The MCU is a trailblazing, bar setting, money printing power house in the movie industry but I’ve learned that through all the triumph, somehow the MCU is only the front man for the better content on Disney+. My opinion, most of the MCU movies are not very good. It’s easier to tell you the ones that I found were actually good: “Infinity Wars”, the Captain America” trilogy, Iron man 1 and “Spider-Man Homecoming” in that exact order! The rest are very mediocre if not very good at all and that’s okay, those movies made billions. The MCU movies were mediocre to create a path for great Disney+ content. I know you think my opinion sucks but hear me out!
Let’s be clear, these movies don’t have to be great to make a billion, they have a built in fan base, they look cool and they are entertaining, making a billion is what these movies are built to do. That’s why most of the films look and feel the same. Disney has a formula that allows them to produce these movies to get a certain dollar outcome and they don’t deviate from the formula. Disney is notorious for parting ways with directors who don’t align with their vision but now with the arrival of what I like to call the MCU+ I see the method to the madness. The billion dollar box that is the MCU was built for the Disney+ A.K.A MCU+ to step outside of and be great!
If I’m Being Honest, After “End Game” I felt I was done with the MCU. Not because I hated it but more due to fatigue. I was ready to see something different and I was sure that Marvel didn’t have much else to offer as far as a narrative or storyline and then came the first of the MCU+ shows, WandaVision. Out of all the shows that were slated to drop WandaVision was the one I was least interested in and the first 3 and a half episodes seemed to be proving me right until the show went from trash to treasure within the closing minutes of the third episode! Once the show got into the core of what it would be about and introduced Monica Rambeau and the WandaVision twins with a fake Pietro/quicksilver revival making us all wonder if the Fox X-men and Marvel Universe would collide. Needless to say I enjoyed the ride Scarlet Witch ride that ended with an Elizabeth Olson awakening that deserved an Emmy nomination. With those performances in mind and the amazing ending, WandaVision set the bar high for future MCU+ content.
Then we get “Falcon & Winter Soldier” which had its on problems but managed to depict a narrative on screen that might be the most important piece of content Disney ever created. A black man coming to terms with what it means to be the black Captain America and then choosing to pick up the mantle. Even though the show dropped the ball on some of narrative details, I don’t believe anyone was expecting to see the Falcon personal struggle that many black Americans can relate to told in a very authentic and meaningful way. Last but not least Loki, which at the time of me writing this is the latest show to drop and it hit the ground running with a interesting narrative with deep character insight into one of the MCU most popular characters! I now realize those mediocre and bad MCU movies had a greater purpose. To set up the greater attraction, the amazing series of shows coming on Disney+!
The MCU+ shows have reinvigorated my desire to watch the MCU going forward and that includes the upcoming movies as well. Hopefully they step out on the limb or out of the box and give us something a little different like the MCU+ shows have but maybe they wont. Maybe these movies will continue to be mediocre as a set up for great shows coming our way on Disney+. Time will tell but for now if these shows keep being great then I will suffer the mediocre movies.
Disney has made billions of dollars of off of the success of the MCU. They were able to break records and make history by stringing together individual movies to tell a bigger story. With that being said I do not think that the dollar amount necessarily speaks to if a movie is good and I don’t believe most of them are very good but we are getting some great content in the wake of these blockbuster hits and I’m okay with that. Do you think my opinion is still stupid? If so, hopefully I kept you entertained!
By Mckinley Barber
