There’s something different about the MCU these days. To understand how to fix it, we need to understand that the Marvel Cinematic Universe is the most prolific and successful example of Transmedia storytelling, and that Phase Four has forgotten ‘storytelling’ in favour of ‘Transmedia’. Once we understand this we can begin the process of rebuilding one of the most beloved franchises the World has ever seen.
What is a Story?
It’s a simple idea, but let’s break it down. Structurally, a story can be broken down into composite parts, or acts. Author John Yorke suggests the ultimate way to break down a story is into five acts:
Act 01: Set Up and Call to Action
After revealing to the world that he is the Super-Hero Iron Man, egotistical genius and billionaire Tony Stark is recruited by a mysterious figure to join an elite team to fight an impossible threat.
Act 02: Things Go Well. Initial Objective Achieved
After vanquishing the extra-terrestrial threat, Tony becomes obsessed with the original mission, finding new ways to protect the Earth from any and all future threats.
Act 03: Things Start to Go Wrong as Forces of Antagonism Gather Strength
Tony’s ultimate protective force, the peacekeeping AI ‘Ultron’, goes rogue and threatens to destroy the world Tony is trying to save. Faced with his own failure, Tony’s actions severely weaken the elite team he helped establish.
Capitalising on the ensuing chaos, the mastermind of the original extra-terrestrial threat, Thanos, moves his forces into action.
Act 04: Things Go Really Badly Wrong
Reeling from his failure, Tony continues to undermine the team by backing the Sokovia accords, an action that results in the elite team being disbanded and partially imprisoned. When Thanos’ forces then arrive, the Earth is left undefended. As a result, half of all life in the Universe is lost.
Act 05: Crisis and Climax. Final Battle with Antagonist. Matters Resolve for Good or Ill
Tony Stark has failed. He stops fighting. He rejects the summons of the elite team to put things right. It takes his families blessing and encouragement to pull him back into the fight. When he does, it is the genius that started him on the path that ultimately saves the Universe and restores the ‘blipped’ population to life. With Thanos vanquished, Tony finds peace in death.
What is a Transmedia Story?
This is something of a trick question, as the above Five Act breakdown is an example of a Transmedia Story. Defined by Provost Professor of Communication, Journalism, Cinematic Arts and Education at the University of Southern California, Henry Jenkins defines a Transmedia story as one that ‘unfolds across multiple media platforms, with each new text making a distinctive and valuable contribution to the whole.’
The story of Tony Stark is part of a much larger tapestry, which when viewed as a whole becomes the story of The Avengers in their fight against Thanos. This story can, similarly to Tony's narrative, be broken down into:
- Steve Rogers’ desire to find a home
- Natasha Romanoff’s journey of redemption
- Bruce Banner’s dual identity
- Thor’s struggle to live up to his own legend
- Clint Barton’s hope for a simple life
The Marvel Cinematic Masterpiece
In its simplest form, a Transmedia story is much like a televised serial drama. John Yorke describes a serial as ‘one story released chapter by chapter to build a complete whole.’ Take each movie of Phases 1-3. Each is a chapter that, when fully assembled, creates the ‘complete whole’ of The Infinity Saga.
The cohesion of the franchise was impeccable, as each instalment progressed one of the two over-arching narratives:
- What is happening to the Avengers?
- Where are the Infinity Stones?
With these two strands, audiences were easily compelled to follow the story across 23 feature films spanning ten years. Avengers: Endgame isn’t one of the highest grossing movies of all time because of the spectacle, but because it was a satisfying culmination of a franchise fans had waited years to see.
Within this structure, Kevin Feige and Marvel Studios were able to take risks in building their creative team, opting to hire comedy TV directors and writers for many of their franchises. While fans wondered who the Guardians of the Galaxy were and why Scooby Doo 2: Monsters Unleashed writer/director James Gunn was helming their movie, Marvel were safe in the knowledge that the film would, for better or worse, progress the story they were trying to tell.
So, as each post-credit scene ended and fans left auditoriums, they wondered how the movie would play into the story they all, regardless of comics knowledge, understood was happening.
Big Promises, Big Ideas
We have discussed how multiple franchises can build a Transmedia experience, but another key element is medium. In Convergence Culture, Jenkins highlights that ‘each medium does what it does best.’ Star Wars does this with perhaps the most cohesive creativity, with that franchise now spanning a Saga of eleven feature films, no less than four animated series, and an ever-growing list of live-action streaming series.
When Disney announced they were commissioning MCU content for their new streaming platform, Disney Plus, it seemed that Marvel Studios were moving into similar territory for their new Saga. The announcement even promised movie-sized budgets for their streaming series and proper cohesion with the upcoming movie slate.
Marvel had previously shied away from acknowledging their television outings on the big screen, leading to many of their ventures being seen as little more than peripheral products.
To prove their commitment, the first series to be aired was WandaVision, which explored Wanda Maximoff’s grief following her losses at the end of The Infinity Saga and her subsequent journey to become the Scarlet Witch.
The series was a hit that kicked off the new Multiverse Saga on a firm footing. It was also an opportunity to explore Jenkins’ idea on a medium doing ‘what it does best’. A sit-com format is something that can’t be properly explored on a cinema screen, and it was initially used to great effect in WandaVision to prove that Marvel Studios were capable of making more than blockbuster seat-fillers.
Warning Signs
Progression is a cornerstone of any narrative, but it is crucial to Transmedia stories. If a new venture does not progress the overall narrative, it has no place being put into the public domain.
“While minor reversals can occur in every scene, bigger ones tend to divide the work into specific acts.” – John Yorke
Taking The Infinity Saga as a Three-Act story, its three ‘phases’ culminate in textbook major reversals, forcing major change and hurtling the story into its next act:
- The Avengers
- Avengers: Age of Ultron (with Ant-Man as epilogue/tonic)
- Avengers: Endgame (with Spider-Man: Far From Home as epilogue/tonic)
However, Phase 04 has culminated in Black Panther: Wakanda Forever. While it does continue to set up characters and stories that will become key players in the future, it does nothing to culminate the story of the phase.
In fact, there is no story to Phase 04.
True, it has introduced the Multiverse in some of its instalments, and the cosmic element has had more screentime than ever, but while Phase 01 was similarly disparate, the promise of The Avengers in the near future kept audiences invested. Marvel have now made no such commitment until Thunderbolts, which even now is multiple years away, with an arsenal of new material between us and it.
Marvel are also struggling with their characters. In Story, Robert McKee states that each character is ‘a hidden nature’ that ‘waits concealed behind a façade of traits.’ While characters like Kamala Khan continue to exemplify this, characters like Jennifer Walters have done little to show their 'hidden nature'. It is worth noting that She Hulk does have some brilliant characters, like the ambitious self-doubter, Nikki Ramos. Fan-favourites such as Wanda Maximoff have even been both ‘façade of traits’ and ‘hidden nature’ within the same phase.
The main issue is this:
Audiences do not know what to invest in anymore.
Hardcore comics fans know the threat Kang the Conqueror will become, but casual fans have little more than the promise of cameos from recently acquired franchises to keep them interested. Ant Man and the Wasp: Quantimania will likely answer a lot of these concerns, but it may be too little, too late, and in the wrong Phase.
More Can be More
Less isn’t always more. Look at Star Wars. It is possible to have quality and quantity. When it comes to Transmedia Storytelling it’s imperative. What really kills Transmedia franchises is a lack of cohesion. The Matrix: Resurrection proved this. After years of cult following and academic study, the fourth movie instalment shattered the continuity and left fans dissatisfied.
“The whole is worth more than the sum of the parts.” – Henry Jenkins
Without a ‘whole’ being even alluded to, it’s impossible for fans to get a foothold in what’s happening on their screens. It’s how Ant-Man became a crucial element in Avengers: Endgame, by at all times being ‘recognizably part of the whole’…’with enough flexibility that it can be rendered in’…’different styles of representation.’
It’s widely reported that the MCU is now working to culminate in several different ‘mini-sagas’, which may prove to be its undoing. Due to their medium, comics are able to tell multiple strand sagas. However, due to constraints on budget, medium, and audience attentions, this is likely to be unsuccessful in the blockbuster mainstream. Casual audiences will not be willing to accept without question that World War Hulk and The Kang Dynasty are simultaneously separate and the same.
“Incapable of perceiving randomness, we insist on imposing order on any observed phenomena, and any new information that comes our way.” – John Yorke
Imagine the confusion if Star Wars had been told in absolute chronological order, including all the cartoons and limited series. The information audiences would need to quickly take in would likely overwhelm them. By telling a trilogy of stories with clear entry points, the franchise can endlessly expand.
What is There to Do?
So, focusing solely on the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Is it dead?
No.
Despite its narrative short fallings, the MCU continues to be a moneymaking behemoth. But with such disparate franchises forming, it runs the risk of some, like the timeline averse Moon Knight, becoming seen as redundant.
“Redundancy burns up fan interest and causes franchises to fail.” – Henry Jenkins
In order to reclaim the magic of The Infinity Saga, Marvel needs to look back on the storytelling rules that formed the backbone of the franchise. Trim the fat, tell a tight story, and take time to do it.
Tony Stark’s near self-destruction started The Infinity Saga and was its backbone throughout. The franchise may have gone to space and dealt with magic, but knowing Stark was around the corner was a comfort. The Multiverse Saga started with Wanda Maximoff’s near self-destruction.
Make of that what you will.
Keeping an Eye Out
I’ve really enjoyed writing this, and all throughout the process I’ve been thinking about ways the MCU could practically refocus itself. In the weeks to come, I’ll be publishing on this blog my own pitch for The Multiverse Saga. So, if you’re interested, keep an eye out for that.
Comments