10 Annoying Marvel Trends The MCU Seriously Needs To Fix

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There are certain trends the MCU needs to revise in the near future to avoid getting too repetitive. As the superhero genre continues to move at full speed with hundreds of new movies, shows, video games, and comic books each year, some shared characteristics start to show up more often. Therefore, the search for fresh takes on superheroes becomes an increasingly difficult task.
The Marvel Cinematic Universe has established a successful formula that is patent across more than 39 MCU movies and shows, with action, comedy, and sci-fi elements that distinguish the franchise despite the wide range of genre inspirations it draws upon. But with such an expansive franchise, particular narrative tropes, characters, and storylines are bound to resemble each other. In order to keep things from becoming too formulaic, there's a number of trends the MCU can drop or reinvent.
10 Doctor Strange And Hulk Have Been Supporting Characters For Too Long Doctor Strange and Hulk are two essential members of the Avengers who have played key roles in the MCU's greatest battles. However, they haven't had the time to shine individually after their origin stories. Hulk helped create the MCU with 2008's The Incredible Hulk, only to appear in a supporting role in the Avengers movies, Thor: Ragnarok, and She-Hulk: Attorney At Law. Doctor Strange has saved the universe multiple times already and received a sequel to his first movie, but beyond 2016's Doctor Strange, he has only joined other characters' battles, even in Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, where he intervened in America Chavez's conflict with the Scarlet Witch.
While Hulk's distribution rights at Universal make it difficult for Marvel Studios to release more Hulk solo movies, the MCU's Planet Hulk setups point toward a Hulk-centric storyline in the future. As for Doctor Strange, Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness' post-credits scene features yet another character asking for Strange's help, but a Doctor Strange 3 team-up between Doctor Strange and Clea would work more as a solo movie for the sorcerer than most of his previous appearances.
9 Scarlet Witch Keeps Switching Between Hero And Villain Both in Marvel Comics and the MCU, Scarlet Witch has always blurred the line between hero and villain. Introduced as an antagonist in Avengers: Age of Ultron, Wanda Maximoff soon joined the Avengers and became an important team member, only to be branded a terrorist in Avengers: Civil War and lose the battle against Thanos in Avengers: Infinity War. But after Avengers: Endgame, Scarlet Witch's villainous tendencies returned in WandaVision, where she regretted her actions but quickly corrupted her mind with the Darkhold. And yet again, Scarlet Witch sacrificed herself to stop the problems she caused.
If Scarlet Witch ever comes back to the MCU, it may be difficult for her to be credible either as a hero or as an antagonist. She has felt sorry about her loss of control in the past, so her attempts at heroism may not be welcome again. And if she comes back as a villain, that would undo the change of heart she experienced in Doctor Strange 2's ending. Either way, it may be time for Scarlet Witch to decide on her allegiance and stick to it as she continues her journey.
8 MCU Heroes Keep Ignoring Massive Threats One obstacle a big interconnected franchise such as the MCU is bound to face is the lack of appearances from other characters every time they are logically expected. For instance, one or more Avengers should have showed up to save the president in Iron Man 3, all of Earth's Mightiest Heroes should have intervened when Tiamut was coming out of the planet's core in Eternals, and Captain Marvel should have known that cosmic villains such as Loki, Malekith, and Ronan were threatening her home. But since not every MCU character can appear in every movie and show to solve other heroes' problems, their absence is clearly felt.
The MCU could either take advantage of its shared nature and feature more supporting roles from different characters or come up with conflicts that don't continously raise questions about the whereabouts of the Avengers. Just like Hawkeye logically wouldn't have known about Kingpin before his own show due to the villain's secrecy, the regularly absent Captain Marvel could be reasonably expected to ignore most domestic threats if they didn't happen every few weeks. Or, at least, if huge events happen elsewhere, MCU characters should at least acknowledge them in passing.
7 The MCU Is Ignoring Important Characters With hundreds of characters to juggle, the MCU can't give every single one of them preferential treatment. However, some characters have received very little to do in comparison to others. Valkyrie, Wasp, and Drax, for example, haven't achieved much after their introduction and have only played supporting roles in their respective appearances. While not every MCU character can have their own movie or show, they at least could accomplish bigger feats or have more exciting character arcs that do them justice. Perhaps crossover events like Thunderbolts or grand finales like Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 can put them back in the forefront.

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