Even though it’s currently four years away from release, Avengers: Secret Wars is already one of the most anticipated movies in recent memory. Serving as the end of Phase 6 and the Marvel Cinematic Universe’s Multiverse Saga as a whole, fans all around the globe have one crucially important question: will Secret Wars act much like its comic-book namesake and reboot the entire MCU?
By all accounts, this upcoming film will be based on one of Marvel Comics’ most critically acclaimed events, Jonathan Hickman’s Secret Wars, released in 2015. This series acted as a soft reset, bringing fan-favorite character Miles Morales into the mainstream Earth-616 Marvel Universe. With audience reaction to recent MCU projects gradually cooling off, the film adaptation of this event is the perfect place to try something new.
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10 Rebooting is a Critical Part of Comic Book Storytelling
The Problem:
The MCU is growing stale
The Solution:
Reboots are the cure
The MCU was built upon a foundation of over half a century of storytelling spinning out of the pages of Marvel Comics. If there’s one thing that funny books have proven over the years, it’s that extended serialized storytelling sometimes needs refreshing.
This type of do-over is often associated with a brand-spanning event series, where the universe and sometimes even the very multiverse are in peril. It happened in DC with Crisis on Infinite Earths, and Marvel attempted something similar with Secret Wars. Once the dust settles, superheroes must contend with a changed world. Sometimes, these alterations are subtle, but other times, they provide a complete refresh that allows for new and exciting stories.
9 A Reboot Would Make Fans Forget About Remaining Plot Holes
The Problem:
Plot hole inconsistencies
The Solution:
Erase them with a snap
It hasn’t happened often, but the MCU has occasionally teased its fans with storylines that have ultimately ended up going nowhere. For instance, some fans have poked holes in questions like how Mysterio could reference Earth-616 when he’s just an actor pretending to be from another universe.
Other fans have spent hundreds, if not thousands of words, trying to understand how Steve Rogers could return the Infinity Stones to their proper place in the timeline. A reboot would allow Marvel to move on from these inconsistencies, even if they ultimately create new ones.
8 A Reboot Would Make What’s Old New Again
The Problem:
Legacy Heroes’ roles are diminishing
The Solution:
Recast and revamp
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A rebooted Marvel Cinematic Universe could boast new superhero teams working alongside modern editions of legacy heroes. So, in addition to the possibility of finally seeing the X-Men in the MCU, audiences might also get a taste of new versions of old fan favorites.
Tony Stark, Steve Rogers, and T’Challa have all been written out of the MCU, but that doesn’t mean new individuals can’t take over the reins. Black Panther and Captain America have already been replaced to varying degrees of success. A refresh with brand new actors in the roles would signal a commitment to these heroes as the primary version of the character moving forward.
7 A Reboot Feels Inevitable
The Problem:
The end of The Multiverse Saga is approaching
The Solution:
Embrace the inevitable
Benjamin Franklin once wrote, “Nothing can be said to be certain, except death and taxes.” If Mr. Franklin had been talking about comic books, he would have included a third certainty: reboots. If Secret Wars ends the MCU Multiverse Saga, as hinted, the heroes will be confined to their solitary universe for the foreseeable future.
Considering one of the MCU’s major criticisms of late has been how unwieldy making sense of everything has become, a reboot would simplify things by keeping what works and scrapping the rest, improving the overall quality of the MCU and making for a fresh start. What’s more, it’s the logical endpoint all these years of storytelling have been building towards. Embrace it.
6 A Reboot Will Allow the MCU to Focus on Beginnings Again
The Problem:
Fresh starts are exciting
The Solution:
Create a new wave of them
Some of the most beloved MCU films have been the first acts of a superhero’s journey, whether it’s Iron Man, Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 1, or Black Panther. One of the main reasons these films all succeeded so spectacularly is because they served as fresh introductions to memorable characters like Tony Stark.
When audiences are no longer concerned with keeping track of numerous other film and television projects, they can relax and get swept away in comforting storytelling that introduces them to a new protagonist they care about without feeling overwhelmed.
5 A Reboot Will Allow the MCU to be More Experimental
The Problem:
The Marvel Formula is getting old
The Solution:
Experimentation can be fun
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Another problem with some recent MCU offerings is how formulaic the projects have become. Over the past decade and a half, the studio has developed the “Marvel Formula” to help create the perfect superhero movie, but given time, audiences always get tired of more of the same.
To their credit, Marvel has already begun experimenting with this idea. Television projects like Werewolf by Night and She-Hulk: Attorney at Law have provided horror and comedy elements that serve as a nice counterbalance to more typical fair. If a reboot were to happen, this experimentation could genuinely flourish.
4 A Reboot Will Help Minimize Continuity-Driven Storytelling
The Problem:
There’s too much story to keep track of
The Solution:
Simplify things
There’s no denying that continuity-driven storytelling helped the MCU set itself apart from the rest of the Hollywood system. Shortly after, that same Hollywood system adapted and began copying this technique. Now, everyone seems to be getting a little tired of it.
The Marvels was the canary in the box office coal mine. It’s a fine film, with fun performances, but to fully understand every plotline, audiences needed to have seen Captain Marvel and Avengers: Endgame in theaters, as well as WandaVision, Hawkeye, and Ms. Marvel, on Disney+. That’s a lot of content to keep track of, and a reboot could fix that.
3 A Reboot Will Make Way for the X-Men and Fantastic Four
The Problem:
How to make the FF and X-Men stand out
The Solution:
Make them the center of attention
The roster of superheroes in the MCU has already become a crowded playing field. Over the next few years, audiences will be introduced to even more. Not only is Blade on his way but so are the Fantastic Four, the superhero team that helped launch Marvel Comics back in 1961.
For audiences to properly appreciate the FF and what they mean to Marvel, it might behoove the company to clear the decks and allow them to take center stage. What’s more, thinning the ranks of their current roster will open up space for the X-Men, who seem to be inching their way closer and closer to the MCU with each passing post-credits scene.
2 A Reboot Will Help With Diminishing Box Office Returns
The Problem:
The Box Office is stagnating
The Solution:
Focus on incoming popular characters
The Marvels recently suffered through the worst opening weekend in the MCU’s history. If that had been an outlier, there would be nothing to worry about, but it wasn’t. February’s Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania was labeled a box office failure, and 2021’s The Eternals was the franchise’s third lowest-grossing film ever.
How would a reboot change those fortunes? Ultimately, it all comes down to fan interest. Those projects were based on characters with less of a following than Iron Man, Captain America, Thor, or even the Fantastic Four and X-Men. A reboot would make for a clean slate, allowing Marvel to tell new stories with familiar faces and reap the benefits at the box office.
1 A Reboot Will Prove That The Only Way to Save the MCU is to Destroy It
The Problem:
The MCU needs a fresh start
The Solution:
A soft reset
Every comic book fan can tell you one simple fact: for something to feel fresh and renewed, it first must die. For proof, look no further than the revolving door that death has become in the world of comics. The cycle of death and rebirth is inherent to storytelling, especially in a serialized form. At some point or other, every story runs out, and the best way to move forward is to start things over again.
There’s no point in forcing something that isn’t working anymore. If the MCU continues trying to fit a square peg in a round hole, it will lose all the goodwill it’s spent over a decade building with audiences. Providing something new and fresh could turn the fortunes of the MCU around, and there isn’t a better time to embark on this venture than in the aftermath of Avengers: Secret Wars.
Given the multiversal shenanigans from the Secret Wars comic and the ever-changing nature of Hollywood, it’s easy to see why the MCU needs a reboot. Read More