As we get closer to the release of Ironheart, which is supposedly going to close out Phase 5, it feels like it's time to say a few things about Marvel TV.
Look. The slow but steady decline of the MCU, at least to me, starts with Marvel TV. When it works, it’s amazing. But when it doesn’t? Total slog.
Part of the fun of the earlier entries in the MCU was their rewatchability. Rewatching everything in timeline order or release order used to be a good time. But once you hit Phase 4, things really start to drag - there are, after all, 18 titles in it. Phase 5 hasn’t exactly picked things up, either. And I have to be honest, my excitement level for Ironheart is even lower than it was for Ms. Marvel, and that’s saying something.
Now don’t get me wrong—Iman Vellani is a delight. She completely owns that character. Even though Kamala Khan’s family drives me nuts half the time, they’re still charming as hell at times (but that Daredevil scene with Kamala's father was absurd). And I appreciated getting a peek into a culture I’m not familiar with. But I didn’t need six hours of Kamala. I love Thor, but I don’t want six hours of him either.
People keep saying Marvel TV is basically comics in TV form—episodic, serialized. And yeah, in theory, I should be all about that considering how much I love comics. But the difference is, with comics, you get to skip the titles you’re not into. I’m not reading every title; if I did, I’d go bankrupt. And sure, nobody’s forcing me to watch every MCU show, but come on—yes, they are. That’s literally the whole point. The connectivity is the appeal.
Part of the burnout is because we don’t have a clear goal anymore. We’re “headed toward” a multiverse war, obviously. But the storytelling hasn’t sold it; the needle isn't being threaded enough. The pivot from Kang the Conqueror as the franchise's new main villain hasn't helped either.
But maybe the biggest issue is that it doesn’t feel like anyone’s asking why something should be a show instead of a movie. Or even a special, like Werewolf by Night. And for the record—Werewolf by Night and The Guardians Holiday Special? Chef’s kiss. Short, fun, tight, rewatchable.
The first of the Disney Plus shows, WandaVision actually felt like a TV show and it kinda earned it given the theme and popularity of the central character. Hawkeye could have been a movie, but it was enjoyable as a show anyway (honestly, Jeremy Renner deserved a solo film). Daredevil: Born Again works as a show because the character started his journey with a TV show, and that format fits him; however, there's a lot of fat and Cox also deserves a movie. Loki, for as great as it was, has more filler than it should, and that honestly could’ve been a two-hour movie.
Speaking of great shows, Echo was fantastic, but again, did it need to be five episodes? The Falcon and The Winter Soldier? Great, but it should have been a movie. The same could be said for Moon Knight and She-Hulk: Attorney at Law. Agatha All Along, as well-received as the show was, should have been an hour-long Halloween Special Presentation. Meanwhile, Secret Invasion was supposed to be huge, and it had so much potential as a TV show, but it was poorly executed. And we’ve already talked about Ms. Marvel.
I Am Groot is cute as a fun companion miniseries, but as a part of the MCU? It doesn’t belong because it doesn't push the needle. The only one that really makes sense as a show is What If…? as it has uniquely designed standalone episodes that each promise something different; there's no other format that the show could have been.
Honestly, one Marvel property that could've truly benefited from being a TV show was Eternals. Rather than shoehorn all this backstory and characters into a 2-3 hour film, they could've told a different tale of the titular characters throughout history and featured a different Eternal each week. How much fun you could've had highlighting Marvel from a historical perspective.
Marvel says they’re listening—“less is more, we hear you”—but are they? Look at what’s coming: Eyes of Wakanda, Marvel Zombies, Wonder Man, Daredevil: Born Again Season 2, Vision Quest. Honestly? That’s not the worst list. Vision Quest could work. Zombies is kind of off to the side, so it's missable. Eyes of Wakanda could be fun—like an anthology with different characters each episode? Yes please. But Wonder Man? I don’t know, man. Haven’t we hit the point where you should earn a six-hour spotlight? Wanda, Falcon, Hawkeye —they earned their time. Wonder Man hasn’t. Neither did Moon Knight, She-Hulk, or Echo. Most of these shows do not need several hours to tell their story, nor have they earned the fan adoration to have been given that much time to tell their story.
Episodic TV can work. It’s just gotta do something you can’t do in a movie. Like long arcs, slow-burn stories, and ensembles. Breaking Bad wouldn’t hit the same as a movie. The X-Files, either.
As for Ironheart? I’ve got no connection. I read her in Champions, but that’s about it. I just don’t care. And maybe that’s fine. Maybe I’m not the audience. But if you want me to care, tie it to the bigger picture. That Ms. Marvel tag at the end of The Marvels, where she’s recruiting Kate Bishop? Cool. So where’s that going? Clearly we're leading to a Young Avengers show, but we’re like 5 years and 900 hours in—it’s time to connect the damn dots. Is Young Avengers happening? Feige announced an Avengers movie after five movies, why are we 33 titles in and it still hasn't been announced? I've always loved the slow burn of Marvel, but this is too slow, especially with so many plot points left in the ether or just abandoned.
I complain because I care. I want these to be good, and I want the excitement for Marvel to continue. For once, we nerds and geeks are into the cool thing, and we've got others into the thing we love, but we're losing those people now. If you stop aiming for quality, if you keep giving people the bare minimum, they’ll just move on (as people have been, with their complaints of 'superhero fatigue').
What's happening right now is not all that dissimilar to what was happening in the 90s, after the hyper popularity of the books in the early 90s, from top-tier creators making amazing work, Marvel took that popularity as, "let's give them more." But rather what they did was make more and not make more AND make them better, then the bubble burst, and they went bankrupt. Marvel is contributing to its own downfall by making too much without the quality to back it up.