Nick Fury’s original Avengers initiative in the MCU was incredibly noble and ambitious, similarly to how Marvel Studios’ outlook for Phase Four aimed to fill Disney Plus with plenty of superheroes to continue expanding its catalog, yet nearly two years later, has it really paid off and what does the future hold for each new character?
Well, it depends, as Marvel has already partly answered that question with the Scarlet Witch being the first one to find out what her fate was in Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, where her sheer power arguably robs the titular character of his protagonist. Regardless of that, the rest of the newcomers are a mixed bag filled with heroes bound for glorious purpose, potential Young Avengers and a few round pegs that might not fit in the MCU’s square holes.
Leading The Avengers’ Charge
Funnily enough, and perhaps no mere coincidence, Marvel’s life in the Disney Plus universe kicked off with its already known and loved faces as the likes of WandaVision, The Falcon and the Winter Soldier, or Loki all revolve around characters whose roles had slowly grown the Infinity Saga. In turn, Wanda Maximoff gets a leading part in a movie; Sam Wilson will star in his own Captain America film; Bucky is arguably the coolest Thunderbolt; and, Loki is the sole series that was instantly renewed for a second season.
Kevin Feige and company know these are their guaranteed breadwinners, and as such, they get to lead the lineup, similarly to how a baseball team’s first 5 hitters are usually their best. On the other end of the lineup are the players that won’t hit as many home runs, the filler and, in some cases, the pitcher that can’t hit a ball for his life but has to take a turn nonetheless.
The parallels are obvious, the first four Disney Plus shows are the all-stars, and plans for them were laid out many years ago, whereas the second half of the lineup has seen several rookies come in and endure less impressive first seasons. While there’s growing concern for Marvel fatigue (or superhero fatigue altogether), all numbers point to declining viewership in Moon Knight, Ms. Marvel, She-Hulk, and even Hawkeye, the least popular Avenger.
Although the roadmap for Phases Five and Six is starting to clear up, it’s still unknown where many of these new heroes will fit in over a long-term scale in the MCU, especially as Marvel’s plans seem to branch out towards a more cosmic story and the street-level characters that roam the street of New York.
The Essence of Character
Popularity contests aside, Marvel’s series are becoming more and more niche, as proven by Moon Knight’s complete detachment from the entire MCU, Ms. Marvel’s depiction of teen issues that were previously exclusive to Spider-Man (the uncontested MVP), and She-Hulk's finale throwing the entire show out the window. The Avengers trilogy is impressive due to how seamlessly all these characters blend in at times, they’re all part of the same world so that Ant-Man’s appeal is boosted by the more popular characters, not the other way around.
Jennifer Walters has to adapt to the Avengers; on the other hand, Young Avengers such as Kate Bishop and Ms. Marvel still look geared for intern-like positions as shown by the Hawkeye finale or simply Carol Danvers being the most overpowered member of The Marvels. Besides The Kang Dinasty and Secret Wars, the MCU’s headliners are either properties fans have waited years for Disney to get their hands on (think Blade, Daredevil, Fantastic Four or Deadpool and his buddy Wolverine) or already established franchises coming to an end like James Gunn’s Guardians of the Galaxy where the newcomers don’t fit in.
It would seem that rather than leveling the playing field between the now S-tier Marvel heroes and B-listers, the proliferation of Disney Plus shows has widened the gap, something worsened when the TV characters get personalities that might clash with the all-stars. Granted this problem is not exclusive to Disney Plus, as the Eternals' place in the MCU seems shaky at best, but with so much content it hardly makes them the biggest offenders.
There’s no reason Echo can’t be a fantastic show, but she will always play second fiddle to Daredevil and Kingpin; on the other hand, Secret Invasion’s prospects may be tantalizing, nevertheless, the previous series have dealt with limited stakes for such a significant comic book story to play out fully. Come 2024, how does Agatha: Coven of Chaos even justify its existence with so much else going on?
The Infinity Saga had Thanos, yet aside from Kang, the Multiverse Saga also has the promise of the Kingpin, The Leader, and even Doctor Doom further down the line, possibly hinting at some group of Dark Avengers that make Agatha Harkness look very tiny, despite her powers. In the end, Feige’s vision could prevail as the man did the impossible to rescue Marvel before, it’s just that every new TV show makes the manager's job look more difficult.
She-Hulk asserted Jen’s will to have her show be hers and no one else’s, a commendable and unique effort for sure, though she and any of Marvel’s other TV rookies will eventually have to face that the opposite when they, for example, join a World War Hulk movie. Well, at least now the Thunderbolts can clean up the mess left by others.