The MCU is probably one of the most revolutionary things to ever happen to cinema and the funny part is that it’s not even that brilliant of a concept, if you think about it. I’m not demeaning the MCU or their work in any way, I’m simply saying that all Marvel did was take the stories they’d done for one medium and transferred it to another and then continued those stories even after the film had ended. That’s it, really. The movie never ends. It just picks up in another story and you follow that until its end. It’s so stunningly simple, it’s almost shocking it took until 2008 for someone to come up with the plan.
But for all the success Marvel has had telling their stories in the theaters, the stories that are told through the medium of television seem to be struggling to live up to that same potential. So, what is it about the medium of television that seems to prevent Marvel Studios from hitting the same highs that they hit when they’re showcasing something through film? If you ask me, it feels like the shows are trying to play it safe while the movies shoot for the moon. But that also diminishes the role of television as a medium that provides steady, but sometimes bland stories to move the plot along.
Much of this has really shown itself loudly and proudly in the Moon Knight show. While shows like Loki and WandaVision told stories that came directly out of the films, Moon Knight is really the first show to completely detach itself from the films throughout its initial telling. Maybe it’s that lack of connection to the larger story that makes it feel odd or out of place, but I tend to think it’s the writing choices within the show that produce that particular effect. They have to find a way to make these characters interesting as they have no connection to our previous characters and Moon Knight is really the first show to deal with that problem.
One of the many benefits that shows like Loki, Hawkeye, WandaVision, & Falcon & The Winter Soldier had going for them was that their shows picked up after the events of a film. In other words, when we catch back up with the characters, they’re already involved in whatever they’re doing and we’re just catching up and finding out what they’ve been up to and where they’re going. With Moon Knight, this is the first time we’re meeting any of the principles involved and as a result, the show has to establish their identity and their purpose. It might be that we’re seeing Marvel struggle for the first time to come up with fresh content that isn’t riding the momentum of a hugely successful film. So, how can upcoming shows like She-Hulk and Ms. Marvel avoid the same problem?
I think the biggest thing the shows can do is utilize the source material from the comics instead of trying to create whole stories out of thin air. The story they’re using for Moon Knight works on a superficial level, but when you compare it to the writing on some of the other shows that Disney+ has turned out, it doesn’t quite live up to the mark. There have been several missed beats on shows like Hawkeye and WandaVision, as well. The MCU shows had a real problem with introducing the “real” villain in the final episodes and it never really did the shows any good. It hurt their overall effect and somewhat lessened the effect these “real villains” had when they finally stepped on screen. In some cases, Disney had gone to such great lengths to hide their appearances that they became totally known and reported on.
While you can’t stop people from reporting leaks and scoops, you can make it a little more difficult than giving them the same formula over and over again. Sometimes the problem with a well oiled machine is that it’s a little too predictable and that reliability comes back to bite you in the ass. This happens a lot in war, but it can happen with television and high-value business dealings, too. Disney has a formula and it’s understandable that they don’t want to deviate from their formula, but sometimes you have to make things interesting and that’s where we are today.
I wanna close by saying that this is just my viewpoint. I love most everything churned out by the Marvel Cinematic Universe and I’m incredibly thankful we’re in this period of storytelling. I grew up with these characters and stories. The fact that something for which I was made fun of relentlessly as a child — even now as an adult, too. Hell, search my Twitter account and the phrase “you write about comics for a living” — now dominates such a huge part of popular culture is not something that’s lost on me. I’m going to enjoy every moment in the sun, I just happen to have a few suggestions along the way.