I recently spoke to a friend who was pregnant with the video game series Dark souls.
While acknowledging their commitment, I was upset by the appeal. The Souls games, if you are unfamiliar, are very difficult and anemic on stories. On the phone, my buddy made a rally about the game’s narration which is told only in long walls of text containing information he found from memories within the game. To my friend (and no other number Souls fans) it was the real joy of the discovery – not the true telling of the story – that lifted his spirits.
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I may be a curmudgeon, but I don’t get it. I think it’s deceptive to hold a story back in the middle of a story. As I listened to my friend speak Dark souls, I went mad on his behalf. There were none of the cool things he was telling me about in the game. The story stopped as an adventure, just paragraphs for a Wiki page.
After watching the latest episode of WandaVision, I’m worried that the Marvel Cinematic Universe could fall into a similar trap – and many Marvel fans seem to be happier than it happens.
Over 20 films submitted with more on the way, a huge proportion of MCU fans are ravens not for story, but folklore. A story is not a journey, it is a blank entry page. Scan YouTube and see the wide range of descriptors, such as “Origin of the MCU Celestials” or “The MCU Timeline, Explained.” It’s kind of weird that so many movies and fans are still asking so many questions.
This has long been the fault of Marvel. But in 2021, we have come to a crossroads with the weekly series WandaVision. As a streaming show on Disney + with clearly linked footage to the films, Marvel has the opportunity to hit the brakes on the fast-paced, plot-focused action films to consider the mental and emotional state of high school characters that monologues will never receive. in the Avengers movie. .
But weeks ago, shortly after their first release (and a series of homage to former participants), fans became confused and upset about the “slow” pace of the show. They wanted answers to the mysteries before them, and they wanted them yesterday. IndieWire she was ridiculed for complaining about “inconvenient weekly allowances.” In response, a Forbes said op-ed, “WandaVision Not too slow, everyone forgot how to watch TV.“
Last week, in WandaVision Episode 8, “Previous On,” Wanda ‘s history of Wanda’ s sadness and obsess over old partners is revealed in clear terms that are as clear as day. Yes, mysteries are still lingering (Who was “Fietro” really?) But the last episode brought a big piece of MCU fans have asked from the first January publication: Lore.
The fault in Marvel stars
WandaVision so far has been a good show. And “Previous On” was a very special program. It gave the audience and importantly Wanda (Elizabeth Olsen) a fair amount of time to think about the character’s deadly history. Attractive events from billion-dollar movies like Avengers: Age of Ultron and Avengers: Infinity War they were selected from each other at the microscopic level, which by design cannot occur in films under a tight time limit of two and a half hours.
This makes Disney + a staple for the MCU. Almost like monthly comic books, TV streaming is undoubtedly the perfect format for experimental reports, even at a slower pace. WandaVision. Power of the WandaVision enough to even consider whether there is any point left for the Marvel movies at all. Why bother with 2-hour movies when you can have 6-hour TV seasons that look just as good?
Here is something that is not yet a problem, but that could be if one is not careful: rely on streaming to pick up slack movies forgo. While the Marvel movies that focus on plot have been a juggernaut target, it’s the movies ’habit to slow down when it comes to giving the characters the most necessary moments. .
In Avengers: Endgame, he was furious when Bruce Banner merged with an off – screen Hulk ego between movies. Yes, it just happens! How come? Why? What challenges did Bruce face?
Never mind. It happened, and the film is moving on. Although I appreciate Marvel ‘s abbreviation, especially for a long film like Endgame, it still is so weird how the Hulk studio handled it. This was a bad practice at the MCU, and it had clearly gotten worse.
What WandaVision getting right
Now consider one of the best views in WandaVision: Flashback to Wanda, seeking refuge inside Callum in the middle. Vision talks to Wanda about grief, and they find themselves with a deep connection to each other. This not only establishes their romance in Infinity War, but the heartbreak of Vision’s death at the highest level. You could cut and edit this view theoretically Civil War and it would be the same, perhaps more emotion than it does WandaVision.
Amazing movies, again with design, can’t take their place all arcs of the many characters. And the specifics of Wanda / Vision’s vision, such as the look Callum in the middle, which would be out of place in a film about Sokovia Accords. That’s why the scene works for him WandaVision.
But as the MCU moves on and more characters get more other shows – like the upcoming ones The Hawk and the Winter Soldier and Hawkeye – I hope Marvel doesn’t rely on the increasingly confident audience of streaming TV to hold back their characters – and more importantly, what fans should get from them – in the great efforts to come.
Marvel has been guilty of this for the better part of the last decade. As well as the YouTube videos that explain even the most obvious things in the MCU, Marvel is just as much a toy box for “lore hounds” as any incomprehensible video game. And while I don’t want to delight poo-poo fans, we do see what it means when Marvel sacrifices a story for folklore.
During the first few weeks of WandaVisionrun, as evidenced by that particular communication with some fans of the idea WandaVision “too slow,” I. I saw a tweet who showed signs of Marvel illnesses. One fan wanted every program of it WandaVision release immediately.
“Why does he have to be binged?” Someone else asked.
The defiant fan replied, “Because I don’t know what’s going on yet.”
Follow all of Inverse‘s WandaVision broadcast at on WandaVision mol.