![]() ![]() They also all appear in later phases of the franchise or, in the case of the Eternals, have yet to be released. Black Panther, Captain Marvel, and the Eternals all represent firsts for representation in the MCU. And that dominance Is manifesting itself in other media as well. Both signifiers of the corporation’s absolute market domination. WandaVision follows Endgame’s record-breaking box office earnings and Disney’s acquisition of Fox. Just as intellectual property laws protect the products of research and development (and the Disney corporation, for that matter), so does the market dominance of the MCU defend it from the consequences of a programming risk. But the primary principle remains the same: risk is encouraged when security is assured. Sounds pretty good, right? Now, the development of a new vaccine or the aeroplane’s invention aren’t exactly on par with a Disney+ content drop. Without innovation several life saving, world changing, and genre defining products and services might never exist. Conventional wisdom is that innovation isn’t a financially sound decision without the legal assurance of exclusive profit. Intellectual property laws, a form of legal monopoly, have long been considered necessary for private corporations to invest in research and development. Monopoly has always been an incentive for innovation in a market economy and that same rule applies to the MCU. If Age of Ultron (2015) and Thor: The Dark World (2013) didn’t kill the franchise, nothing will. That might seem naive of me, but I think they’ve proven themselves. I cannot envisage Marvel content being anything less than significant. Right now, Marvel Studios is too big to fail. I like to call it their post-consolidation secure growth stage. Starring two less than central characters, streaming on Disney+, and with a main hook that’s less appealing to a casual audience, WandaVision could only have happened in Marvel’s present stage. Yet the more Marvel consolidates its dominance over mainstream entertainment, the more risks it’s willing to take. According to traditional economic and cultural theory, monopoly and market homogeneity breed stagnation. Phase 3, on the other hand, has some of its most vibrant entries. Phase 2, a period of consolidation for Marvel, has many of the most formulaic films of the MCU - namely Thor: The Dark World (2013) and Age of Ultron (2015) being the top offenders. Marvel, as a studio, and the creative risk it’s willing to bear, has always been directly linked to its stages of development. This innovation isn’t just a creative decision made in isolation, though. In the heaving behemoth that is the Marvel machine, this is innovation. In a departure from the MCU of winter’s past, WandaVision presents itself as a psychological thriller – exploring character and aesthetic more than anything else. While most Marvel movies (and most big-budget blockbusters in general) sell themselves on grand action–set pieces and fast pace, moment to moment combat, WandaVision doesn’t. But while it’s a hoot, it also symbolises a shift in Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) programming away from the traditional feature film format, but pre-eminently away from the safety of the MCU formula. ![]()
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