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10 things Marvel needs to do to save the MCU

The Marvel Cinematic Universe is at a crossroads, but it isn't beyond saving. Here is how Marvel Studios can turn things around.

By Michael Patterson

Tom Hiddleston as Loki in Marvel Studios' LOKI, Season 2, exclusively on Disney+. Photo courtesy of Marvel Studios. © 2023 MARVEL.
Tom Hiddleston as Loki in Marvel Studios' LOKI, Season 2, exclusively on Disney+. Photo courtesy of Marvel Studios. © 2023 MARVEL. / o
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DOCTOR STANGE IN THE MULTIVERSE OF MADNESS, Marvel
Elizabeth Olsen as Wanda Maximoff in Marvel Studios' DOCTOR STRANGE IN THE MULTIVERSE OF MADNESS. Photo courtesy of Marvel Studios. ©Marvel Studios 2022. All Rights Reserved. /

9. Make the Multiverse Saga feel less directionless

We couldn't have been more excited about the Multiverse Saga when it kicked off with WandaVision. Of course we didn't know at the time that it was actually going to be the Multiverse Saga, but it didn't take long until we saw the threads of the story they were telling. And it looked like those threads would involve characters like Shang-Chi, Wanda Maximoff, the Eternals, and Loki at the forefront.

Fast forward just three years and that multiversal direction seems, well, gone; dusted faster than Thanos when Iron Man snapped his fingers. WandaVision set up the Scarlet Witch to be one of the MCU's biggest heroes or villains, but her return in Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness saw her go full villain, ignoring her development on the Disney Plus show and seemingly killing her off. Shang-Chi rose up as one Phase Four's bright new heroes and even though we know he'll be back in a sequel, there has been little clarity about when that will take place (or even when the character will return). Loki's redemption arc has been beautiful but even the season 2 finale of the Disney Plus series felt like it has taken him off the board for a while, and who knows what's happening with the Eternals after the mixed response to their first movie.

The Multiverse Saga is large and expansive as it is, but introducing characters to drop them halfway through (or totally ignore them for the foreseeable) makes it all seem a bit worthless. Remember this is the same franchise that produced two Iron Man movies before the first Avengers movie (and already had Thor and Captain America sequels lined up immediately after it, as well as Iorn Man 3). Of course there probably is a larger plan in place, but the lack of clarity surrounding certain characters' returns, upcoming sequels, and what so many of these titles have to do with the wider storyline is making the whole Multiverse Saga come off as directionless.

We don't need to know the whole story because the mystery makes it exciting, but audiences like to know a little about the direction they are going in. Right now, it feels like the MCU has less of a direction than when Phase Four began.

There was another important hero that suddenly feels like he's been forgotten about too...

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