Characters got lost in a multiverse of meta, but a couple tricky human dramas slipped between the cameos.
“Everyone pays attention when I’mthis,” says She-Hulk (Tatiana Maslany).
Jennifer Walters was a deputy district attorney with student loans.
Tatiana Maslany in ‘She-Hulk’; Jonathan Majors in ‘Ant-Man’.Chuck Zlotnick/Marvel Studios (2)
Her gamma-charged alter ego gets a corporate salary and dances with Megan Thee Stallion.
Men swipe right on She-Hulk.Disney+greenlights her spin-off.
“Would the same guys who like She-Hulk,” she worries, “stick around for Jen?”
Elizabeth Olsen in ‘WandaVision’.Marvel Studios
She-Hulk: Attorney at Lawis the best TV series in the Marvel Cinematic Universe because it is fine.
I stopped mid-Loki, but I caught up this month in anticipation ofAnt-Man 3launching Phase 5.
I don’t recommend the rapid intake.
Phase 4 was repetitively about repetition.
Also: So much amnesia.
Marvel Studios invented the Hollywood Chris era, so greater diversity was solid penance.
But old identities multiplied.
Guys dueled over Captain America’s shield.
Thor’s ex became “a Thor,” which turnedtheThor on.
Loki loved a Loki.
Less creepily, Hawkeye helped a Hawkeye enthusiast Hawkeye up.
Not all females wanted to rebrand male legacies.
“The Black Panther is a relic!”
said the new Black Panther.
“I don’t want to be a Hulk!”
Are all new characters just reboots?
Young super-powered super fans didn’t mind.
Ms. Marvel cosplayed Captain Marvel.
“I’m a huge fan!”
Pre-Infinity War, Thor’s hammer got emasculated to pieces andBlack Panthersuggested T’Challa was kinda clueless.
Phase 4 demanded more reverence, and moremore.
Thus came the multiverse, and the multiverse sucks.
Promising infinite possibilities, it delivered replication.
Loki met Lokis who were memes of Loki-ness.
Three Spider-Men were basically identical, and they didn’t even discuss being different ages.
The new normal was multi and meta.She-Hulkintroduced tyrant algorithm K.E.V.I.N behind the fourth wall.
The self-satire failed because it was the phase’sfourthKevin Feigearchetype.Black Widow’s baddie operated his own world-controlling screen sanctum.
What was lost in the parade of alternate selves, variant costumes, and guest stars?
Marvel magic depends on super-stuff clashing with regular problems.
Phase 4 projects began in that right direction.
Falcon could not secure a boat-repair loan.Ms.
Marvelevoked a Jersey teenscape between high school and the mosque.Black WidowandShang-Chihad parallel dinners where distrustful siblings faced traitor parents.
Those generational tensions could be whole movies.
I’m not asking for Cassavetes.
They’re warriors; their conflicts could be emotional and actual.
Instead, those families battled armies or a dragon, before meetingJulia Louis-Dreyfus' worst performance and a Ruffalogram.
The Dora Milaje, badass with spears, became the umpteenth Iron Man-throw in.
“I’m magic now!”
Marvel’s team followedAvengers: Endgamewith a dozen immediate sequels.
Is that why this victory lap felt so desperate, hunting clickbait-ishly for an Assemble Versus Thanos mega-moment?
In comics history, when a crossover sold well, financial imperative turned everything into a crossover.
Disney budgets amplified this wrong instinct.
Results were literally dehumanizing.
Tatiana Maslany is a subtle emotional supernova.
She-Hulk is… not.
Her motion-captured digital presence is smooth, notably less expressive.
But the show wonders if superhero-ing scrapes away your soul.
It also exemplifies the problem.
By the incoherent finale, avowed super-skeptic Jen unconvincingly stans over the X-Men.
Phase 4’s most interesting personality went a different direction.
I hateBenedict Cumberbatch’s Dr.
Strange so, so much.
Strange in the Multiverse of Madnessfor killing him three ways.
But the movie sizzles because ofElizabeth Olsen’s Wanda.
That could read anti-feminist, anti-mom, even anti-trauma.
(No question, it’s a weird look coming right after Zendaya’s brain wipe.)
But I’m thankful we got one antagonist with such clear, visceral motivation.
She isn’t a Kang-Celestial galactic architect.
She doesn’t want to conquer/destroy the world or smash flags.
She just wants her kids back!!!
She wants what Phase 4 let no one have.
Her normalization turns bloody when a meta-multi-referential superteam attacks.
Fantastic John Krasinski, Captain Agent Carter America, ’90s Professor X: Wanda fillets them all.
A drastic solution, but something has to change.
That is precisely the opposite of what the ratio should be.
I hope Phase 5 cuts the cosmic, and lets these characters sing.
