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If you’re a fan of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, you would know that the projects produced in the past few years have been unsuccessful. This is mainly because Marvel has been working towards quantity over quality in their projects, leading fans to believe that the franchise is dying.
Luckily last and this year Marvel has acknowledged fan complaints, and the MCU is making its comeback. But which projects helped Marvel become what it was?
The following projects that are a part of Marvel’s “comeback era” are “Deadpool & Wolverine,” “Agatha All Along,” “Captain America: Brave New World” and “Daredevil: Born Again.”
“Deadpool & Wolverine”
This film launched the MCU’s comeback era.
Not only did they bring Hugh Jackman back as Wolverine, but the film also gave us a “buddy cop” plotline where Deadpool and Wolverine finally team up — something fans have been asking about for decades.
This film was more of a fun bromance journey rather than a hero journey like Marvel’s past projects. Another factor about this film was the fact that it is a multiverse film. However, in the story Marvel makes fun of themselves, acknowledging that the whole multiverse storyline is messy.
Not to mention that the cameos in this film actually served purpose to the story rather than just being there to please fans. This was also Marvel’s first R-rated film, which is great because the past few years Marvel held back on the violence in their projects because they did not want to lose their family audiences.
However, the main thing that makes this film great is that it introduces the X-Men. Now that Disney has bought the rights to the X-Men from Fox, they can finally introduce the X-Men to the MCU in the future.
“Agatha All Along”
As someone who likes the MCU Disney+ shows, “Agatha All Along” was by far one of the better shows we have received in a while.
I say this because this show finally ditches its six episode format, so that way the story is not rushed. I also liked the use of practical effects throughout different scenes of the show.
But the main thing that makes this show a standout was the fact that Agatha Harkness, the protagonist, was an actual villain — not an anti-hero. The MCU has made most of their villains sympathetic, making them anti-heroes, while that does work in some cases, Marvel needs to let villains be villains.
The show does give you moments to feel bad for Agatha, but then the story reminds you that you are rooting for a villain. This gives me hope that Marvel will do more villain projects in the future.
“Captain America: Brave New World”
This film was very controversial when it first came out, but the story was more grounded than past projects with fantastical storylines.
However, the main thing is that the plot of the film is its own story, while also having references to remind audiences that the film exists within the MCU. Not to mention that Sam Wilson proves that he is in fact Captain America.
“Daredevil: Born Again”
This project is by far the best Disney+ show in my opinion. This is mainly because Marvel has decided to make this a continuation of the original Netflix show rather than a reboot
I love how Marvel is starting to have more grounded stories in the franchise or in this case, the street heroes. I also loved how dark and violent this show was, because in the very first episode, it felt like a nice, warm welcome back until something tragic happened.
I also loved how Marvel got showrunners, directors and producers that actually know about not just the original Daredevil show, but the Daredevil comics. Because this show adapted so many stories and panels from the comics it makes fans feel like we are watching a comic book come to life.
In the end, these projects just show how Marvel is back and better than ever.
Peter Caram is a columnist. Contact him at [email protected].