TheMarvel Cinematic Universeis a franchise filled with superheroes, supervillains, and massive cosmic threats. What started in 2008 with the simple grounded story ofIron Manhas now grown into a massive franchise with various forms of aliens, mystical forces, and superpowered individuals. It is a franchise that audiences have loved for almost 15 years now and shows a world that is both familiar but unlike anything that exists in the real world.
Marvel Comics was always pitched as the world just outside our own. Unlike DC, whose heroes took place in fictional cities like Metropolis or Gotham, the heroes of the Marvel Universe were in New York and interacted with real-world events. While the MCU originally started as that, followingThe Avengersand the arrival of aliens, the franchise shifted in many ways to an alternate reality.
The MCU became one that was close to that of the viewer but with some major deviations caused by some big world-ending events, with the boundaries between the real world and the MCU made greater by the events ofAvengers: Infinity WarandAvengers: Endgame,where half of life disappeared for five years. In a world filled with superheroes, one has to ask — is reality in the MCU any better than the real world? Take a look at the struggles that come from living in the MCU, but also some of the upsides and how a world filled with superheroes is not so clear-cut good or bad.
Constant World-Ending Threats
Anyone who has looked at the news knows that living in the real world is hard, with various anxieties filling people’s daily life. Most people likely doom scroll through social media and see stories about climate change, various global conflicts, and even basic human rights constantly under attack by politicians looking to strengthen their party. Dealing with day-to-day life is stressful enough, now imagine how much more difficult it would be when the threat of an alien invasion or being blipped out of existence was something that could happen. That is what life in the MCU must be like for a normal person, and while they do have the comfort of heroes like the Avengers it is clear they don’t always win the day.
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Looking at Phase 4 alone, following half the planet being snapped out of existence, the average person in the MCU has seen news reports of a giant rock formation growing out of the Indian Ocean (in the ending ofEternals), the sky rewinding over Egypt in addition to two giant kaiju fighting on the pyramids (Moon Knight), Spider-Man having access to weaponized drones (Spider-Man: No Way Home), and one of the Avengers taking control of a small town in New Jersey (WandaVision). The day-to-day existence of the MCU must be incredibly stressful, not knowing if on your commute to work you will be attacked by some villain with tentacles.
The MCU Has Not Grown as Much as it Should Have
Iron Manended with the major reveal that Tony Stark was Iron Man, and the sequelIron Man 2showed Tony attempting to use his influence and technology to pool resources from around the world to leave behind a better tomorrow. Yet despite all ofTony Stark’s technologyand likely major breakthroughs, the MCU still functions very much like our own. One would imagine a genius like Tony Stark and his influence would have been able to truly help the world more, eliminating world hunger and creating cheap (even free) housing to solve homelessness.
While the franchise makes a point that Tony is worried about his technology falling into the wrong hands, that typically only applies to his Iron Man suit, which is a weapon, not the advanced robotics or life-changing technology he uses to outfit The Avengers. This is done to keep the MCU more closely relatable to the audience, but it does call into question how much better is the universe when a genius like Tony Stark is working to make the world a better place.
Black Panther: Wakanda Foreverdoes embrace this sort of status quo nature of the MCU. Despite the ending ofBlack Pantherimplying Wakanda would share its resources with the world, the sequel reveals that Wakanda has not openly shared Vibranium with other countries as they recognize the danger of giving it to the wrong hands. Opening themselves up to the rest of the world has applied more to outreach centers, helping others around the world while still maintaining strict control over their precious resource. Vibranium is the most powerful metal on Earth, and it could alter the very fabric of the MCU if everyone has easy access to it and make the world a far more dangerous place.
The MCU is a World of Possibilities
While there certainly is a great deal of stress living in the MCU, there are also some pretty positive upsides. One is just how much more there is to discover. While the constant threats from the cosmos might be terrifying, it is also a world of exciting possibilities. In the MCU people have learned about the existence of the Asgardians and other alien life. New resources like Vibranium are being discovered, and technologies are being developed to help shape the world. While Baron Von Strucker said “it is an age of miracles” threateningly, instead the age of miracles means new potential and with much to be answered.
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It was once believed that the blank pages on the map were all filled in, but in the MCU, Earth still has many secrets waiting to be uncovered with even more waiting beyond the stars. It is a world of vast potential that seems to reveal something exciting with every new installment.
Heroes Who Inspire
Alan Moore’sWatchmenis one of the most groundbreaking and seminal works of superhero fiction ever made. Its basic thesis was that a world where superheroes are real would be terrible because they would have all the same flaws as regular normal people, and instead of being figures of aspiration, they could only ever let us down. The central idea of “Who Watches the Watchmen” asks — who watches over those who are meant to protect us.
The Marvel Cinematic Universe offers a much more optimistic counter-argument. The heroes of the MCU are very much designed to be like real people, but unlike inthe subversiveWatchmen,where the idea of heroes being real people was meant to disappoint us, in the MCU the overriding thesis is that if superheroes were real, they would be like us — and that is their greatest strength. They would have flaws, but that doesn’t mean they still can’t be good.
Instead of absolute power corrupting, great power means great responsibility. Characters like Steve Rogers, Sam Wilson, Jennifer Walters, Kamala Khan, Peter Parker, and more are just normal people who have greatness thrust upon them and do the right thing simply because it is right. In a world filled with threats from underneath the ocean, space, and other dimensions it must be comforting to know there are people who are not only equipped to handle it but also fight for us not because they live above us like gods looking to be worshiped but because they live among us. They are us. Superheroes make the MCU a safer place, and one worth living in.
