The Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) has been in crisis mode since Avengers: Endgame. Why is that? I went on a quest to answer that very question. Recently, I watched through (most of) the MCU, adding in the movies and most of the shows I skipped in recent years. And honestly, a lot of the newer content is better than I remembered or better than I expected based on public opinion. That being said, I do think there are some problems with the more recent MCU projects that contribute to the post-Endgame downfall.

To clarify some terms and give some disclaimers before we dive in, I’ll be comparing the “Infinity Saga” (all the MCU movies through Spider-Man: Far From Home) with the “Multiverse Saga” (all the MCU movies and shows after that point). While my discussion will be mostly general, there may be some minor spoilers for all Marvel projects released up to this point (through Captain America: Brave New World). I also am purely a movie fan; I don’t bring true comic book knowledge to this conversation. But I am a storyteller, who has long appreciated the MCU’s Infinity Saga as a groundbreaking cinematic experience that I see as successful. So, let’s get into some of the storytelling feats and failures of the MCU.

Central Main Character: Audiences want strong, compelling, interesting characters. In fact, characters can be so powerful that sometimes having an interesting or relatable character can outweigh any other issues with a particular story. (Such as, for example, a collective appreciation for Spider-Man or enjoyment of watching the Green Goblin in action distracting from some of the plot holes in Spider-Man: No Way Home.)Making sure your hero is interesting, compelling, and worth cheering for is essential.

In the Infinity Saga, Tony Stark fits this role, becoming more endearing to us as his story progresses. He is arguably the central main character of the Infinity Saga. Yes, the other Avengers—particularly Steve Rogers and Thor—were also significant heroes with major story arcs of their own, but looking at the Avengers movies in particular, Tony Stark is the main character, as his character development intersects with the main plot most. His arc also overlaps significantly with other heroes, like Steve Roger’s Captain America and Spider-Man, especially as he takes on a bigger role in Captain America: Civil War and Spider-Man: Homecoming. Tony started the Avengers (in a way), and his obsession and anxiety about protecting the world from aliens thematically connects the first four Avengers films. Plus, he makes the ultimate sacrifice in Endgame; he is the hero who defeats Thanos. His presence and character in the MCU is a main—if not the primary—driver of conflict throughout the Infinity Saga.

In the Multiverse Saga, though… who is our central hero? While there are plenty of interesting heroes, there’s no one character we have to unify behind. The MCU creators want Sam Wilson’s Captain America in that role, but to be honest, while I liked Captain America: Brave New World, the movie failed to establish him convincingly as the lead hero moving forward. (Partly because that movie was more General Ross’s story than Wilson’s.) The other factor in my uncertainty about Wilson is that this whole era is about the Multiverse, something Sam Wilson has had the least experience with compared to other major superheroes like Captain Marvel, Doctor Strange, Spider-Man, Ant-Man, etc. However, like Wilson, none of these other heroes really stand apart as the central figure who can be the Avengers’ new leader. Granted, this criticism is a small one, as this issue might easily be solved with the next Avengers movie and who that story draws to the forefront of the conflict.

Focused Stories Versus Content Explosion: Beyond the lack of clear central hero, the storylines themselves lack focus in the Multiverse Saga. Making the MCU world larger and more developed is pretty fun, but the pace and way those new elements have been introduced post-Endgame just seem to be making the whole story a soggy mess at times. The limitation of 2-3 hour films released a few each year naturally made the Infinity Saga’s story easier to follow and to enter into. End credit scenes were also used pretty effectively, either directly setting up the next film in a meaningful way, or starting to pull pieces together for the larger story, or both. The references to the larger story, like the Infinity Stones, had a sense of progression to them, too, and never overshadowed individual character stories. It felt well-planned and well-paced.

In contrast, the Multiverse Saga has not had the same limiting factor. The introduction of Disney+ shows overcomplicate the world, lore, and sense of progressing storyline. While I do appreciate shows like Hawkeye and WandaVision giving us some additional closure for established characters post-Endgame, most of the shows don’t feel necessary. In some ways, they can’t be necessary, because the movies still have to make sense for casual fans who aren’t going to spend time on the shows. You can understand the story of The Marvels without watching Ms. Marvel or Secret Invasion, for example.The other frustrating aspect: most of the shows also have pacing problems suggesting they should’ve been movies, and perhaps would’ve been better as movies.

The Disney+ shows aren’t the only issue overcomplicating the story, though. The Multiverse Saga’s use of end credit scenes and references to the larger storyline have been inconsistent. Some of the end credit scenes work effectively, setting up the next movie or show about to release, but there have been far more end credit teases without a resolution or continuation than usual, like the Shang-Chi scenes or The Eternals. Also, the multiverse conflict isn’t progressing steadily forward. Rather than adding new bits of lore or hints at what’s to come, each film involving the multiverse just seems to focus on “now this character knows about the multiverse!” or dropping a vague warning rather than actually giving us much new information. At first, it was intriguing, but now it just feels stale and overdone.

All in all, the Multiverse Saga comes across as very unplanned. I know that the Infinity Saga didn’t have a perfectly established plan to it when Iron Man released, and that the Multiverse Saga has had some development issues due to fan reception of certain projects and controversy with Jonathan Majors. But still, the Infinity Saga managed to tell mostly strong, connected stories that meaningfully built towards something, while the Multiverse Saga has failed to live up to the standard of its predecessor. And I’m not sure that’s something the next Avengers movie will fix, unfortunately, although I’m open to being proven wrong.

Expectations: Which leads me to the last thing, and the thing that might have the most weight to it: fan expectations. While I still think my above points about the flaws of the Multiverse Saga’s storytelling are valid, what occurred to me while I was rewatching the whole MCU is this: hindsight makes the Infinity Saga’s links clearer than they were as the project unfolded. It’s easy to say today, knowing the end of the Infinity Saga and being able to rewatch earlier projects with that full knowledge of the whole story, that the storyline of the early MCU is amazing and well-executed. And so, it may be the case that a new Avengers movie will help tie together all of the dangling plot threads out there in a way that is meaningful and alters the way we look back at the post-Endgame projects. After all, knowledge of the resolution can affect what we look for when we rewatch things. We notice references we dismissed as unimportant earlier. We see the payoff to the setup. Going so long without an Avengers movie may actually be the biggest issue, because we’ve gone so long without something that clearly resolves some of these setups in the individual movies.

Also, the MCU has become its own worst enemy, too. The Infinity Saga did something that had never been done before: it told a massive, interconnected comic book story on the silver screen, in such a monumentally successful way that others have taken notes and tried to do the same, in part, with other IPs. They set the bar very, very high. And now such a feat has been done. Which, frankly, sets the Multiverse Saga up to fail. Whereas the Infinity Saga didn’t have many expectations for what their cinematic experiment would look like (except from comic book fans, perhaps), it has now established expectations for what this type of storytelling should look like. If you don’t play to those expectations or meet them, it falls flat. On the other hand, if you play too much into them, it feels stale and overdone. And, instead of starting from scratch like the Infinity Saga did, the MCU has to build off of what’s already established to tell a new and interesting story. That’s very hard to do, because not every fan is ready to really let go of Iron Man or Steve Rogers and embrace the remaining or new characters. Also, coming off of Endgame is extremely difficult. Infinity War and Endgame were massive movies, so jumping from those into smaller stories just can’t live up to the hype or expectations of the MCU. There’s part of me that thinks that no matter what the MCU tried to do post-Endgame, it was always doomed to fail, just on the difficulty of coming down from an Avengers-level amount of hype, among other things.

Maybe the best outcome would’ve been to simply close the MCU chapter altogether and start fresh with a different idea or group of characters. As much as our content-saturated society thrives off the idea that you can always pull more stories out of established IPs and fictional universes, there’s something to be said about letting something end. Or, at the very least, letting the MCU breathe a little more post-Endgame.

Speaking of endings, it’s time conclude this post. And my takeaway about the MCU is this: it’s been a bumpy ride, but I’m willing to give the MCU another chance. I’m genuinely excited about The Thunderbolts, as it seems like a fun movie. I’m also very curious for the new Avengers, because I think that might show us how Marvel will bring together all of the loose ends currently out there, as I said several times. And, if it still all falls apart, at least we have the Infinity Saga to rewatch over and over again.

What are your Marvel opinions? Do you think the MCU is doomed?