Hardly hit by the well-known vicissitudes related to the pandemic, the Marvel Cinematic Universe has found in seriality a way to keep the bond with its fans alive, finding a new point of contact away from cinemas. Thanks to the presence of a proprietary streaming platform such as Disney Plus, this new frontier of the franchise has proved to be particularly prolific, both in terms of consolidating already started story lines (WandaVision, The Falcon and the Winter Soldier) and to introduce new characters (from Moon Knight to She-Hulk). It is therefore surprising the recent statement of the president of Marvel Studios, Kevin Feige, who promises fewer series in the future of the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
According to Kevin Feige, fewer Marvel Cinematic Universe series in the future could be the solution to the franchise’s problems
In the days when the first chapter of Phase Five of the Marvel Cinematic Universe arrives in theaters, Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantummania, such a statement seems to assume an extremely important value. If it is true that seriality has kept the franchise alive in the past, it cannot be denied that the incredible amount of productions of the last two years has often been counterproductive, presenting series that have not always garnered the favor of the public. The feeling is that quantity has invalidated the quality of the franchise’s offerings, an awareness that does not seem to have escaped Feige, as he himself confided to Entertainment Weekly:
I think an essential aspect of being Marvel Studios is having taken these films and series to their pinnacle. But it’s harder to get the most out of it when there are so many products out there, or so much ‘content’ as they say now, which I hate. But we want Marvel Studios and MCU projects to truly emerge and be the best. People will see that as we move forward with Phase Five and Phase Six, the pace at which we’re introducing series on Disney Plus will change, so that we give everyone a chance to shine.
The road map of the Multiverse Saga has already been presented, even before the finale of Phase Four, and it does not escape the fact that at the moment the hypothesized lineup of releases is decidedly rich, between TV series and cinema releases. It cannot be hidden how this overwhelming presence has perhaps become a weakness for the franchise, which seems to have become a victim of its own monstrous growth.
From the release of Iron Man (20089, the Marvel Cinematic Universe has progressively become one of the most impressive franchises in the industry, also being considered one of the driving forces of the entire film industry. Praised for its visual spectacular and admired for building a complex and constantly evolving storyline, until Avengers: Endgame the Marvel Cinematic Universe was considered an unsinkable battleship.
What changed this vision was precisely the expansion to the serial sector, a response, if you will, to the prolonged absence on the big screen. Also used as a launch for films at the cinema, as in the case of Wanda Vision And Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, these series have become a new language of the franchise, which seems not to have been fully mastered. Several times there was the feeling of being in front of films diluted in serial grammar, a feeling that Feige wants to check immediately in the immediate future
We want series to just be series. I want to keep making them even more diluted, even though it may seem counterintuitive. But I think there’s something fun about sitting down and watching an episode that can be self-contained.
In this reading key, one can understand how a project like Armor Wars both went from series to film to cinema, while an awaited production such as Daredevil: Born Again will boast an unusual amount of episodes for the franchise today. It obviously remains to be understood whether Feige and his team will be able to identify the real critical issues of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, straightening the fate of a franchise in difficulty and which is still waiting to be able to field big shots like Fantastic Four and X- Men.
A change of narrative structure that will certainly have a direct impact on the Marvel Cinematic Universe, but which will also present a new challenge for Disney Plus, which could find itself with a substantial reduction in the offer of content. An easily manageable situation, however, considering the wealth of IPs and narrative universes that find a safe place in Disney’s streaming service, from Star Wars to Aliens.
