Author: Custodian of the Multiverse

MCU Production Timelines: Infographic & Methodology

In this piece I’m just going to explain a few of the finer points behind the data I put together for the Phase 3 and Phase 4 production timeline infographic, which João has again so excellently put into a graphic. My purpose in working with João on this one is just to help people understand another piece of the puzzle of how MCU movies tend to get put together. Fans understandably love to obsess over the release slate, particularly what’s coming next and when it is coming. It can get a little confusing as to what is and isn’t further along in the timeline. Hopefully, we’ve laid that out in an understandable format.

A couple of notes I want to make on the data. First of all, this is a relatively imprecise set of information. What I’ve put into the spreadsheet is largely the dates as combed from the Wikipedia entries for each film (I did trace back the references in those articles to trade reports in most cases). Now if a director is hired in a forest and it doesn’t make a sound, are they still the director? In other words, these dates for when writers and directors are hired are based on trade reports. It may be that someone was hard at work for weeks or even months before the media found out. I’m taking the information that is publicly available. In particular, I assume the “filming start” dates are very approximate. Captain Marvel, for example, filmed a few things before the official start of filming for weird tax purposes. Also, Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania did some kind of plates filming already this year, but the filming hasn’t really started in earnest yet. Again, I’m taking the Wikipedia dates in most cases and there will be some imprecisions there.

As far as director and writer hirings, I have listed the first hiring for each in most cases. Directors in the MCU haven’t changed that much in recent years. The major exception that will come to mind for most astute readers is the change from Scott Derrickson to Sam Raimi for Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness. As such we’ve included that change as a separate item. Writers, however, switch with much more frequency. The process for hiring writers, managing rewrites, and then deciding who gets the final credit for both writing and story is byzantine at best. To keep it simpler, we just took the first report of any writer or any director, regardless of their final involvement or non-involvement in the project. I also am somewhat arbitrarily determining what counts as this production. For some projects, development on the IP might have happened decades ago, but I’m treating those as a different project altogether.

It’s worth noting that sequels are pretty obviously different. Often the director and lead actor are already in place and returning for the sequel. As such directors get “named” essentially as soon as the project is greenlit. This is also the case of writer/directors like James Gunn.

Release dates are a little tricky on this graph, given the interference of COVID. We’re giving you both the original date and the final date in most cases. Black Widow, for example, was almost totally finished when the pandemic started. As such it isn’t that the production really took longer, it just all got delayed. Sorting out a movie like Thor: Love and Thunder is a much more complicated matter. We’ve done our best to give you a sense of the normal operating procedure and hide the confusion pandemic delays caused.

Two other major exceptions deserve a mention. Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 is another one that looks rather weird due to the firing and rehiring of James Gunn. The movie never officially got a release date, but I think before the whole mess it was likely that the May 2020 date would have been Guardians Vol. 3’s planned landing spot. Also, Avengers: Endgame was shot pretty tightly with Infinity War, so there is some weirdness in its extended production time. I think it is highly likely that those two Avengers productions mixed and mingled quite a bit. Certainly, the screenplays seemed to happen at the same time.

I think that is all the details. I hope you all enjoyed this. Again, this is all an exercise with approximation. I’m sure some slight variance in the data is possible if you look at different reports. Enjoy!

May 18, 2021
Review: ‘Demon Slayer: Mugen Train’

Guest review by Tucker Watkins

I have a long complicated relationship with Demon Slayer. Watched it, stopped, started again, stopped, and then finally finished it. I would go months at a time between episodes. But in the end, in that final stretch of the show — I found my love for it. And ever since then, I’ve been counting down the days until we got a continuation, and that time finally came last weekend. I’ve now seen Mugen Train twice, once in sub and dub, and I’ve come to a conclusion. It’s good.

Anime films where they condense entire arcs into 2 hours have a spotty history, to say the least. Akira (one of the first anime films to be popularized in the US) condensed an entire manga series into a single 2-hour film. While historically relevant, it struggled with pacing. The same issue is present here, just in a different way. There are two very distinct sections of the movie: Mugen Train and Upper Three. The problem occurred when they made the decision to focus on the Mugen Train for the majority of the runtime. But, they didn’t want to leave out the Upper Three story, so the end feels disjointed. Consequently, I left the theatre exhausted. You feel like the movie is winding down, and then another character shows up out of nowhere and you have to get back in the zone for the next part of the movie. Oddly enough, the two halves are so different and contrasted to one another that it almost worked. If they’d managed to make the two halves feel more connected, this movie could’ve been fantastic. However, the two halves work separately on their own. The first half is a beautiful, in-depth look at the spirit of our characters. The second half works almost like an action-filled pallet cleanser, but that’d be selling it short. It’s a beautiful 1v1 fight, where we observe the strength of these two incredibly powerful beings and understand the persistence of the human spirit. Both halves are fantastic, I just feel like they didn’t do the proper work to make them feel cohesive to form a whole movie.

While the core 3 (or 4?) main characters are present and accounted for, there are pretty clearly 2 main characters that this movie decided to focus on: Tanjiro and Rengoku, the newly introduced Fire Hashira. Tanjiro, being the true main character, gets the brunt of the focus and characterization, but I’d be lying if I said they didn’t do a fantastic job with Rengoku. Having only been introduced for a couple of episodes, and having little to no lines or screen time in his previous appearances, Rengoku shines brighter than anyone else here. Through the first half of the movie, our characters are put into dreams that are supposed to appeal to their deepest desires. It’s an incredibly useful tool for us to get a look inside these characters and where they lie in our story.

While Zenitsu and Inosuke are thrown to the side and given humor-filled vignettes, the real heart of these sequences are Rengoku and Tanjiro. We are presented an interesting look at where Tanjiro is in his journey, realizing that he’s still living in the past and striving to be with his family again, as impossible as that may be. We’re also finally given a look at what drives Rengoku, and we get the touching realization that what makes Rengoku happy is the happiness and success of his little brother. It’s an incredibly beautiful moment, and it comes back to haunt us in the end when Rengoku sacrifices his life to prevent the Upper Three Demon from harming Tanjiro. Rengoku will never get to see his brother follow through on his dreams, and now it’s up to Tanjiro to make Rengoku proud. It’s fantastic.

The real star of any Demon Slayer movie or show is the animation. Somehow, they manage to make all of the fight scenes so dynamic, they love playing with the camera (or the lack of), it’s absolutely incredible. By no means am I an anime connoisseur, but this is far and away one of the best-looking animated movies ever. The choice to use bright colors contrasting against the overly realistic setting. The beautiful blues of the water, the striking yellows of lightning, the fiery red — it’s fantastic. This movie practically works on its own as a masterclass in “How To Properly Blend 2D and 3D animation.” The entire thing is a feast for the eyes, but that’s nothing new for fans of Demon Slayer anime.

To sum up all my thoughts — watch it. For Demon Slayer fans, it’s a must, especially if you intend to catch the new season. For casual movie fans, this is one of the most visually interesting and beautiful movies I’ve ever seen. Perhaps you might be lost on a few things, but if anything, it’ll just make you want to watch the anime. This movie isn’t without its issues, but I feel the pros out weigh the cons. Get vaccinated, wear a mask, go to the movies, and see Demon Slayer: Kimetsu No Yaiba The Movie: Mugen Train.

May 2, 2021
Theory Thursday: The Future of the MCU

On December 10th, 2020, Kevin Feige gave a presentation during Disney Investor Day that provided an in-depth glimpse at the next few years of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. The presentation showed a mixture of returning characters appearing in solo projects or team-ups, as well as new superheroes joining the ranks. With the introduction of many different superheroes and teams, speculation began to spiral: When the next Endgame event is coming? As once discussed by Kevin Feige and James Gunn, some speculated that the MCU was turning to the cosmos and the next big event would be inspired by Annihilation. Others believed that the story that was being laid out was headed towards Secret Wars. While I agree that this feels like the natural progression, there are more intimate stories that should come first. Exploring these stories, viewers would feel they earned the Secret Wars’ pay-offs.

Inhumans vs. X-Men

Two of the announced projects and beyond set this event up by introducing both teams and concepts required for telling this story. Ms. Marvel, due to arrive on Disney+ later this year, is bringing the first Inhumans to the MCU. In the comics, Kamala Khan receives her powers from a Terrigen Cloud that activated the Kree DNA in her genetic code. With Ms. Marvel’s introduction into the MCU, other Inhumans like the Royal Family will finally be able to make their proper way onto the screen. As well, At SDCC 2019 Feige announced that “The Mutants are coming”, but with no other information surrounding them since then, their projects may still be far off. It could even be the end of phase five or six before we see a full X-men team-up. However, with both parties on their way, Inhumans vs. X-Men could be the next team-up event.

In the comic event series, the Terrigen Cloud that gave Ms. Marvel her powers was released across the globe due to a Terrigen Bomb going off. This cloud gave many Inhumans powers across the global, but also caused Mutants to get sick. It killed off large portions of their population, causing mass panic among those infected. The Mutants wished to destroy the cloud leading to a division with the Inhumans who did not support their actions. To give justice to the story, many aspects need to develop before the clash occurs. The Inhumans, the Royal Family, and Attilan, The Inhumans City, need to be established explored. With their rich heritage and culture, there are plenty of stories to explore in their own series or movies, A catalyst event also needs to occur that would cause the release of the Terrigen Cloud. It does not make narrative sense to show this in Ms. Marvel as it would severely limit potential stories that could be told. While it occurred in response to the events of Secret Wars in the comics, an event Disney+ show such as The Death of the Inhumans may be a better place to explore this story. The MCU also needs time to properly explore the mutants, both individual characters and eventually the team, and establish why viewers should care about their imminent demise. This could play out as either a series on Disney+ or a movie.

Civil War II

Following the establishment of the Inhumans vs. X-Men, the team behind the MCU could move on to another fight. Civil War II centers around the introduction of an Inhuman who can predict the future. Captain Marvel wishes to use these powers to stop threats by arresting the culprits before they commit them, essentially removing their agency. Tony Stark is opposed to this plan, which causes a clash amongst Avengers. The groundwork will be laid through Ms. Marvel and the eventual Terrigen Cloud that will show up in the MCU. As for the role of Tony Stark, Sam Wilson or Doctor Strange could replace him as the moral compass of the group. Another character that would need to be established would be Miles Morales. Peter Parker could play the part; however, removing Miles Morales feels cheap and may anger many fans. To allow the previous event to play out and establish Miles in the MCU, it would make sense that this event would not arrive until the end of phase six or even early phase seven.

Avengers vs. X-Men

At first, I struggled to place this event in the narrative being established leading up to Secret Wars but ultimately decided that it would make the most sense as the finale in this trilogy. The comic series tells the story of the return of the Phoenix Force, a threat in the eyes of the Avengers. Many of the X-Men hold the Force together and use it to create a society a better society. Feige could drastically change story details, but they would need more time to establish the Phoenix Force if he were to stay true to the basic concept. We have seen the Phoenix Force twice in movies and so we might not need to establish it. We would need enough time to pass after Inhumans vs. X-Men to explore integral X-Men stories before this one can be told. So, at the earliest, it should be sometime in Phase Seven.

Once the vs. trilogy is told in its entirety, the teams of the MCU will be fractioned. And through the chaos, Secret Wars would begin and bring our heroes back together to face the end of days.

April 22, 2021
When’s The Trailer Coming Out?: An Historical Look at Marvel Studios Trailer Releases

As a frequent reader of (and super infrequent contributor to) Murphy’s Multiverse and Charles Murphy’s tweets, I come across one thing more frequently than any other: “When is the trailer for _________ coming out?” Inevitably Charles’ response is the same. “I don’t do trailer dates, I don’t know.” Now the reality here is that while directors have some say over the marketing of a film (ex. James Gunn appears to be particularly interested in picking which shots are available), ultimately production and marketing are not the same departments of a major studio. Asking a source with production sources when the marketing team is prepping a trailer just doesn’t make a ton of sense. So we should probably just leave Charles alone.

That doesn’t mean we’re in the dark, however. The reality here is that Disney has used a pretty consistent pattern over the years for releasing trailers to Marvel Studios projects. Now I want to be clear, all I’m sharing here are my observations of historical data. I have no more access to inside sources than you do. What I can offer is my spreadsheet. That’s right, I’m the kind of nerd who has a detailed spreadsheet listing all the MCU films and what days their trailers dropped on, as well as averages for how many days before release those come. Here’s what such info can and cannot tell us.

*A few notes on my spreadsheet data. Most of this I have compiled when things came out. Some of the older data is based on the dates of trailers posted on YouTube. Also, my data only goes back to the first Thor because that was the oldest data available. Finally, I refer below to first and second trailers because most Marvel Studios’ films only get a first and second. A few got a third. I do not consider TV spots to be trailers. I also have not included Super Bowl ads as trailers, because usually a studio is not going to pay for more than a 30 second spot in that expensive time slot. If a longer full trailer was released during the Super Bowl online, I’ve included that. Finally, at cons and such we will sometimes get a “sizzle reel.” These I have not included as trailers proper.

THE PATTERN

While things have changed over time there is a pretty steady pattern for the MCU. Nine MCU films dropped on the first weekend of May or last weekend of April. The date range for those nine films’ first trailers was October 11th to December 9th. The October trailers, however, are all grouped around Phase II. Since 2015 or so the preferred date for a first trailer for the big May releases has reliably been between Thanksgiving and the first week of December. The second trailer tends to come sometime in March. This is a pretty steady schedule.

For movies coming out in July, the date depends on the involvement of Sony. Marvel Studios tends to do something in late January or later. Sony’s preference has tended to be earlier. Both Spidey pictures got going on their marketing longer out than any other Marvel Studios July releases. Second trailers keep coming later and later for July movies as the years go on. They still tend to come in April and May in recent years. It’s worth noting that Black Widow follows that trend, though it’s fair to ask if we should consider the delay-rife movie as normative of anything.

November releases have been steadier than any other release window. So far every November release for Marvel Studios got their first trailer in April of that year. The second trailer then comes out in late July or early August. Particularly noteworthy are Doctor Strange and Thor: Ragnarok, two movies where trailers came out on almost the exact same days compared to release date. Now it’s fair to guess that unless we’re really surprised, Eternals is going to break the steadiness of this pattern.

Finally, there is the relatively new strategy of releasing films in February and March. These dates are kind of all over the place so far. There’s too little data to suggest much of a pattern yet.

The other data point here to consider is the average date. On average, first trailers come about 155 days before release. The second trailer comes out on average 68 days before release. The average isn’t everything because of the peculiarity of the calendar. Disney tends to treat November releases a bit differently than May releases so that trailers hit during certain windows. As such it has been more accurate to look at the November-release data for an upcoming November release than to look at the average.

Disney+ shows are a new phenomenon and the data set is more limited. The averages are 133 days before release for trailer one and 48 days before trailer two. Loki has seen both of its trailers hit significantly earlier than the averages, and as a third of the data it actually skewers them much higher than the more similar dates for WandaVision and The Falcon and the Winter Soldier. It does seem fair to assume that Disney+ shows have a more compressed marketing period than films.

THE EXCEPTIONS

The problem with the historical data is that exceptions exist and usually happen for good reasons. The major outlier would be Black Panther. We were all introduced to Wakanda for the first time on June 9, 2017, a full 252 days before the movie came out. This is by far the earliest a trailer has come out, by almost two months. This trailer was part of a promotion with the NBA Finals. While I’ve never seen anyone admit as much in the media, it seemed somewhat obvious at the time that Disney saw an opportunity to cross-promote their film and ABC sports broadcast. The NBA Finals have a higher percentage of black viewers than many other major TV events and thus the demographic fit well with the viewers they were targeting with Black Panther. What this data point shows us is that there is roughly a play book, unless they decide to just throw it out! Disney marketing is happy to call an audible if a special opportunity comes available.

Another more recent exception would be Loki getting its first trailer 183 days before its scheduled release. While this isn’t a totally unusual date for movies, it is much sooner than most streaming shows get a trailer, particularly on Disney+. But again there is a reason behind the exception. That first trailer was part of the Disney+ mega investors’ call back in November. This was a bit peculiar because Marvel Studios has not historically worried too much about forcing trailers into the con schedule. And when they do show footage, they often have chosen to show them in the room and not release the footage to the public. (D23 got some exclusive footage of Captain America: Civil War that stayed off the internet for some time. I also think of the Avengers: Infinity War shows from Titan that appeared at SDCC but didn’t get a wider release until much later.) SDCC is a great time to drop a second trailer for November releases, so they have been willing to bring something for all of us to San Diego. Regardless, the investor call was apparently too good an opportunity to be ignored and so they showed us the first trailer for Loki really early.

These exceptions matter because they make it really hard to predict any single trailer’s release date. We can always say “based on historical data we should see a trailer by…” But that’s different than knowing when one is coming. As such, I thought that we would see Loki’s second trailer in early May because the previous two Disney+ shows had trailers dropped 36 and 40 days before their release. Obviously, they did something else altogether for Loki (67 days before) and there is no clear reason why, particularly since the Black Widow third trailer had just hit.

COVID-AN EVEN BIGGER EXCEPTION

It is worth noting that COVID has made it even harder to predict trailer release dates. The general rule of thumb right now appears to be “wait until you are sure the movie is coming out!” Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings is overdue for its first trailer but Marvel obviously didn’t know when that movie ultimately would come out. (They still might not!) The lack of a trailer for the movie before its move to September was a good sign they thought it was getting delayed. It’ll be interesting to see what happens now as it is in the sweet spot for a first trailer any day now…maybe even today!

While it isn’t a trailer, the title reveal for Spider-Man: No Way Home was similarly slower than expected. Sony tends to like to get details out as quickly as possible. The fever pitch for that title this year was in part due to how long it was taking for that info to come out.

SO WHEN’S THE TRAILER COMING OUT?

We have no idea. Do you want some guesses? I’m willing to guess. Remember this is ME guessing, not Charles. You can mock me when they’re (inevitably) wrong. Here’s my thoughts.

Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings-As I said above, we’re already on the other side of the average date for a first trailer. And we’ve never had a September Marvel Studios film. Assuming they feel confident that this movie will make it’s date then I’d still assume the first trailer would need to come out before the end of this month. If it doesn’t happen by May 1 I’d guess they are still considering a delay.

What If?-A real wild card. We don’t know the release date so it’s hard to count back, even if we knew how many days ahead the trailer was coming. Assuming this is a late Summer show, I’d think we’d see a trailer near the end of April and the beginning of May. Given the way they put out Loki and Black Widow trailers close together, it might be a similar Shang-Chi and What If? trailer party in a few weeks. Disney’s marketing team does seem to like to cluster stuff, like a recent drop of the Obi-Wan Kenobi cast and The Bad Batch trailer on back to back days.

Eternals-I know that the fans of this movie are dying! In a usual cycle they would have gotten a first trailer last April before release last November, but obviously the pandemic put an end to that. We have consistent data for when Disney likes to drop first trailers for November and that date would usually be…this week. Again, COVID delays are probably in effect here. It’s hard to believe that we’ll get a first look at Eternals before Shang-Chi. As such I’d think we won’t see anything from this movie until May or June. That’s compressed from their typical November schedule but the first weekend of June would be close to the average.

Spider-Man: No Way Home-This is a real wild card. Sony’s team may have the ability to do something a little earlier than these other movies. It seems that Sony has some freedom outside of the Marvel machine. My guess would be June or July and it could leapfrog Eternals. If I were in charge I’d put it out to play before F9 or Black Widow, though it seems that us fans think about that kind of thing more than the marketers. I’m constantly amazed how many times trailers drop on what feels like a random weekday at 7AM.

After that, I’d think that some more regular patterns would kick back up. Early fall trailer for Doctor Strange and the Multiverse of Madness, then Thor: Love and Thunder around Thanksgiving. Then again, the addition of Disney+ and unusual release calendars means all this data might become sort of useless now!

Marvel Studios Feature Films Data

Disney Plus Streaming Series Data

April 19, 2021
Lessons From Lucasfilm: How Marvel Studios Can Learn From Star Wars

As part of the relaunch of Murphy’s Multiverse we invited several friends, old and new, to write some guest features. This was written by our good friend, Marvel News Desk’s very own Caleb Borchers.

2019 was an important year for Marvel Studios as they finished out their first saga of films in triumphant fashion. One of the facets of their success is that Marvel Studios passed up Lucasfilm as the most financially dominant arm of Disney. While Star Wars films had historically outperformed their Marvel counterparts, Marvel is now clearly ascendant. It may not be a totally apples to apples comparison, but both Marvel and Lucasfilm released the final film of an era of storytelling. One could argue that Rise of Skywalker was actually set up to be an even greater event in that it capped off 35 years of film making across several generations of fans. When the dust settled, however, Avengers: Endgame dominated Rise of Skywalker with far more than two times the international gross.

Despite their general dominance, Marvel Studios still has a few things they could learn from Lucasfilm and their company compatriots in a galaxy far, far away. As fans of both franchises can attest, Star Wars still provides some things to fans that Marvel just hasn’t been able to duplicate. Here are three ways that Marvel Studios could benefit from some of the practices over at Lucasfilm.

(Obviously one could write the opposite article and it might even be longer. First on my list for how Lucasfilm could learn from Marvel Studios would be something like “Hire a director and actually trust that director, keeping them on board until the movie is released!” I don’t mean here to pretend that Lucasfilm has no flaws, just that they do some things really well.)

Make Use of Animation, Particularly on the TV/Streaming Side

Many Star Wars fans feel that the best material to come out of Lucasfilm since the Disney takeover has nothing to do with the Skywalker saga or the big screen. Instead, The Mandalorian and Star Wars: Rebels have been the big homeruns of the era, in addition to positive reception of the latest season of Star Wars: The Clone Wars. While Lucasfilm has struggled to match Marvel in producing multiple successful films a year, Marvel hasn’t even touched the world of animation, with the exception of the upcoming What If…?

Animation for Star Wars has been great in its ability to extend and deepen their universe. Anakin Skywalker was a dud in the prequel trilogy. But fans of Clone Wars are much warmer to the character after he was more fully realized in animation. Almost every planet in the Star Wars universe has multiple stories of lore now between the various animated projects that have returned to settings from the films. Imagine a TV show that could explore what life is like in Wakanda or what the daily cases handled by X-Con Security might look like or what threats the Nova Corps have defended against. Animation allows all this exploration on a minimum budget. The only limits are the imaginations of the animators.

Another advantage of animation is that it allows for connections and cameos that are impractical in live action properties. Just in Rebels alone Star Wars fans saw Leia, R2-D2, C3PO, Lando, Mon Mothma, Obi-Wan, Vader, Maul, and the Emperor operating within the larger universe before A New Hope. Imagine the Marvel connections that could happen within the bounds of animation. Peter Parker and Shuri could meet at a youth science expo. We could get a history of Mar-Vell and the Skrulls with Ego stopping by in the midst of things. Or Red Skull could be in a confrontation with Odin during his attempts to find artifacts in Norway during WWII. Kevin Feige has rightfully been hesitant to force those kinds of interactions into films where they would be a side show. Animation would allow him to make those interactions the focus of what would literally be a side show to the main MCU.

Animation also serves as a lab in which new characters can be added and developed. Lucasfilm is about to cash in on a decade and a half of animation to bring the like of Ahsoka Tano, Bo Katan, and Sabine Wren into The Mandalorian. Casual fans might not know those characters but the loyalists most certainly do. And everyone will know them when they explode onto Disney+’s most popular show. While Feige and crew have done an excellent job blooding new characters in other films (including Vision, Scarlet Witch, Spider-Man, Black Panther, and more) their capacity could open in animation. There would be more screen time if nothing else.

Another advantage for Marvel Studios is that it increases output. Star Wars fans are kept somewhat happy between films because there are more stories happening in the animation world. They’re seeing the biggest stars of their universe on the small screen too. This has ancillary benefits of selling more merchandise. Fandoms generate revenue disproportionately from the most dedicated fans, why not give them something else to enjoy and purchase? (To be fair, comics do serve this function for many MCU fans.)

Now some will argue that Marvel already has an arm to do these kinds of things and that is Marvel TV. Fans of both universes will know that the crossover and continuity of Star Wars television is on a totally different level than the crossovers between Marvel films and TV shows. While ABC’s shows and Netflix’s universe were given lip service by Marvel, it was always a one way relationship. TV shows worked hard to connect over and the films just ignored the TV universe. Certainly one would never hear the voice of Charlie Cox in Endgame the way Rey hears from half a dozen TV only Jedi at the climax of Rise of Skywalker. Also, with the exception of Fury and Sif in Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. film characters hardly come into TV shows. But in Star Wars characters, ships, locations, etc. move back and forth. Perhaps the most distinct version of this is the TV character Saw Gerrera appearing in a pivotal role in Rogue One. Marvel TV could do this function, but it hasn’t. Maybe that will change with Disney+, but live action Disney+ shows are still not going to provide the flexibility of animation.

One final things animation does is that brings in new, young fans. While Star Wars fans may not love how young Star Wars: Resistance skewed, it still captivated younger viewers. The reality for a company like Disney that has centuries in front of it most likely is that they must always capture new fans from young ages. Enticing kids to watch is a way to guarantee another 60 years of revenue from loyal fans. Marvel Studios is clearly aware of this with their focus on a younger Spider-Man as well as all the rumors about Young Avengers. Animation is another easy on ramp to this audience base.

Designate Some Canon Keepers

Almost every time a documentary crew talks to Lucasfilm about a new project, those interviewed includes someone from the Lucasfilm Story Group. This group functions as the official keepers of canon. They appear to have detailed records on every character in their universe, all the appearances of those characters, and important dates involved with characters. They keep up similarly with locations and ships and much more. As such, anytime a filmmaker is interested in doing something there is a definite authority to determine if the decisions will break the canon of the universe.

Kevin Feige and crew need such a group and they need it badly. Some talk has occurred suggesting some of this work happens. Feige has alluded to an official timeline that is kept somewhere at Marvel Films HQ. But none of it is as official as the Lucasfilm Story Group. This has become painfully clear a time or two, with the date cards of Spider-Man: Homecoming being a perfect example. While the concerns are relatively pedantic, it is even more short sighted to not keep up with these things. The beauty of the MCU, even as opposed to the comics, is a relatively cohesive story with a real sense of the passage of time and character development. A group like this could help in so many ways.

Not only would the existence of such a group help Marvel Studios, but they should also publicize who is on the canon committee and make them household names. We should all know someone as “the continuity guy” and Marvel. The opportunities at conventions would be fun. Come to a panel and ask your obnoxious continuity concern and get an official answer. Also, how much time would it save for Feige when on a press tour to deflect the “gotcha” questions by simply saying, “That’s a great question for our continuity guy, you should interview him.”

Stronger controls on continuity and canon would allow Marvel execs to be off the hook, would tighten up the universe for fans, and would just add an overall level of polish to a universe that’s already fairly cohesive. My last suggestion piggybacks off this idea and might not be popular.

Swing the Continuity Axe

Many fans were incensed when Disney bought up Lucasfilm and immediately canned what is known as the “extended universe” canon. This was an attempt to streamline plans for new content. With all the novels and comics about Star Wars post-Return of the Jedi off the table, J.J. Abrams had much more freedom to tell a new and different story about the universe post-Luke, Leia, and Han. It was a bold move but one that greatly simplified a very messy mass of story.

Marvel Studios needs to do the same thing with the so-called “canon” of the Marvel TV shows. While the original idea was ambitious, it never truly worked. Early on there were great moments, like the Hydra overthrow of S.H.I.E.L.D. which occurred simultaneously on Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. and in Captain America: The Winter Soldier. But the positive fan experience of that moment seemed to be a detrimental experience to the creatives behind the products. S.H.I.E.L.D. felt mis-paced for much of its first season but we now know that is because the show was merely treading water until the big crossover reveal. The second season’s helicarrier crossover idea with Age of Ultron is still awkward to this day.

The Netflix shows didn’t fare much better. Despite the Sokovia Accords rocking the superhero world to its core in films, Jessica Jones and Luke Cage are out and about in the streets showing off their powers with no concern about the police arresting them for their power usage. Fans have bent over backwards to try to explain the inconsistency away. Maybe it was about the geography or power level of the characters. Maybe you could squeeze the time frames so all the shows happened pre-Ultron. While one can understand the efforts lovers of these shows went into keeping them in canon, it is hard not to see that the producers of the shows (and definitely the producers of the films) just didn’t care as much.

The most egregious example would be the utter nonsense surrounding Thanos, the snap, and Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. The season 5 finale is clearly placed during the invasion of Wakanda and season 6 is clearly in a non-snapped world. This says nothing of the fact that the time travel rules of Endgame and Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. are in almost complete disagreement. As S.H.I.E.L.D. continued the continuity just frayed to the point of no longer being salvageable.

Dropping the shows from continuity also allows some characters who were poorly done on TV to be reclaimed in the films. The Inhumans are too important to the history of Marvel to allow the utterly disastrous ABC show to be considered the MCU version of Black Bolt and Medusa. Iron Fist fans also deserve a better version of their favorite hero. This isn’t true for every version of every TV character, but Marvel Studios can choose to rehire actors who did work like Charlie Cox, Vincent D’onofrio, or Olivia Holt.

If Marvel Studios would adopt these three practices from Lucasfilm it would improve the already strong MCU. More characters, depth, and breadth would be available to the universe. That increased potential would be kept within logical canon guidelines. And the TV shows which just do not fit into the larger narrative of the show would be freed from those expectations to be enjoyed for what they are.

June 9, 2020