Marvel Studious has, over the years, set up a whole cinematic universe with movies and series. It is ever-expanding, built on characters and stories from the Marvel comics. The movies and the series are interwoven to combine a tell one big story. It began with Iron Man (2008) and is already at Phase 4.
But building an entire universe needs recurring characters and for that, they also need recurring actors and that is not always a good idea. Along with that, the studio also explored a limited series with Moon Knight that turned out quite well, it seems that it might be time to focus more on such projects.
Is franchise sequels now a failing idea?
Marvel Cinematic Universe has built itself on movies and sequels. But it is not an unknown tale to anyone that with too many sequels, the franchise has stopped impressing the fans the way it did the very first time. Recent examples of the Doctor Strange sequel and the fourth Thor film, disappointed the fans majorly, despite having so much to explore and amazing directors like Sam Raimi and Taika Waititi.
Not just them even Captain America: Civil War and Iron Man 2 and 3 did not live up to the glory of their predecessors. Also, the franchise model can be considered inadequate as it makes the actors and directors more complacent, we stop seeing their best efforts, as they learn that they aren’t that easily replaceable, especially when they become fan favorites. Many even start demanding a higher paycheck every time they reprise the role.
Limited series seems to be working better for Marvel
Marvel Studios released a limited series on the superhero, Moon Knight played by Oscar Isaac and directed by Mohamed Diab. The series followed Marc Spector, a mercenary who has Dissociative Identity Disorder and has two other personalities – Steven Grant and Jake Lockley. Steven Grant owns a gift shop at a museum in London and not much is known about Jake Lockley other than his brutal nature and that he speaks Spanish.
Moon Knight turned out to be a highly successful series, with a 86% rating on Rotten Tomatoes. The series also got 8 Emmy nominations and won one for Outstanding Sound Editing For A Limited Or Anthology Series, Movie, Or Special – 2022. The series wasn’t connected to the larger universe of Marvel and was just focused on Marc and his struggles.
With Oscar Isaac not being bound to a contract, did his best work with the character and played the switch between different personalities just so amazing. It is proof enough that when the actors and directors aren’t bound by years-long contracts, they put in better work and give better results. Marvel Studios should put more thought into introducing more such series and working on single and limited series.
