Despite its humble beginnings, the Marvel Cinematic Universe has become one of the biggest franchises in cinema history. Spanning more than a decade of films, the series has certainly had its ups and downs in its lineup of great and not so great movies.
Regardless of the quality of each individual film as a whole, there is certainly room for each to be even better than they already are. There are too many films for them all to be covered here, but here are ten examples of ways the MCU movies could have been better.
Obadiah Stane's Death
Iron Man was a great start to the MCU, but the way director Jon Favreau chose to end the final fight between Tony Stark and Obadiah Stane causes a little confusion. At the end of the fight, an energy blast kills Obadiah and leaves Tony unharmed, despite the fact they both should have been impacted by it.
As it turns out, there is a longer version of this sequence in which Obadiah does not die instantly and he falls onto an unstable beam. He and Tony share a final moment before the beam breaks and Obadiah falls to his death. If this moment had been kept in the film, it would have explained why Tony survived the blast and Obadiah did not while also giving these characters' relationship a fitting final moment.
Less Repetition
One of Thor: The Dark World's biggest problems is its pacing. One of the contributing factors to this bad pacing is the fact that the film gives the audience the same information repeatedly. There are a few places where the film does this, but the most glaring instance is when Odin tells Thor and Jane the history of the Aether, which only repeats information the audience already got in the film's opening scene.
One simple fix would be to move the prologue scene so that it becomes a flashback sequence when Odin is talking to Thor and Jane. Another option would be to cut the prologue scene altogether. Either way, two scenes explaining the same information is unnecessary.
Thor And Frigga
Speaking of Thor: The Dark World needing more character development, one of the most unexplored aspects of the film is Thor and Loki's relationship with their mother. This is a huge problem considering that one of the key emotional beats of the film is Frigga's death.
There is a deleted scene that would have been incredibly helpful for building the connection between Frigga and her two sons. In it, Thor and Frigga discuss Loki, with Thor commenting on how she is still able to care for Loki even after all of the things he has done. Her response alone justifies the scene's need to be in the final film: "When your father banished you, I did not love you any less."
The Norn Cave
One of the most confusing parts of Avengers: Age of Ultron is Thor's side quest to the cave where he is able to return to the vision that Scarlet Witch showed him. This is due in part to the fact that the film never provides a proper explanation for what is going on and the scenes themselves being a bit confusing.
Watching the deleted scenes for Age of Ultron reveals an alternate version of this subplot that is much clearer about what is transpiring and how it relates to the rest of the story. If Joss Whedon had used these deleted scenes instead, Thor's storyline would have flowed much better.
Peter Parker
One of the chief complaints about the MCU's Spider-Man is that he feels like a mini Tony Stark. Given the fact that in the comics Peter Parker is just a regular guy struggling with regular people problems while movie Peter Parker is a high school student who gets pretty much everything handed to him, this is an understandable frustration.
Fortunately, it has a simple fix. Make Peter Parker a broke college student in Captain America: Civil War. Yes, this would require Homecoming and Far From Home to lose the high school comedy element, but the result would be a much more faithful adaptation of the character.
Kaecilius
Mads Mikkelsen's Kaecilius had the potential to be one of the MCU's most compelling villains. A man broken by the loss of his family, he fell from grace after going too far in his quest for eternal life. Unfortunately, he gets very little screen time in Doctor Strange before getting killed off and never reaches his full potential as a character.
If the movie had spent more time with Kaecilius, contrasting his journey with that of Strange, the result would have been an ideological conflict that rivaled the one in Black Panther.
Thor And Jane's Breakup
Despite being a major part of Thor's story in his first to films, Jane Foster was nowhere to be seen in Thor: Ragnarok. This would have been fine given that Thor spends the majority of the movie on planets other than Earth, but the filmmakers instead decide to acknowledge her absence with a joke about them breaking up.
This is a bad way to end a major storyline. While Thor and Jane's relationship may not have worked for everyone, it cannot be denied that Thor would not be the hero he is without having met Jane. To cast her aside in such a flippant way is disrespectful to his arc, Jane's character, and the fans that actually were invested in their relationship. The joke is unnecessary to Ragnarok and would have been better left on the cutting room floor.
Smart Hulk's Origin
A major criticism of Infinity War and Endgame is that the development of Smart Hulk is never shown. The films jump from one point in Bruce Banner and Hulk's relationship to a completely different point with only some expositional dialogue to explain it.
Marvel has recently revealed a deleted scene from Infinity War that would have made this storyline play much better because Smart Hulk is actually born in that scene. The scene is a longer version of Bruce trying to get Hulk to come out in the battle at Wakanda, resulting in the two of them having something of a heart to heart and Smart Hulk emerging from the Hulkbuster armor. If this had been placed in the part of the battle where all of the heroes are having their big hero moments, this would have been a satisfying payoff for Banner's arc.
The Kree Twist
One problem with Captain Marvel is that it is difficult on first viewing to root for Carol Danvers because it is unclear what exactly it is we are rooting for her to do. The film sends mixed signals because on the one hand she is trying to return home to the Kree but then she starts to have memories of Earth that suggest she has a history there. This leaves viewers questioning whether we are supposed to want her to get back to the Kree or stay on Earth.
This gets cleared up in the third act when it is revealed that the Kree have lied to her and given her a false identity. This reveal should have been made to the audience much earlier in the film. The story would have landed much better if the audience knew the truth from the beginning, resulting in the audience cheering for the hero to also learn the truth and regain her true identity.
Mysterio's Toast
Mysterio's toast in Spider-Man: Far From Home is difficult to watch on repeat viewings because it becomes extremely clear that he is mostly repeating information that the other characters should already know. He describes each person's role in their scheme and how they came to be involved.
First off, the descriptions of their roles is unnecessary because the film shows what they each do in subsequent scenes. Second, their motivations could have been explained in the scene without their life stories being recounted. Simple fix: have Mysterio simply say that after this no one can keep greatness from them and toast to taking the spotlight.