Category: Features

How the MCU Is Using the Multiverse To Explore Themes

The multiverse is an unwieldy storytelling device with potential positive and negative impacts. For example, meeting alternate variations of favorite characters has the potential to undermine earlier stories. However, it could also potentially provide emotional flourish to stories that haven’t been possible previously. Some fans of the Marvel Cinematic Universe’s consistency are concerned about how the multiverse could fray the cohesion of the MCU. The multiversal elements of Loki and What If…? have shown us hints of how the multiverse stories we might be seeing in Spider-Man: No Way Home and Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness can be kept tight and concise.

Loki’s head writer Michael Waldron and director Kate Herron have both spoken in multiple interviews about the themes of their series. Loki spends much of the season up against the bureaucratic order of the TVA. He also finds himself grappling with his identity in the face of Loki variants from alternative universes. Order versus chaos. Self versus selves. The structure of these debates brought up in the show also show another theme Waldron and Herron have spoken about, in the gray space between villainy and heroism. It’s clear that these themes are present even without confirmation from interviews because of how tightly woven into the narrative action they are.

On the surface, an anthology show like What If…? shouldn’t necessarily have a narrative or thematic coherence between episodes. Yet we have seen enough to know we are getting a conclusion to some of the previous episodes in the finale. In this context, should there be a thematic reverberation between the heroes of each episode? It’s not easy to point one out. Loki’s themes are much tighter as almost every scene has a thematic resonance. An anthology show doesn’t need coherent themes but where there is a continuing story, What If…? is perhaps missing something thematic to bring the season together.

So perhaps if Spider-Man: No Way Home can use the multiverse to weave themes tightly, it can produce an impactful story regardless of multiversal incursions. Much of the trailer is connected to Spidey’s identity as Peter Parker. The public release of that information and Peter’s going to Doctor Strange to have it erased from public consciousness. It’s clear that they “tampered with the stability of [the] space-time” continuum when performing the spell. The full impact remains to be seen but it is easy to see how themes of identity, responsibility, and fate can be tied to this spell gone wrong and possible multiversal variants. It remains to be seen how tightly woven those themes might be into the story.

So can we spot the themes for Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness as clearly and easily? Given Wanda Maximoff was last seen studying The Darkhold, also known as The Book of the Damned, it stands that she might face some corrupting forces. To some extent, this is a theme that can be extended from Doctor Strange as Kaecilius became corrupted by Dormammu. Corruption, alongside the fraying of the multiverse which Strange admits he knows “frighteningly little” in the No Way Home trailer, can also point in the direction of balance as a theme. How will Strange weigh up the dilemmas of the incursive multiverse? In a meta-sense, if the film can get that thematic balance right, then the rumoured cameos won’t seem as uncoordinated as some fans fear they might be.

Parenthood and family are themes that Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania could manifest. With Kathryn Newton taking on the role as Cassie Lang it seems as though she might play more of a role with the heroes, with Scott, Hope, Janet, and Hank having to figure out parental decisions related to that. It’s not immediately obvious how Jonathan Majors’ Kang will connect to that, though being a citizen of the future, it’s possible an ancestor of his might be involved in the story. How they will connect the multiversal elements to the existing Ant-Man themes will be the test for how tight of a story we’ll be getting.

Beyond the second seasons of Loki and What If…? there are no major clues about what other Marvel Studios projects the multiverse incur upon. It will be interesting to see whether Loki can keep up its thematic resonance during its sophomore season. Similarly What If…? could either fully embrace the anthology format or increase the thematic and narrative continuity between the episodes. The multiverse certainly won’t be vanishing so other characters like Doctor Strange, Wanda Maximoff, and Ant-Man might still have to contend with it. Wherever it does emerge though, using the multiverse concisely and closely connected to the themes of the project seems like it will be a successful approach.

Sources: ETOnline, Grazia.

October 4, 2021
Breaking Down the Venom 2 Post-Credits Scene

In an odd move for any film, in the weeks leading up to the release of Venom: Let There Be Carnage, Sony put a lot of effort into marketing the movie’s post-credits scene specifically. Marvel movies are, of course, no strangers to including exciting material throughout a film’s credits, but generally, the movie itself is what studios advertise. While it may have been one of the worst-kept secrets around, the post-credits scene does have major implications for future Marvel projects. This article goes into detail on the Venom 2 post-credits scene (technically, it’s a mid-credits scene) and why it caused such a stir. As should be obvious, there are MAJOR SPOILERS below.

***SPOILER WARNING!***

After the events of Let There Be Carnage, Eddie and Venom are lying low and hiding out in some hotel room watching a soap opera. This leads Eddie to ask Venom if he’s been hiding stuff from him. Venom gets a bit ominous and suggests if he told him everything, it would blow his mind. “80 billion years of hive knowledge, across universes, would explode your tiny little brain.” He then offers to give Eddie a taste of “the smallest fraction of things” symbiotes have experienced.

Just as Venom starts to do this, something that can be best described as an almost earthquake-like happens. A bright light shines into the room and the entire place seems to phase in and out and alter itself in a dramatic, jarring fashion. Once it stops, the two are in a similar but differently-colored hotel room and with all new furniture. A man then steps out of the bathroom and asks Eddie why he’s in the man’s hotel room.

We see that both Venom and Eddie are completely confused. Venom then tells Eddie that “it wasn’t me.” The next part is where people go crazy. J.K. Simmons’ J. Jonah Jameson, last seen in Spider-Man: Far From Home, reporting from his Daily Bugle show on the TV. It’s the same information we heard him give us before–Spider-Man is a murderer named Peter Parker. It’s not just any Peter Parker, though, and Tom Holland’s maskless Spider-Man is shown on screen. Venom gets close to the screen, says “this guy…,” and then licks the screen.

There’s obviously a lot that can be read into this scene. It creates countless questions with essentially no answers. What we do know, most likely, is that Eddie and Venom apparently found their way into the Marvel Cinematic Universe. While the MCU opened its own multiverse with Loki’s finale and is exploring it more in What If… ?, this is the first time that any Sony-owned character — that didn’t debut in the MCU itself alongside Holland’s Spider-Man — has been confirmed to exist within the MCU.

It’s also the first official live-action multiverse “jump” of the MCU, if that is indeed what happened. It certainly raises a lot of questions over the mechanics of multiversal travel considering how random, unintentional and yet relatively smooth it seemed. With Spider-Man: No Way Home and Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness on the horizon, it will be interesting to see how this squares with depictions of the multiverse in those films.

Marvel Studios and Sony deciding to, at least in part, cohabitate in the same universe may have a huge impact on the MCU going forward. If the door is open, Sony could bring more of its Spider-Man properties in–including Jared Leto’s Morbius, Aaron Taylor-Johnson’s Kraven the Hunter, and Olivia Wilde’s Spider-Woman project. The Morbius teaser trailer that dropped in January 2020 include details suggesting it could potentially have tie-ins to the MCU.

But will we see Venom again in the MCU anytime soon? Venom: Let There Be Carnage director Andy Serkis thinks so. He recently said that Venom and Spider-Man would “of course” meet at some point. But he also hinted it might not be as soon as the post-credits scene would suggest:

Look, it depends when you want to get there, and also, what the appetite is. If people want more Venom stories, then, to jump straight to Spider-Man, you could be missing out on so many great supervillain characters in between now and then. So, in a way, by rushing to it, you might be closing the door.
Andy Serkis

The Venom 2 post-credits definitely sent fans into a spiral of excitement and speculation. It seems clear that Sony and Marvel Studios have the intention to play nice together in the near future. This, of course, is a big win for both studios. The Marvel Cinematic Multiverse gets to be a bit more comprehensive, and Spidey fans get to see his world expand. As to the potential, and likely, Venom and Spider-Man meet-and-greet, though, people might need to be a little patient.

Source: GQ

October 4, 2021
Murphy’s Team-Up: ‘What If…?’ Finale Wish List

Murphy’s Team-Up brings the team together every Sunday to give their hot takes on a hot topic. This week: the finale of Marvel Studios first animated series, What If…?. Take a look at what the members of the team hope to see in the finale.

Anthony Canton III

I want to see what actually defeats this Ultron. In a lot of these scenarios normally you can appeal to the villains humanity but that doesn’t apply here. As far as the Watcher, what will be the price of his interference and the additional interference? I want to see that story be told. Finally, will Supreme Strange have a connection to Multiverse of Madness? He’s seemed like the most important character in these stories.

Charles Murphy

At this point I’m eager for the series to come to an end. I haven’t loved too many episodes and I feel like in most episodes they’ve made some really weak choices with how they’ve dealt with what could be a really freeing premise. So for me, I’m hoping that as the first season of the series comes to an end, we see some of the heroes step through a portal and morph into the live-action versions of their characters that we are rumored to see in upcoming films. I’m also hoping that once this is over, we get our first trailer for Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness.

Mary Maerz

I would like to see Ultron upgrade himself one final time, and that upgrade just so happens to be voiced by James Spader. The series did very well with dark themes and stories without happy endings—so I’m rooting for Ultron. I’d love to watch him take down the array of multiverse Avengers/Guardians we’ll get and be established as an ongoing and genuine threat for the series and maybe even the MCU at large. I would also be a bit disappointed if we didn’t get some sort of tease of how What If… ? can or will connect to the Sacred Timeline.

Nathan Miller

I hope to see some thematic cohesion between the characters brought together in the What If…? finale. The somewhat abrupt ends of some episodes alongside an unresolved confrontation from What If… Ultron Won? suggest The Watcher will bring together a team to resolve those loose ends. When the Avengers came together they were all lost despite being powerful enough to be Earth’s mightiest heroes. They each found some sort of purpose they had been individually lacking in becoming a team. Whatever team might form in the finale of What If…? does seem like it has a couple of members that are lost like Captain Carter and Supreme Strange. Potential members T’Challa Star Lord, Party Thor and Killmonger each seem content in their universes so it will be interesting to see what the thematic thread between them is that pushes them to join a multiversal team.

Hunter Radesi

If there’s one thing Marvel’s What If…? is lacking, it’s long term consequence. The show has thus far utilized immediate, dramatic effect to highlight it’s differences in universes, but this takes away from the subtle charm that always drew people to the comics. There, a story would often start with an obvious change and end with some unexpected butterfly effect far down the Marvel timeline. If the finale of the show’s first season finds time to revisit any of the worlds it set up in prior episodes, it would do well to show the audience how the likes of Captain Carter’s existence ended up changing the modern MCU time period as well.

Dalbin Osorio

For me, I want to see what comes out of the finale. During Endgame, time-travel was explained to us, but it wasn’t until Loki that we found out that this was just how the Avengers understood time-travel. In Loki, we figured “ok, this is the accepted framework for time.” What If has played in that sandbox, with variants and what have you, but there’s still a little bit that is unclear. Namely, is the Watcher pulling all the Guardians from different universes, or do some of these stories overlap? If so, what does that mean for the overarching MCU story that’s going on right now? I hope What If…? begins to clarify the rules because time is a confusing plot device as is, but it can cave on to itself if it isn’t explained correctly. I expect What If…? to do just that.

John Sabato

I hope to see the finale episode of What If…? really set the stage for what’s to come. The series has yet to really wow me and I hope they can do that here. I think I’m mostly looking forward to to seeing what could be Chadwick Boseman’s final performance.

The finale of Marvel Studios What If…? streams this Wednesday on Disney Plus.

October 3, 2021
Charles V’s OMNIBUS #1

I’ve been a comic book reader for as long as I can remember. Given how my dad was a former collector, there’s a good chance I read through a comic before even getting my hands on a coloring book. And I’m still at it reading comics on a daily basis to this day.

I figured that, with the dozens of titles I read in a year, it might be productive to share my thoughts on them in this new series I’m trying called OMNIBUS. I read a lot of bad comics as much as I read good ones so not all the books you’ll see in this series will be recommendations. Think of this as a comic book diary.

MAGNETO

Remember that scene in X-Men: First Class where Magneto visits some Nazis chilling in a bar and gleefully murders them? That’s pretty much the selling point for this Magneto solo run.

Cullen Bunn and Gabriel Walta’s take on the Master of Magnetism is relatively simple yet so precise. A no-frills John Wick-esque revenge tale of Magneto hunting down people who have wronged mutantkind. There are elements of a forensic procedural to it as the story cuts between Magneto’s bloody road of vengeance with the S.H.I.E.L.D. officers hunting him down.

The premise gets muddled halfway when the then-event Axis ties in but Bunn still manages to stay true to the core of Magneto’s pursuit of ending bigotry against mutantkind no matter the cost. If you’re itching to see a relatively standalone arc starring one of Marvel’s greatest villains, this is the book.

GRASS KINGS

A sheriff’s wife vanishes without a trace. With no leads in sight, he places his suspicion on a community of squatters settling in a nearby unclaimed piece of land called the Grass Kingdom, with whom also the sheriff is feuding. That particular piece of land has had its own fair share of troubles, dating back to the pre-colonial days when Native American tribes inhabited the land. In the not-so-distant past, a notorious serial killer may have once lived in the Kingdom too. As the mystery of the missing wife unravels, the Grass Kingdom is forced to look into its own past and come to terms with its secrets.

Grass Kings is a part murder mystery, part character drama, and part history lesson written by Matt Kindt, one of the most underrated creators in the business, and drawn by artist Tyler Jenkins. It’s an old-fashioned tale of betrayal and grief, told through Jenkins’ beautifully rustic watercolor drawings and Kindt’s reflective writing. Its characters are a diverse lot and the Grass Kingdom itself feels lived in. It’s a surprise this hasn’t been made into a show yet because it has the makings of a great small-town drama.

SPIDER-WOMAN

Jessica Drew can’t catch a break. After remaining in comic book obscurity from the late 80s onwards, the character eventually experienced a renaissance in the 2000s when Brian Michael Bendis made her one of the lead Avengers of that era. There was one catch though: the Jessica Drew of this New Avengers era was a Skrull and had been for quite some time. This Skrull impersonating Drew was, in fact, the Skrull queen Veranke and had orchestrated a decade-long secret invasion of Earth.

That brings us to the Spider-Woman solo series by Bendis and Alex Maleev, which tackles the aftermath of the Skrull invasion from the real Jessica Drew’s perspective. The miniseries is a spy thriller that has Jessica Drew dealing with the world’s worst hangover. What do you do when you wake up missing four years of life and find out that someone took over the world in your identity? You hunt the remaining people involved in it.

The comic isn’t remarkable by any means; it starts off great but eventually goes nowhere interesting. Part of me has a hunch that the upcoming Secret Invasion show will have a similar tone to this comic. You won’t miss out on anything if you don’t ever read this.

MISTER MIRACLE

Tom King furthered his penchant for turning superhero stories into existential domestic crises with the wonderfully manic Mister Miracle miniseries for DC in 2018. In essence a companion piece to his thematic Marvel counterpart Vision, Mister Miracle is a deeply complex examination of what it’s like to be a son of Darkseid and all the craziness that comes with being a New God.

The complexities of being a son of Darkseid are examined through the homelife of Mister Miracle, as he lives his day-to-day with his loving wife Big Barda. The story’s vantage jumps from their home to Mister Miracle’s professional life as an escape artist to their duties fighting a war against Apokolips for New Genesis.

As someone who has never read a comic featuring these characters before, what blows me away is how Tom King and collaborator Mitch Gerads managed to draw me in through the banality of it all. The comic isn’t afraid of exploring the silliness of Mister Miracle calling Big Barda to talk about babysitting in the middle of a war or debating whether the Female Furies would make good party guests the same way it is bold enough to examine heavy themes of suicide and trauma.

These characters have always been intimidating to my non-DC fan self so see them in this new light is refreshing.

BLACK ROAD

You can never go wrong with a good Viking story and Black Road is exactly just that. Somewhat of a spiritual spinoff from Vertigo’s pseudo-historic epic Northlanders, Black Road chronicles the road of vengeance a Pagan warrior named Magnus the Black takes after witnessing a helpless Catholic priest get killed by his kind. Throughout his journey, Magnus reflects on the harsh realities Scandinavia is faced as the Christians forcefully take over all that he has known.

The comic is absolutely brutal in all regards. It doesn’t mince words in its criticism of Christianity as much as it doesn’t hold back with gore. But even in the face of all that darkness, the book has some really empowering things to say about faith and life.

October 3, 2021
Venom & Eddie: A Match Made In Heaven

“You call it madness, I call it love.”

In Venom: Let There Be Carnage the examination of Eddie Brock’s relationship with the symbiote is fascinating. In all loving relationships, there’s a level of give and take that exists naturally. With these two, though, the give and take is tested in a way that exemplifies the meaning of love.

As the film goes along eventually there’s resentment between both Eddie and his alien paramour. Venom feels like it has made Eddie a better journalist and it wants a say in how things get done. (The super strength and healing powers don’t hurt either, of course.) Eddie wants the symbiote to chill out and not eat people’s heads, but instead stick to the chickens. It’s almost like leaving the toilet seat up. Nonetheless, that relationship does reach a crossroads when the two separate.

Sometimes distance creates perspective. Both parties got to see what it was like without the other. Eddie had a harder time figuring out Cletus Kasady’s story, and the symbiote couldn’t bond with just anyone. Even if they bicker like an old married couple, the two need each other. They’re at least smart enough to recognize that fact and eventually overcome their own issues and Carnage.

The biggest thing that the two of them learn is the classic relationship story of compromise. Working together and making the situation not only more tenable but meaningful in reality. These two iconic characters are in it for the long haul. As Venom’s story continues, the lethal protector has to be more together than ever. Whether it’s another Symbiote, or a certain wall-crawler Venom and Eddie will sink or swim together.

As the saying goes, “We can only learn to love by loving.” This relationship is truly a romance. Eddie Brock and the symbiote are a complete package, and with that comes a world of endless possibilities.

Venom: Let There be Carnage, starring Tom Hardy, is exclusively in theaters now.

October 3, 2021
Marvel Studios ‘Echo’ Simply Cannot Be ‘Daredevil’ Season 4

Daredevil is trending following a rumor that the Marvel Studios Disney Plus streaming series Echo will see much of the cast of Netflix’s Daredevil return and “serve as sort of Daredevil Season 4.” While there’s been some clarification about exactly what the rumored returns would entail, the series is still rumored to heavily feature those characters. That’s a big problem for Disney and Marvel Studios, should they chose to do it.

Charlie Cox is set to suit up as Matt Murdock in Spider-Man: No Way Home and rumored to suit up as Daredevil in She-Hulk. Vincent D’Onofrio is rumored to be returning as a beefed up Kingpin in Hawkeye. These are great actors whose portrayals of their respective characters were so beloved by fans that they became synonymous enough with the roles to survive and make the jump to the MCU’s Sacred Timeline. Both of these characters have rich comic book histories with Maya Lopez, aka Echo, and should rightly be a part of her story. However, giving one or both of them the spotlight in Echo while also using it as an opportunity to bring some of the rest of the Netflix cast to the MCU would only serve to undo some of the great strides Marvel Studios has made in their efforts to make the recent entries into their cinematic universe more representative of the real world.

All signs point to newcomer Alaqua Cox having made quite an impression in her role as Lopez in Hawkeye. Cox came in and stood out in a series with returning MCU star Jeremy Renner and multitalented megastar Hailee Steinfeld; stood out so well, in fact, that they made the decision early on to spin her off into her own series. And that series stands to be nothing short of groundbreaking…but not if they decide to go the rumored route detailed above. Echo will feature Cox, a deaf, female, Native American amputee in the lead. The writers’ room is expected to include Native American staff, potentially including Bobby Wilson, who has worked on Reservation Dogs and Rutherford Falls. These moves by Marvel Studios are truly unprecedented in the superhero/CBM genre. Making Echo the answer to #SaveDaredevil’s prayers would undo all the good will and great strides they’re making.

With Cox and D’Onofrio reprising their roles, the rest of the “main cast” of Daredevil is comprised of mostly white actors and actresses who, in comparison to Cox and D’Onofrio, just didn’t bring the same sort of unforgettable gravitas to their roles. But to be completely honest and fair, the talent of those actors isn’t really the issue. Surrounding Alaqua Cox, in her own series, by a primarily white cast who don’t look like her would be nothing short of insulting and undermine having made her the star to begin with. Making Murdock and Fisk big parts of the series would steal the spotlight from Maya Lopez’s story. Marvel Studios has the chance to do something special with Echo and making it Daredevil Season 4 is simply not it. Nobody is going to say no to a Marvel Studios Daredevil series, but let that be its own entity. Failing to give Echo the spotlight in her own series would be a giant leap in the wrong direction.

October 2, 2021
Marvel Studios: Viewing Orders

With over two dozen projects comprising the Marvel Cinematic Universe, it’s sometimes easy to lose track of the order through which audiences should experience them. It is, of course, something pretty fluid as personal preferences might have some skipping a couple of projects in favor of their favorite ones. All in all, there are two general viewing orders that contain the entirety of the MCU. A Release Order, which respects the order in which projects were made available through the years, and a Chronological Order, which takes into account when each project’s plot takes place.

Personally speaking, the Release Order should be followed when watching all MCU projects for the first time, with the Chronological Order being something to use on rewatches. This is mostly due to the fact that major plot points would be spoiled if not watching the entirety of the franchise as it was released, similar to the way audiences watching Star Wars for the first time would be spoiled The Empire Strikes Back‘s major plot twist by having previously watched the prequel trilogy.

CHARACTER VIEWING ORDERS

When it comes to following specific characters, we got together individual viewing orders with their appearances through the years. These can be as a central character to the plot or as blink-and-you-miss type cameos, many on mid or post-credit scenes. Keep in mind this is a work in progress, as new characters will keep being added.

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September 29, 2021
Taking a Closer Look at ‘Squid Games’ Manga Inspirations

Netflix may have found its next big hit, as the South Korean drama known as Squid Game introduces us to a rather dark and twisted look at classic children’s games. Whoever wins six games will garner the massive cash price to pay off their debt. Yet, it makes you question how much worth your life truly has in such a dark and twisted game. Its unique visuals and dark twist on childhood games put it on the map. As it’s Netflix’s new rising star, it’s the perfect time to explore the stories that inspired it.

The script by Hwang Dong-hyu was first written back in 2008 before he scrapped it for some time. He shared that he was inspired by the mangas Liar Game by Shinobu Kaitani, and Nobuyuki Fukumoto‘s Gambling Apocalypse: Kaiji (Tobaku Mokushiroku Kaiji). They center around a similar storyline where unsuspecting people are brought into dangerous games to pay their debts. The former even got a South Korean TV series back in 2014. Kaiji was so popular it expanded into five additional series that offers a dark glimpse into the world of gambling.

While the name and games are inspired by the Korean children’s game by the same name, there was some controversy due to the similarity to one rather specific manga by Muneyuki Kaneshiro titled As the Gods Will (Kami-sama no Iu Tōri). In this series, high schools are suddenly infiltrated by Daruma dolls that force students to play the game. If they fail to stay by the rules, they end up dying. The worst part, it isn’t just one game. In 2014, it was adapted into a live-action film, which has been brought up in comparison by critics.

Yes, the concept of a children’s game leading to death is quite similar but the basis is different. As the Gods Will doesn’t give its players anything to win, they are simply unwilling pawns in a game of death. In reality, all these series have one shared origin in the Japanese novel Battle Royale by author Koushin Takami. It explores a fictional world where high schoolers are forced to kill each other on an island for the amusement of a fascist government. It famously got adapted into a film in 2000 that inspired many similar stories. Dong-hyu‘s tale of desperation isn’t a new concept but builds upon almost two decades of storytelling while adding a unique twist on the concept.

Source: Chosun, Insight

September 29, 2021
How ‘What If… ?’ Season 2 Can Fix the Series’ Biggest Flaw

With What If… ?’s season finale just around the corner, it’s a good time to look at the future of the series and where it can go from here. While the show has certainly given us what it promised – and arguably even more in cases like the Doctor Strange episode and the recent penultimate Ultron episode – but What If… ? hasn’t always stuck the landing. A leading cause for this is the restraints the series has received, whether by design or for practical reasons. Breaking free of these would take What If… ?‘s second season to another level.

What If… ? is a unique venture for Marvel Studios, so it certainly comes across at times as though the writers and producers were testing the waters rather than jumping straight into its full potential. Part of why they may have felt so restricted is the uncertainty around the debut of their first animated series that’s also their first exploration of the multiverse, and, on top of all of it, being canon to the rest of the MCU.

The creators likely did not have the full green light to go wild with the series from the start, as that arguably could have lost too many casual viewers. Those fans who are not particularly invested or knowledgeable in every facet of the universe could have felt lost or left out fairly easily. By easing us into familiar stories and using them as strong baselines for virtually every episode, it’s more accessible.

But these restraints can make it feel stale, too familiar, and not the greatest use of what the What If… ? concept has to offer. As always, “there was an idea” to explore universes beyond our own and expose us to theoretically unlimited situations. Situations that could not only provide meaningful additions to the MCU. Not just that, but also entertain viewers with new ways that characters and stories could be used to show off Marvel’s painstakingly-grown universe and honestly throw out some fan fiction-type bait. Hopefully, the series can grow into a much more complex set of storylines and themes apart from what can come across to some with Season 1 as sort of the bare minimum. There are obvious ways that What If… ?’s Season 2 can grow and evolve from the series’ debut.

The creators should move on from testing the waters and dive right into the deep end. With the multiverse at play, there is literally nothing stopping writers from going wherever they want. It doesn’t matter if it’s recognizable or entirely new. They can do away with their reliance on existing MCU movies as starting points, and simply start stories from scratch. Being able to tell stories beyond an audience’s wildest dreams is precisely the power the series can wield, particularly given its canonicity. It absolutely can be a franchise of its strength, but it needs to own it and strut it.

Season 1 held viewers’ hands through the concept and lightly introduced everyone to arguably one of Marvel Studios’ most ambitious and risky entries to date. We respect and thank you for that, What If… ? but even some of the more beginner viewers already now have a strong taste for what the series is giving them and what the series could be giving them. We’re ready to take off the training wheels and take a much more exhilarating ride with the series.

Lastly, What If… ? can distance itself from some of its technical or practical constraints and crutches. While this certainly falls into the categories above, it’s worth a mention. For starters, the half-hour runtime truly crams what essentially is a remix of two-hour films into thirty minutes. The episodes can undoubtedly feel rushed, and there can be wasted opportunities to dive into some interesting aspects in each universe that are often alluded to or just plain curious. The T’Challa Star-Lord episode benefited the most from being completely disconnected from any existing property outside of its initial pitch.

Moreover, it is unclear how important having the original live-action voices are to the making of the show. While it certainly helped with the training wheels, it arguably sacrifices the quality of the storylines and sub-plots when certain characters seem to be reintroduced in ways that don’t make the most sense within the context they are added to. Yet, there’s undoubtedly a “cool” aspect to bringing back well-known and even minor characters with the original actors in an animated adaptation. To be fair, it also adds to the series’ current overall practice of mixing and matching familiar elements into new(ish) stories. Still, breaking free from any dependence or preference on that to put the focus entirely on the stories themselves could prove valuable.

What If… ? has delivered a solid series thus far. While plenty of the episodes suffer from some of the restraints noted above, there were undoubtedly standout episodes that hinted at the series’ future ability and intention to go bigger and bolder. If Season 2, off the heels of what looks to be a promising Season 1 finale, can look to the vast open space of the multiverse and its endless possibilities as the future, while looking at its reliance on the pre-existing MCU as the past, the future of What If… ? could be breathtaking, wild, weird, and a blast.

September 29, 2021
We Got an Early Look at Disney’s ‘ENCANTO’

Walt Disney Animation Studio may be on its 97th year and 60th film but there seem to be no signs of it slowing down. Its 60th outing, Encanto, comes out later this year and we at Murphy’s Multiverse got to see 30-minutes of footage from the film. What we saw wasn’t long but was enough to convince us that this movie is worth anticipating.

As the setup for the movie goes, The Madrigals are a family that’s been blessed by an Encanto, bestowing their line with powers unique to each family member. The family lives in a fantastical home and uses their abilities to keep their town prosperous. However, a mysterious dark force seems to be after the Madrigals, putting their house and powers in jeopardy. It all falls on Mirabel, the one family member without powers, to solve this sinister mystery haunting her family.

In the press junket for Encanto, co-director Charise Castro Smith talked about how each power a Madrigal family member has corresponded to family dynamics we’re all familiar with.

It’s special in a way that is a nod to family dynamics that we can all relate to. So there’s a strong, dependable child who’s the rock of the family. There’s the perfect golden child whose happiness blossoms. There’s a quiet kid who’s not so comfortable talking to people, so he talks to animals. And there’s the worrywart who can see the future, but only sees the bad things. So as we thought about that, we had a big breakthrough, because we realized that the family’s house didn’t have to be just a house, because in an Encanto the house itself could have powers too.

On the foreground of Encanto is a very Nancy Drew-esque tone that draws you in. The beats of Mirabel trying to piece together information about the family’s past and her investigations within the fantastical realms in their house evoke that of a young adult detective story, with the film’s fantastical titular subject matter serving as the background. The curious nature of Mirabel, on top of her status as the normie in the family, already makes her the quintessential underdog detective. Director Jared Bush had this to say about her:

Mirabel really carries this story. It is about her,and she goes on this journey. She’s funny and human and empathetic, deeply emotional and quirky, and I think literally unlike anything we’ve ever put on screen before. And Stephanie [Beatriz] not only nailed all of that, she brought her own personality to the character, ad libbed a ton of lines, and really elevated both this character and our movie considerably.

The Madrigal family home is a character in and of itself, in many ways serving as the crux of the family’s identity. Director Byron Howard spoke about the importance of the family’s mystical place of refuge not only as a storytelling device but also as a thematic anchor.

So we played with the idea of the physical as a literal representation of the family and their emotional connections. If the family’s happy, the house is healthy. If the family’s being playful, the house may be playful. But if the family is going through struggles, the house cracks Byron Howard

To respectfully remain true and genuine towards the cultural material they’re adapting, the Columbian Cultural Trust was formed. Composed of experts in Columbian music, anthropology, culture, architecture, and botany, this group was crucial in the development of Encanto. According to Jared Bush:

They’ve been part of the film, literally since the beginning, probably even before the beginning, reviewing early scripts, participating in every screening, and meeting with us weekly. That’s a lot of meetings to help ensure that the creation design look and feel of our world is on point. We are enormously indebted to them and all of the experts who formed our Columbian Cultural Trust.

Walt Disney Animation president Clark Spencer praised the work of directors Jared Bush and Byron Howard, who helmed the hit Zootopia a few years back, and their newfound collaborative partner Charise Castro Smith during the junket, saying:

One of the things I love so much, Byron and Jared, and then when Charise joined, was this creative world that the audience is going to fall in love with. And we had so many of those components. During my nearly 20 years of producing, I never had the chance to produce a Disney musical. So when the opportunity presented itself to work with Byron Howard, Jared Bush, and Lin-Manuel Miranda on Encanto, I jumped at the chance. And while it might seem crazy to run a studio and to continue to produce a film at the same time, I just couldn’t step away from a project I loved so deeply.

September 29, 2021