The MCU Jumped the Shark After the Most Successful Movie in the Franchise

The Marvel Cinematic Universe is the golden standard of superhero franchises. With over 30 completed films and a combined box office gross of over $30 billion, the MCU is the highest-grossing film series to date. While this record doesn’t seem set to be broken any time soon, Marvel’s recent endeavors have shown that the MCU has fallen past its glory. And now that we are left in the dredges of creativity, it’s time to admit that the MCU jumped the shark with Avengers: Endgame.

The term “Jump the Shark” is a phrase that describes when a creative work has reached past its fundamental intent and introduces new ideas that are discordant with or are a caricature of its original purpose. In short, when a creative work has run out of ideas and sinks to spectacle. The phrase was coined based on the 1985 episode of Happy Days when the Fonz (Henry Winkler) jumps over a shark while water-skiing. Thanks to this watershed moment, the phrase is commonly used to mark the moment of decline of a once great movie or show.

‘Avengers: Endgame’ Faltered With Their Final Rescue

The Avengers saga was at its absolute height with the 2018 release of Avengers: Infinity War. A near perfect action film, Infinity War had breathtaking stakes, an unconquerable villain, and a consortium of audience favored heroes that have been built and curated through a decade of establishing films. The devastating result of the Thanos snap was a cinematic event of seismic proportions that scorched the future of the franchise and left our mighty heroes fallen. It was the perfect scenario for Endgame. And yet, the expectations and the stakes being set so high made it an incredibly difficult task for the film to follow up. And Endgame followed that perfect and well-executed plan up with…time travel and the multiverse.

We will lay aside the creative laziness of the time-travel trope (which should not be laid aside. After all, there are so few problems that can not be fixed with time travel. But not everyone has a McGuffin and an Ant-Man to explain such a plot device). The true jump-the-shark moment was the team’s idea to pluck the necessary infinity stones from a series of other universes. This was a creatively bankrupt idea. First, gather McGuffin, then use McGuffin to introduce a universe that happens to have exactly what your universe lacks in order to save the day. This is an emotionally empty resolution. It is also a poisoned chalice that taints the rest of the series beyond this one, drastically reducing the stakes.

‘Endgame’s Introduction of Multiple Universes Provides a Fractured Reality

There is something so precious about ‘one.’ One demands uniqueness and irreplaceability; inherent in its finality is the importance of its being, which cannot be duplicated. Avengers: Endgame duplicated the universe and, in one fell swoop, diminished the value of them all. Instead of the characters that we have grown to know and love, the multiple universes have created characters that are as easily replaceable as batteries. Switch one out until they work.

How much less precious is Iron Man’s sacrifice once the knowledge is open that there is another Iron Man in another universe possibly waiting just a storyline away? The death of Loki, so easily reversed, doesn’t come across as clever. Instead, it removes what may have been the one good deed the character has done and replaces him with a scoundrel. This tactic undercuts the relationship that viewers have built with the previous Loki by replacing him. The whole world is now replaceable.

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After the success of ‘Avengers: Endgame’ and the original team disbanding, the question on everyone’s minds was, “Where do we go from here?”

Surely, for the MCU, the introduction of the multiverse widens the potential for alternative storylines. However, since the studio has already corrupted the sacredness of the universe, will fans truly connect to future projects in the same way? If one universe is scrapped, could the MCU not move to another? And which characters should viewers hold at greater value if they all have the emotional charge of a half-used battery?

Since Endgame, the MCU has failed and floundered to an astonishing degree. The relative cohesiveness of the franchise has been overtaken by a grab bag of tonally inconsistent films that do not reach the heights of the pre-Endgame offerings. And while this may not be directly connected to the jump-the-shark moment, can the MCU shake itself from the creative slump that initiated it? The current phase of the MCU has been dubbed Multiverse Saga. It does not appear that the MCU will let go of the multiverse angle anytime soon, and it is yet to be seen if Marvel can turn this around. The latest entry in the franchise, Captain America: Brave New World, is in theaters now. Avengers: Endgame is streaming on Disney+.