The Marvel Cinematic Universe is known for constantly expanding, thanks to new projects arriving in theaters and streaming with a Disney+ subscription. Fans who spent years watching the Marvel movies in order have seen some peaks and valleys in the shared universe in the years since Avengers: Endgame ended Phase Three. Some Marvel execs recently acknowledged the “valid criticisms” aimed at the shared universe, and points were made.
While there are some highly anticipated upcoming Marvel movies, not every new release is guaranteed for success anymore. What’s more, The Marvels was an actual box office bomb. In a conversation with CBR, Marvel Executive Producer & Head of TV, Streaming, and Animation Brad Winderbaum addressed some of the negatives of the Multiverse Saga as a whole. In his words:
I think one of the valid criticisms of multiverse storytelling is that when you have multiple realities, the stakes diminish. But there’s another way to look at it when you have the opportunity (with) something like Marvel Zombies, where actually it raises the stakes quite a bit to be in a pocket universe outside of the MCU. Where death feels very final, and we don’t have to worry about putting the toys back in the toy box unbroken. We can really make a mess.
Honestly, this does make sense. Since the multiverse is in play just about anything is possible. And with variants in play, it feels like the overall stakes of Marvel movies and TV shows aren’t quite as high. Seemingly anyone could return from the dead, just look at Robert Downey Jr.’s return as Doctor Doom in the next Avengers movies.
This lack of stakes might have a direct connection to why some MCU movies have struggled at the box office. While Deadpool & Wolverine broke records, that hasn’t been the case for other titles like Thunderbolts* and The Fantastic Four: First Steps.
In the same interview, Marvel Zombies director Bryan Andrews explained why the animated series stands out among modern Marvel projects. Namely because there were some real stakes and just about any character could perish throughout its run. In his words:
And the fact that the audience might not know what’s coming, because all bets are off. There’s no guarantee for anybody. People come in this cold, they’re truly surprised. They have literally no idea what we’re about to pull on them. And I think, you know, for better or for worse, it’s been missing a little bit. You go into someone’s franchise movie, and it’s like ‘You’re making it out at the end!’ And the filmmakers are doing the best they can to build some tensions, so you worry. And they do, and that’s great. But in this, it’s just like, no, there’s no guarantees for anything. It’s a whole different type of viewing experience.
I mean, he’s not wrong. When seeing a Marvel movie fans are usually secure that the titular characters aren’t going to die. So whether it’s Sam Wilson’s Captain America facing off against Red Hulk in Brave New World or the Fantastic Four taking on Galactus in First Steps, it’s hard to suspend one’s disbelief and feel like our heroes are in real danger of being killed off.
Luckily, the Avengers movies play be their own rules, and might help to make the stakes feel real for Doomsday and Secret Wars. After all, The Russo Brothers’ last two movies killed off a ton of characters. Aside from the temporary dusting that occurred to half the world thanks to the snap, those titles also saw the deaths of Loki, Heimdall, Gamora, Black Widow, and Iron Man. So I wouldn’t be surprised if we got more tragic character deaths in their next MCU ventures.
Marvel Zombies is streaming now on Disney+, and Avengers: Doomsday will hit theaters on December 18th of next year as part of the 2026 movie release list. We’ll just have to see if that title can live up to the expectations set by Infinity War and Endgame.