It’s safe to say that the Marvel franchise had a pretty great year, starting withWandaVisionand ending withSpider-Man: No Way Homein December.No Way Homewas the perfect way to close out the year, making it one of the biggest Marvel projects to date.
As of right now,No Way Homeis currently thefourth-biggest movie of all timein the United States, according to box office reports, with the only other Marvel movie topping it beingAvengers: Endgame.The return of Andrew Garfield and Tobey Maguire played a large part in making the film a success, with the help of other actors like Willem Dafoe and Alfred Molina.
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Along with a compelling plot and the convergence of theSpider-Verse, the cast and characters were one of the biggest draws of the movie. The fact that Spider-Man has warranted three different reboots is a testament in and of itself as to how popular the web-slinging character is, and Spider-Man is certainly one of the most well-known Marvel heroes ever created.
EachSpider-Manseries has its highs and lows, although the overall response from fans has been more positive than negative. Given the success of all three Spider-Man series on their own, bringing all thePeter Parkerstogether in a single timeline worked well for the MCU, because each actor/character is popular with audiences.
So despite the incredible results this strategy produced inNo Way Home, it probably won’t work for any other Marvel movies in the future. For starters, Marvel has a habit of overusing plot points that have worked well for them in the past. The “fake death” plot line, for example, started to become predictable after killing and reviving so many characters. If Marvel makes a habit of bringing in characters from old movies that aren’t part of the official MCU, this technique will lose the impact it had on fans duringNo Way Home.
Additionally, the reason that the return of Garfield, Maguire and the otherSpider-Man villainswas so well received was because of their individual popularity. As previously stated, Spider-Man is one of the most widely known and beloved characters in the Marvel Universe. Therefore, bringing together all versions of Peter Parker in a single movie, along with other infamous villains, was actually something viewers wanted to see.
If Marvel were to try and use the multiverse as a way to incorporate other, less popular, non-MCU characters into future projects, the impact it will have on viewers won’t be the same. The reasonNo Way Homepacked such a punch and has performed so well is because of the connection fans have to all versions of Spider-Man, as well as the villains already seen in earlier movies. There aren’t many other opportunities Marvel has to reuse this strategy and get the same outcome.
With that being said, though, an argument can be made in favor of Marvel introducing the X-Men, since their resurgence could add more depth to the MCU. The X-Men movies were met with a great deal of success on their own and numerous MCU fans are also fans of theX-Menseries. SinceX-Menhas individual popularity similar to that ofGarfield and Maguire’sSpider-Manmovies, bringing back the X-Men would certainly be a big deal for a lot of Marvel viewers.
Not to mention, those who have seenDeadpoolknow that the foul-mouthed mercenary has already established a relationship with some X-Men, like Colossus, and frequently cracks jokes at the expense of Wolverine.Deadpoolwill officially join the MCU withDeadpool 3, so it appears as if the X-Men will become part of the MCU, by extension.
With big names likeJennifer Lawrenceand Hugh Jackman having been part of the X-Men franchise, getting to see them reprise their roles as Mystique and Wolverine, respectively, would be a great addition to the MCU. Not to mention, now that Deadpool has found his way into the MCU and already has a connection to the X-Men, it should be relatively easy for Marvel Studios to incorporate the rest of the X-Men somewhere down the line.
In fact, some Marvel fans are actually surprised the original X-Men haven’t already come back to take the MCU by storm. Ever since Evan Peters appeared inWandaVisionas a version of Quicksilver,there’s been a lot of theories circulating the internet about how the rest of the X-Men will be brought back into the fold.
So, between the franchise’s individual popularity and the connection they have to Deadpool, it does seem reasonable to assume that the return of allthe X-Menactors would gain a response close to the one garnered fromNo Way Home. Other than that, the Spider-Man strategy should be put to rest for all other future projects.
