marvel's foray into television if all of these stories seemed necessary in the grand scheme of things, but they don't. Even if you weren't really into the Infinity Saga, you have to admit that Marvel had its ducks in a row. They had a plan from the beginning, and they executed that plan. They were changes along the way, but for the most part, they were remarkably consistent. And it never felt like they jumped the shark, either. Kevin Feige and company very much took their sweet time. When you watch the original "Iron Man" film, it's just about a guy who decided to build a metal suit. 10 years later, he was in outer space, but you bought it. With the sheer number of TV shows that Marvel has thrown at you over the last several years, it feels like they're asking you to accept a lot. Rhodey being a Skrull? That's rough, man.
"WandaVision" did excite me about what the MCU could look like on television because TV allows you to branch off into weirdness. "WandaVision" and "Loki" did a great job of that. But the other MCU TV shows feel like rejected MCU scripts that they recycled and made into mini-series. A heavy majority of these shows also look like complete shit. "WandaVision" and "Loki" looks good. I'd even say "Falcon And The Winter Soldier" had some pretty impressive action sequences, but I'm tired of the god-awful CG. One of the appeals of these superhero movies and shows is that they're given unlimited budgets. There's no excuse for them to look as bad as they do. And this is not exclusive to the TV shows either. Something like "Thor: Love And Thunder" looked pretty goddamn awful as well.
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The MCU needs a hard reset here. There was a laser focus that Kevin Feige and his co-creators had when putting together the Infinity Saga. It was one or two movies a year, and those were events. Now, Marvel has gone the way of "Star Wars," where nothing feels essential anymore. I may sound like an old man here, but this is difficult to follow. When it was just one or two movies a year, you could keep up with the continuity. But now, to keep up with what's happening, you must watch two films and eight episodes of four different TV shows to know what's happening in the timeline. I don't come from a vindictive place with my frustration here. Unlike "Star Wars," which I think has destroyed itself by putting people in power who don't know dick about "Star Wars," I'll always have a soft spot for the MCU. But their current projects feel like they need a more creative spark. They announced a few months ago that they would focus on fewer projects. That's the best course of action because the TV stuff just ain't working.