SAVING THE MCU: THE TOP 10 CHANGES THAT WOULD HAVE SAVED THE MCU MULTIVERSE SAGA
- shaunalexandercraw
- Jul 13
- 12 min read
Why the MCU’s Multiverse Saga failed — and 10 changes that could have kept the marvel in the MCU
The MCU was riding high after Endgame, Marvel was full steam ahead — and the Venus Fry Cook was completely on board. He could not have been more excited for Marvel’s expansion into Disney+ with the announcements of WandaVision, Loki, and The Falcon and the Winter Soldier, and the promise of more shows to follow. He was excited for newcomers like Shang-Chi and the Eternals, and trusted Marvel would continue to knock it out of the park. And then… well, we all know how it’s been.
The Multiverse Saga hasn’t been a complete disaster, but it’s been close. In theory, it’s a great concept for a saga, especially as Marvel acquired the rights to preexisting superhero movie franchises to do some cross-universe storytelling. But the Multiverse Saga still felt short. It’s been bad. And the thing that still hurts the most is that it just didn’t have to be. Even without Iron Man and Captain America, Marvel’s next saga still could have been great. The Venus Fry Cook has the top 10 changes that would have saved the MCU
10. RECAST BLACK PANTHER
The Venus Fry Cook loves Chadwick Boseman. He’s a legend, and he was perfect as T’Challa, the Black Panther. And, this may be a contentious take, but the VFC doesn’t think it would have been disrespectful to recast the role. The Black Panther is just too great a character not to have in the MCU. He could have been one of the new centerpieces of the entire saga. And holy hellso, that Ryan Coogler-directed Black Panther vs. Namor the Sub-Mariner showdown could have emerged as a Top 5 MCU film with T’Challa still wearing the mantle of Black Panther and King of Wakanda.
We had already lost Iron Man, Captain America, and Black Widow. This was a universe that needed its heroes. Recasts are always awkward, but fans adjust. Fans still would have paid respects and reverence to the great Chadwick Boseman for all time. Flood the MCU with Easter eggs. Dedicate every Black Panther film to him. Hell, dedicate every MCU film to him, period. Dedicate the entire Multiverse Saga. He deserved that and more. And while we’re doing that, let someone else take on the role of T’Challa. Honor Chad Boseman, the Black Panther — by making the best freaking Black Panther movie possible. The Multiver Saga would have been all the better for it.
9. THE X-MEN OF IT ALL
This was a time for absolute, all-or-nothing thinking. Either give us the X-Men, or don’t. Don’t just give us X-Men cameos. Don’t, for the love of Zeus, make Ms. Marvel (who at the time wasn’t a mutant in the comics) the first mutant in the MCU, heralded by the theme of the 1990s X-Men animated classic series, of which she wasn’t a part. It was a confusing, murky inclusion that underserves the most popular team in Marvel comics.
From the moment Disney acquired Fox and reclaimed the X-Men franchise, they should have made their intentions clear. Iron Man and Cap were gone, and the Multiverse Saga was already underway. Marvel simply should have announced that the X-Men and the mutants would not appear until Phase 7, in the MCU’s third and most epic saga yet. That way, we could have kicked back and enjoyed the Multiverse Saga, looking forward to a new era in the MCU when we would finally have all of our favorite heroes under one roof. Even then, the plan should have been to resolve the current incarnation of the MCU and reboot/recast with a fresh slate. Take a break and come back strong, set up for a decade with the entire Marvel universe at your disposal for the most marvelous franchise of all time! Instead, we got Ms. Marvel, a murdered, multiversal Professor X, a Beast post-credits cameo, and a Gambit cameo in a Deadpool and Wolverine movie that was still awesome because Hugh Jackman was awesome. But none of it was awesome enough to live up to the expectations of the X-Men.
8. NO MORE CAPTAIN MARVEL — NO BLACK WIDOW
Okay, look, we know these are two of the female heroes in the MCU. It’s not about that. In fact, the Venus Fry Cook thinks Black Widow is one of the greatest heroes/characters in all of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. There’s just one problem. She’s freaking dead! A Black Widow movie in Phase 3, some time between Captain America: Civil War and Avengers: Infinity War, would have been a lights-out title and a perfectly timed entry. But as the first film for the Multiverse Saga? A flashback movie about a dead character? No. No Black Widow movie in the Multiverse Saga.
Which brings us to Captain Marvel. Look. They messed Captain Marvel up, plain and simple. Brie Larson (talented as she is) ended up being poor casting and really rubbed MCU fans — and it seems like even other MCU cast — the wrong way. Captain Marvel was an okay movie, but the character never lived up to her potential. The Venus Fry Cook isn’t just saying there shouldn’t have been a The Marvels movie. He’s saying Captain Marvel shouldn’t be in the Multiverse Saga at all. They should have just left her somewhere out in the universe doing good and left the Multiverse Saga to more beloved heroes. Don’t worry, the VFC adores Iman Vellani as Ms. Marvel, but just wait and see — there’s plenty of room for her to save the Multiverse Saga in her own way. But Captain Marvel? No. No Captain Marvel in the Multiverse Saga.
7. FOLLOW THROUGH — AND DO IT FASTER
It was exciting to see the universe expand. The Venus Fry Cook truly was excited about that. But between introducing new characters, elevating pre-existing supporting ones, and reclaiming others from Fox, there was so much going on, Marvel just completely lost track of it all. Numerous characters and threads were completely dropped, and the ones that were followed up on took so long, they hardly seem to matter anymore. Who is Shang-Chi again?
Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings and Eternals are divisive films. Actually, Eternals is generally universally disliked (for the record, the VFC digs it). Let’s just presuppose they were better. That in itself would have helped to save the Multiverse Saga. Marvel has just completely forgotten them! We should have had a banger Shang-Chi sequel in Phase 5. Bruce Banner showed up in the post-credits sequence and said, “Welcome to the Avengers,” for Odin’s sakes! Follow up, Marvel! Same goes for Eternals. You left a freaking celestial in the Indian Ocean and then you gave us a pair of post-credits sequences teasing Earth’s judgement, Pip the Troll, Thanos’ half brother (and comics Avenger) Eros, oh, and also a Black Knight and Blade tease. And then followed up on NOTHING for two full phases, until we finally got back to the Celstial in the Indian Ocean for Captain America: Brave New World. Too little too late.
And we’ve just got to throw Guardians of the Galaxy in the mix here too. Had Marvel followed through when they should have and given us the last entry of the Guardians trilogy in Phase 4, then they could have served as a great bridge between sagas, giving audiences some closure to the fallout of the Infinity Saga while passing the story on to the Multiverse Saga. Instead, they came in Phase 5 when — despite their greatness — they just didn’t really matter anymore. And the Venus Fry Cook is just scratching the surface on all the things you introduced and set up and didn’t follow through on. Speaking of… let’s look at number 6 on the list.
6. HOLY HELL, GIVE US THE MIDNIGHT SONS
Once again, you set it up beautifully. Spread out across the Multiverse Saga, you started sprinkling in characters from Marvel Comics' supernatural Midnight Sons superhero team. Admittedly, you may still pull off a miracle and deliver this team-up, but as of the summer of 2025, there are no Midnight Sons and no announcement for them.
It all started with Eternals. The Venus Fry Cook thought Kit Harrington was inspired casting for Dane Whitman, destined to become the Black Knight — but he thought Whitman would be an Avengers contender. It wasn’t until the Eternals post-credits scene when we heard the voice of Blade that the VFC realized, holy Zeus, they’re setting up the Midnight Sons!
Then came Werewolf by Night, which gifted Marvel fans Elsa Bloodstone, Man-Thing, and the Werewolf himself. That’s five characters for a team right there, and we haven’t even mentioned Doctor Strange or the possible introduction of Ghost Rider. By Phase 5, we could have been riding high at midnight with this unmatched supernatural roster. Instead… well, Marvel did nothing. Even if the Midnight Sons come now, it’ll feel too late. But if Marvel had just pulled the trigger on the Midnight Sons, MCU fans could have been delighted by darkness, fire, and a set of supernatural heroes that could have been this saga’s Guardians of the Galaxy.
5. SPIDER-MAN IS THE NEW IRON MAN
Spider-Man: Far From Home should have been the first entry in The Multiverse Saga — not the last in The Infinity Saga. Come on, that makes no sense. And Spider-Man should have been the new Iron Man.
Iron Man was the central hero and foundation of The Infinity Saga. Without him, Marvel was going to need a new hero for the MCU to orbit. And Spider-Man was the perfect choice. Not only is Spider-Man Marvel Comics’ most popular character, but he was also Iron Man’s symbolic heir in the MCU. Everything about Spider-Man: Far From Home set it up perfectly. It introduced the concept of the Multiverse. We even had a metaphorical crown with Tony Stark’s glasses that Peter Parker was bestowed, gave to a villain, and had to ultimately earn. Connect Spider-Man to the reformation of the Avengers (even if he didn’t lead it), and Spider-Man was all set to be the figurative king of Marvel, and then… well, then nothing. Marvel did a bunch of other unconnected titles and another unconnected (though great) Spider-Man film.
With the first movie of Phase 3, Iron Man had appeared in SIX MCU films. By the beginning of Phase 6, Spider-Man has appeared in TWO movies — oh, and no one in the MCU even knows who he is because of that stupid spell. If the Multiverse Saga needed one thing, it’s ironically, a hero. And Spider-Man was the perfect choice.
4. WHERE ARE THE YOUNG AVENGERS?
They’re all right there! Before Phase 4 (the first phase of The Multiverse Saga) was even over, we already had enough heroes for the Young Avengers. Ms. Marvel, Kate Bishop’s Hawkeye, Wiccan and Speed, and Patriot. Boom. There are your Young Avengers, Marvel! And they all showed up in Disney+ Shows. All you had to do was bring them together for a Young Avengers show or movie, and audiences would have experienced the joy of watching Iman Vellani and Hailie Steinfield absolutely eat up the screen together with unmatched banter and bright, colorful fun, superhero action.
Remember in Phase 1 how Marvel introduced heroes and then brought them together for a team movie all in one phase? We’ve already touched on how Marvel kept setting heroes and teams up without following through fast enough (or at all). But the Young Avengers are the biggest failing in this pattern. It looks like they still have plans on delivering them, but it’s coming two phases too late when the MCU is already on life support.
The Young Avengers could have been the scene-stealers of the Multiverse Saga. They are cool characters, and Ms. Marvel and Hawkeye were brilliantly cast. Fans of all genders and ages would have eaten up the Young Avengers. They are connected to so many cool characters and storylines in Marvel Comics (including Kang), would have been an absolute delight. With all of the characters introduced on Disney+, a Disney+ Young Avengers series would have been a perfect culmination. Much in the way the movies build up to Avengers movies, the shows could build up to epic Young Avengers crossovers. And then for the climax of the Multiverse Saga? Bring them all together like you did for Endgame. That’s how you do the Multiverse Saga, Marvel! The Venus Fry Cook expects they’re still coming, but you did it wrong and took too long.
3. RECAST KANG
Marvel bet it all on Jonathan Majors as Kang. He was the centerpiece of the entire saga. Where the Infinity Saga had Thanos and the Infinity Stones, the Multiverse Saga had Kang and the multiverse. On paper, that should work. Honestly, even before the Jonathan Majors scandal, they already mismanaged Kang with the ending of Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania when Kang was defeated by a couple of second-team Avengers and a bunch of ants. But at least they still had a vision and had planted seeds for that vision across the MCU, from Loki and Moon Knight to their ultimate plans for the Kang Dynasty.
If the Kang vision was already on shaky ground, then the Jonathan Majors scandal was an earthquake. The Venus Fry Cook won’t get into the details, but obviously, Marvel and Majors parted ways. Marvel went into their desperation bag and replaced Kang with Dr. Doom, The Kang Dynasty with Doomsday, and Jonathan Majors with Robert Downey Jr. We love RDJ — and no doubt, he’ll be great. He’s a great actor. But in an already shaky saga, Marvel should have stayed true to the closest thing they had to a throughline.
Especially in a world where different actors are already playing the same character in different universes (and other characters like Rhodey and Everett Ross had already been recast), simply recasting Kang should have been the move. There are a ton of talented actors out there who could have kept Kang as the big bad this saga needed.
2. NO IDEOLOGY OVER ART
Let’s get one thing clear. The Venus Fry Cook is down with the causes behind woke culture. We believe everyone should be able to be whoever they are, and we love to see diverse perspectives and experiences in stories. Just don’t tell them from a soapbox with a dash of hatred for your own fans and franchise, trampling the craft of storytelling along the way. Black Panther was great simply because it was great — not because it showed different people and perspectives. Shang-Chi would have been great if it just told a great story, but they insisted on highlighting how Asian people are picked on in high school, etc. She-Hulk could have been an absolute riot if it just gave us an awesome heroine instead of ranting about how hard it is to be a woman and operating from a shocking disdain for the franchise and its fans. The Falcon and Winter Soldier would have been spectacular if it had been a buddy cop adventure about living up to the legacy and ideals of Captain America and reclaiming his shield — but instead it was turned into a vehicle for a woke-culture political statement on race.
Our favorite heroes were mocked, ridiculed, and relegated by new race and gender swapped characters written by activists who tragically used Marvel to push their own ideology. The Venus Fry Cook doesn’t mind the race and gender swapping. The comics did it too (even though it was a critical and commercial failure for the comics as well). Just don’t use those characters as a platform for politics in one of the most beloved, imaginative, escapist story worlds in the history of humankind.
1. THE AVENGERS
Spider-Man. Thor. Hulk. Sam Wilson’s Captain America. She-Hulk. Scarlet Witch. Vision. Doctor Strange. Ant-Man. The Wasp. Sersi. Black Knight. Eros. Hawkeye. Black Panther. Is that not enough for you, Marvel? You can’t give us an Avengers team from those Multiverse Saga characters? Instead, you gave us Bucky, Yelena, Ghost, US Agent, the Red Guardian, and Sentry – and they came a phase late. WHAT?! Look, The Winter Soldier and Yelena are cool. And Sentry in the comics is next-level awesome. But come on. This ain’t it.
Of everything that could have saved The Multiverse Saga, shocker, it’s The Avengers. If Phase 4 had focused on a diasporic Avengers team picking up the pieces of losing Iron Man and Captain America, and finding new leaders to assemble a new team when the world needed it most, they could have given us a lights-out, awesome Avengers movie to cap off Phase 4. Give the team a big victory and then introduce the looming threat of Kang. That’s all you had to do, Marvel! How could you screw that up?!
From the closing credits of the first MCU film, the Marvel Cinematic Universe has been about The Avengers. Marvel got so distracted expanding its universe, they forgot what they were expanding it FROM. Characters and teams introduced and forgotten. Abandoned visions. Injected agendas. You gave us everything except the kitchen sink, Marvel. Oh. And except the Avengers. The heroes that could have saved the Multiverse Saga.
IN THE END, THOUGHTS…
The Multiverse Saga — the downfall of the MCU — is one of the biggest story/art tragedies of the Venus Fry Cook’s lifetime. A lot of this comes down to one thing: simply having a plan with a vision. How many of the items on the VFC’s list fall under the category of not following through? Not bringing the pieces together. Not delivering teams, heroes, and stories when the Multiverse Saga needed them most. We’re not sure who was supposed to have their hand on the wheel, but they blew it. Too many diverging agendas and an ultimate lack of a cohesive vision backed up by a plan defeated the Multiverse Saga and, in turn, the MCU.
In comics, good is supposed to win out in the end. So the Venus Fry Cook just hopes that, one way or another, this isn’t truly over yet. Maybe there’s still time for the heroes to win in the end.
