“You can never get a twist this good again”: 1 Epic Betrayal From MCU’s ‘Civil War’ Proves Marvel is Bound to Fail With Its Disastrous Multiversal Plot
- Early MCU movies built significant plot twists through closely connected storylines and character development.
- The MCU's shift to a multiverse has diluted the interconnectedness and relevancy of plot twists and stakes.
- Introduction of Doctor Doom offers hope for restoring a sense of cohesion and high multiversal stakes.
It has been quite some time since Marvel has moved on from its single universe concept to its multiversal saga. The concept was established with Loki Season 1 with the branching of the sacred timeline, and since then, MCU has been constantly exploring multiversal stakes.
However, there was a time when MCU was more localized, especially from Phase 1 to Phase 3, and movies like Captain America: Civil War and others used to have certain plot twists that used to change the whole plot of the next movies as they felt more closely connected.
Early MCU and Problems With Multiverse
Captain America: Civil War was a crucial movie that set the foundation for Avengers: Infinity War as it showed the heroes splitting up, which allowed Thanos to be successful in his mission. But the major twist that led all that to happen was when Tony Star realized Bucky, aka Winter Soldier, who was Steve Rogers’ friend, had killed his parents.
It had all worked because Marvel spent years building up these characters. Viewers knew Tony Stark’s complicated relationship with his father, and they had seen Bucky’s backstory from the 1940s to his Hydra brainwashing.
Robert Downey Jr.‘s reaction as Stark was priceless, as the audience could feel the betrayal oozing through the screen. But the important thing here is that the twist worked because everything was happening in one universe, one Earth, and one timeline.
Every previous movie had been building to this moment. It felt earned, and fans online have also been quite vocal about this sentiment.
I think my biggest gripe with the Multiverse Saga is that since the stories are less intertwined by taking place in different universes or filling pockets of their own sub-universe, you can never get a twist this good again. pic.twitter.com/ZDboDtBVGb
— Lunwi (@Lunwi88) August 4, 2024
Now, with the expansion of the multiverse, it seems like the MCU is losing that sort of interconnection and relevancy for plot twists and stakes. There are multiple storylines going on in different universes, and many are getting erased easily as well.
It feels like there is no time for story and character buildup, and if any stake is relevant in one universe, it won’t affect the overall story as it might be irrelevant in another universe. A twist can’t be that powerful when there are infinite versions of each character and it takes away the weight of such big moments.
The whole point of the MCU was to have an interconnected universe of stories. But now it feels like Marvel is juggling with too many stories in its hands, and it is not possible to spend much time on one as the other may fall.
Can Doctor Doom Save the MCU?
At this point, Marvel needs someone who can bring it all together, and they are probably going in that direction as well with Avengers: Doomsday and Avengers: Secret Wars. The studio has already announced Doctor Doom being the main villain of its multiversal saga.
The MCU needs a strong villain to unify everyone. Thanos was great because he had a clear goal, which was to maintain the balance of the universal resources by wiping out half of the life forms using the infinity stones.
Doom could be that next big bad. He is popular, he has an iconic look, and he is smart enough to give all these new heroes a tough time. Moreover, just like Thanos, he also thinks he is the good guy who is trying to save the multiverse by collapsing everything into one universe.
With Robert Downey Jr. on board as Doctor Doom, he could be the glue that holds this multiverse mess together. He could give fans that personal connection they are missing and that sense that everything matters.
With the concept of incursions that was briefly introduced in the post-credits scene of Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, it will be interesting to see how it will play out in Avengers: Secret Wars, which will most likely revolve around that, bringing back the relevancy of multiversal stakes.
Captain America: Civil War is available to stream at Disney+.
