Take a seat DC. In fact everyone who has ever tried or wants to create a Shared Cinematic Universe, take a knee and watch what Marvel is doing. Because whether you like WandaVision or not, it’s a masterful example of how Marvel is using DisneyPlus to prevent the MCU from collapsing in on itself while expanding it at the same time.
This may sound like fanboy lip service, gushing over anything and everything Marvel (and there is a lot of that out there), but the reasoning why everyone should be admiring what Kevin Feige and company are doing right now is both simple and straight forward.
Marvel has released 23 blockbusters over the last twelve years (that includes the two Tom Holland starring Spider-Man entries co-produced with Sony). They have two more in the can waiting to be released (Black Widow and Eternals) with another seven on the very near horizon.
Yes seven.
And while all of that keeps the world’s collective Nerd appetite sated and the box-office gravy train rolling for Disney, it makes maintaining the narrative integrity of a shared universe tricky. These movies have to tell their own stories and develop their own characters while simultaneously weaving into a dozen other properties. They’re pieces that have to fit seamlessly into a larger narrative puzzle and include characters from other franchises (think Tony Stark in Spider-Man: Homecoming or Dr. Stange’s appearance in Thor: Ragnarok).
Even the most skilled producers and screen writers find the balancing act beyond daunting. And given how much fans of the MCU (and it’s haters) meticulously comb the minutia for easter eggs or mistakes, trying to keep the ever growing monstrosity that is the MCU on its feet has become a herculean task.
But now they have DisneyPlus to help support their cinematic Frankenstein and fill in some of the storytelling gaps. And if WandaVision is any indication, they know exactly what they’re doing.
Wanda Maximoff (the Scarlet Witch) and Vision were only supporting players for the MCU’s big guns during the movies. But they still had a story to tell after the final credits of Avengers: Endgame. Unable to support a big movie of their own, DisneyPlus proved to be the perfect way to tell that tale. But the streaming fun didn’t stop there. Marvel found a way to use the show to introduce new characters, reintroduce old ones and develop important plot devices that would become significant parts of the MCU as a whole.
(The rest of this post includes spoilers, so you’ve been warned.)
And while WandaVision hasn’t introduced any groundbreaking new characters yet, it has allowed the creative powers that be to bring back some characters we haven’t seen in a while. It was a pleasant surprise to see Ant-Man and The Wasp alumni Jimmy Woo return. Fans have been clamouring to see more of Kat Denning’s Darcy Lewis, who has been MIA since 2013’s Thor: Dark World. Until the fourth episode of WandaVision that is.
Remember that precocious pre-teen giving Carol Danvers style advice in Captain Marvel a few years ago? Well now we get to see Monica Rambeau all grown up and heading an elite government agency (that ironically monitors super humans). As far as Miss Rambeau goes, WandaVision is likely just setting the table for some impressive things coming her way in the not too distant future.
Don’t make the mistake of thinking that the storytelling love is one way. The relationship between the MCU’s movies and the DisneyPlus shows is symbiotic. Everyone knows who the Vision and Wanda are, what they can do and what their backstories are. The audience are already on a first name basis with Darcy, Jimmy and Monica. Everyone knows what the Hulk’s snap looked like when it undid Thanos’ universe spanning genocide, allowing WandaVision to use it as a jumping on point without having to explain it.
No one blinked twice at the introduction of an outfit like S.W.O.R.D given that they’ve spent the last twelve years inside the machinations (and demise) of super-spy agency S.H.I.E.L.D.
WandaVision can essentially hit the ground running. The MCU’s streaming shows won’t have to do any narrative heavy lifting because twelve years’ worth of movies have done it for them. Even better, the MCU shows will introduce changes that have far reaching consequences for the entire MCU, making them just-see viewing.
DisneyPlus allows the MCU to tell stories it normally wouldn’t, iron out problematic plot points and play with characters that would otherwise be ignored or forgotten. It also allows filmmakers to experiment with styles and formats they never would have otherwise. They’re basically prolonged movies that are broken into chapters. It’s a more liberal format than creators can take with big screen blockbusters.
No silver screen entry would have been allowed to take the approach WandaVision did (where the first three episodes simulate classic TV sitcoms), an approach that has worked (so far) for the story the show is telling.
As a bonus, the shows are already providing spin-off fodder of their own. The same day WandaVision’s fourth episode dropped, fans were flocking to the Internet to share how much they wanted to see an X-Files style show starring Jimmy and Darcy. If Marvel can pull that off, the possibilities are truly endless.
With The Falcon and the Winter Soldier kicking off right around the same time WandaVision wraps its nine episode run and Loki dropping in May, DisneyPlus is also keeping the MCU relevant and fresh in everyone’s minds until going to the movies is a thing again. By the time we return to the Multiplex, the MCU may have dipped its first toe into streaming original properties. One day in the near future, we could come home from watching the Avengers or Spider-Man on the big screen and catch She-Hulk or Moon Knight on the small one.
No other entertainment power in history can make the same claim on the same scale.
Imagine if Star Wars-the MCU’s first cousin on it’s Disney side-could duplicate this formula? That would pure Nerd nirvana. In the meantime, everyone else should be taking notes.
Image via www.therooseveltreview.org
