this post was submitted on 05 Nov 2025
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In your opinion, what MCU projects had the most wasted potential? (i.postimg.cc)
submitted 5 days ago by TheImpressiveX@lemmy.today to c/marvelstudios@lemmy.world
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  • My first pick is "What If...?". In a multiverse of infinite possibilities, we ended up getting the same old same old. We could have gotten a nice, episodic, self-contained anthology series that had nothing to do with the rest of the MCU (as it was originally marketed as) but then they had to go and add a huge, connecting storyline. Not to mention the animation style could have been a bit better.
  • And then there's Secret Invasion, which by all accounts was a complete mess. A lot of people say that this should have been the main story arc of Phases 4 to 6 instead of the multiverse. They could have slowly teased the presence of Skrulls invading Earth (perhaps by revealing that some of the Avengers were Skrulls all along?) and maybe used the plot of Secret Invasion as a feature film instead of a series.
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[–] IcedRaktajino@startrek.website 14 points 5 days ago* (last edited 5 days ago) (3 children)

Considering Secret Invasion killed off my girl...

spoilerMaria Hill

...that, in and of itself, wasted a lot of potential. I thought for sure it was gonna be a fake out, but nope. It happened, and I'm still pissed off about it.

[–] Microw@piefed.zip 5 points 4 days ago

Maria Hill as a character had so much potential after The Avengers and Age of Ultron... and then they never used her bar a few cameos in Agents of SHIELD. And it's not like the actress is unknown or unproven or anything

[–] PhAzE@lemmy.ca 2 points 4 days ago

Then went on the path of Roadie being fake and no fan cared at that point. It was just so poorly written.

[–] edcasting@lemmy.world -3 points 4 days ago (1 children)

Eh… one death doesn't waste the potential of an entire story, particularly when she's never been a very important character even on the source material.

[–] IcedRaktajino@startrek.website 3 points 4 days ago (1 children)

We got Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D because they killed off Coulson in The Avengers. Unfortunately, the T.A.H.I.T.I lab was destroyed, so there's probably not gonna be a Maria Hill series lol

[–] edcasting@lemmy.world 0 points 3 days ago

There's no material to make a Maria Hill series that people would truly want to watch; the offbeat shield agent concept was already done by AoS itself. And she has no stories in the comics centered around her. Just because she's somewhat interesting doesn't mean she needs a series. Not that I'm condoning the decision to kill her character, but they really weren't doing anything with her.

[–] Entheon@lemmy.world 10 points 5 days ago

I did enjoy that What If had a connecting storyline, but they leaned a little too hard into it. Season 1 was a decent balance for it, but 2 and 3 could have definitely been more episodic.

[–] Erasmus@lemmy.world 9 points 5 days ago (1 children)

I absolutely loved What If, can’t complain about it.

Secret Invasion was such a wasted potential and a disappointing hot mess.

I saw someone else mention Dr. Strange 2 and I will have to agree. Wanda was always one of my favorite characters from the comics and the way they turned her evil seemed so…weird? It was like there was a plot line going in the WandaVision series but then when it ended there was a missing series we never saw in which she really just said fuck it I’n truly chaotic evil now

I think the Eternals belongs on this list as well.

[–] jacksilver@lemmy.world 4 points 4 days ago

I agree with you regarding Dr. Strange 2. I don't know how you can have a whole series leading into a movie and yet still have such whiplash in character motivations.

Wandavision ends with Wanda seemingly coming to some self realization that she's done something horrible. Then somehow she's become a full physcotic killer by the start of DS2. Even with the little ending teaser showing her holding the "evil" book, it was just too jarring and forced.

[–] wjrii@lemmy.world 9 points 5 days ago* (last edited 5 days ago) (1 children)

Those two are good. I'd also add Black Panther 2 and Dr. Strange 2. Both were hyped, and both of them got saddled with "backdoor pilot" and stage-setting duties for multiple properties at the expense of their own narratives. Marvel's done that all the way back to the first post-credit Avengers stinger, but in those two cases it was a lot and really kneecapped two promising projects. Then of course BP got dealt a very rough hand with Chadwick Boseman's passing, but I'm not sure they played that hand very well, either.

[–] MerrySkeptic@sh.itjust.works 8 points 5 days ago

Secret Invasion is more of a whiff in my opinion because What If...takes place outside the main continuity anyway. The Secret Invasion trailers also looked really good, promising a slow burn spy thriller. It had so much going for it. Alas...

[–] Omegamanthethird@lemmy.world 7 points 4 days ago (1 children)

Thor Love and Thunder by a mile.

What If? had a phenomenal season 1, even if it wasn't great after that.

Secret Invasion had potential. But it would have needed to be very careful to get the most out of it. I never really had high expectations from it.

Someone said Doctor Strange 2, but IMO it was everything I wanted out of a Doctor Strange movie. DS1 was more of a letdown.

Eternals should have been a show. But it was well made and had some top-notch CGI.

Thor 4 though was the most frustrating because it's so close to being an awesome movie. Just look at the deleted scene with Zeus. It's so much better than the orgy conversation. And Gorr was fucking awesome, I just wanted to see more of him. I want them to spend some money, patch it up, and re-release it. I would go to the theaters again for it if they did.

[–] PhAzE@lemmy.ca 4 points 4 days ago (1 children)

They'd also need to take out the weapon relationship garbage and the screaming goats, and some of the excessive potty humor.

[–] Omegamanthethird@lemmy.world 2 points 4 days ago

That's the bulk of what I'm talking about. The core of the movie is A+. Just give us more of that instead of the juvenile humor.

And toning down the humor would make anything left in funnier. Like, give me screaming goats once, then don't have it again

[–] Microw@piefed.zip 3 points 4 days ago

I mean, a lot of movies had more potential than what they turned out to be. I liked both Love and Thunder and Dr Strange 2, but those movies had the potential to be really really good if some decisions were taken differently.

[–] jordanlund@lemmy.world 7 points 5 days ago (1 children)

Everything post Endgame has largely been a waste.

It's either "I got snapped and I'm sad" or "I didn't get snapped and I'm sad."

They had no over-arching plot the way they did originally, first with building the Avengers, then with Thanos and the Infinity stones.

When they tried to introduce a bigger plot, too late IMHO, Kang, it got smothered in the cradle first by starting in a movie nobody saw (Quantumania), crossing into a Disney+ show that, again, excellent, but nobody saw (Loki).

Then, of course, the actor problems.

They are just now trying to get back on track with Doom. Hope it's not too late.

[–] HobbitFoot@thelemmy.club 7 points 5 days ago (1 children)

I feel like the MCU needed to take a breather after endgame, where stakes weren't as big.

I feel like a major problem with the Snap, though, was that it wasn't something the world could relate to. The MCU Earth is now very different from our Earth to where it is hard to write resonant movies in that universe.

[–] jordanlund@lemmy.world 4 points 4 days ago* (last edited 4 days ago) (1 children)

Taking a breather would have been fine if it felt like they were building up to something, but instead it felt like they lost all direction. 😟

The first batch of movies built to the Avengers, the next batch built to Thanos.

Even if you assume post Endgame was "The Multiverse" the number of properties that touched on it were minimal.

Phase 4 movies:
Black Widow - No Multiverse
Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings - No Multiverse
Eternals - No Multiverse
Spider-Man: No Way Home - Multiverse!
Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness - Multiverse!
Thor: Love and Thunder - No Multiverse
Black Panther: Wakanda Forever - No Multiverse

Phase 4 Disney+:
WandaVision - No Multiverse
The Falcon and the Winter Soldier - No Multiverse
Loki - Multiverse!
What If...? - Multiverse!
Hawkeye - No Multiverse
Moon Knight - No Multiverse
Ms. Marvel - No Multiverse
She-Hulk: Attorney at Law - No Multiverse Werewolf by Night - No Multiverse
The Guardians of the Galaxy Holiday Special - No Multiverse

Phase 5 Movies:
Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania - Multiverse!
Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 - No Multiverse
The Marvels - No Multiverse
Deadpool & Wolverine - Multiverse!
Captain America: Brave New World - No Multiverse
Thunderbolts*  - No Multiverse

Phase 5 Disney+:

Secret Invasion  - No Multiverse
Loki Season 2  - Multiverse!
What If...? Season 2  - Multiverse!
Echo  - No Multiverse
Agatha All Along  - No Multiverse
Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man  - No Multiverse
Daredevil: Born Again  - No Multiverse
Ironheart  - No Multiverse

[–] TheImpressiveX@lemmy.today 3 points 4 days ago (1 children)

Interesting.

So, of the 31 post-Endgame projects, the multiverse is the main focus of a grand total of seven projects.

[–] jordanlund@lemmy.world 2 points 4 days ago

Yup. Granted, the BIGGEST one was (Deadpool and Wolverine), but still... that's a lot of production dollars spent going nowhere...

[–] popcornpizza@lemmy.blahaj.zone 6 points 5 days ago

I liked What If, but was disappointed by Secret Invasion. Supposedly, Secret Invasion's production was crappy due to the pandemic and the invasion on Ukraine, or something like that.

But my beef with the MCU/Disney post-Endgame is that they are not committing to anything. They go "oh, Secret Invasion flopped, let's completely scrap everything we had been setting up for that story... oh, Majors is a piece of shit, let's complety scrap that storyline instead of recasting..." And it's not like a future movie or show couldn't retroactively fix a flop.

At this point, I prefer stuff like What If and Zombies, or Agatha All Along, stuff that is somewhat connected but different. The main arc, so to speak, is turning into The X-Files mythos arc, which was famously all over the place and one is better off skipping those episodes on rewatch.

[–] jacksilver@lemmy.world 2 points 4 days ago

While I think the movies are good, I think they should have had an older Spiderman. Not only has teen Spiderman been done so many times, but it would have made him a more obvious successor to IronMan and helped with the post endgame transition.

[–] Baggie@lemmy.zip 2 points 4 days ago

We could have had taskmaster as a reoccurring villain. Imagine someone turning up that is steadily getting more powerful, starts bodying the heros, it could have been really compelling.

[–] edcasting@lemmy.world 4 points 5 days ago

. The Thor series are really up there in terms of wasting great epic source material and acting talent. Ragnarok ended up being more sophomore humor than a reflective epic to fit, and let's not even talk about Thor: Love and Thunder. Even worse for the fact you know Chris Hemsworth has waited for a movie worthy of his character for so long, yet he keeps getting relegated to comedic relief.