Phase 4 of the MCU is treating serious traumas experienced by those in the universe (like Thanos' snap) as a joke. In Disney+'s Hawkeye, a post-blip Broadway show called Rogers: The Musical features a twee cast desperately trying to capitalize on the popularity of the Avengers with a no-holds-barred cheese-fest. This, along with things like Scott Lang's podcast, so far the primary source for information about the Avengers' battles, allows Marvel to throw in Easter eggs and references that it otherwise wouldn't be able to, as the MCU's public now has the same knowledge as the audience.

Citizens are aware of other events in the MCU simply by experiencing them, such as the Battle of New York. The best example of this, however, is the blip. It took the lives of half of the existing universe and erased them completely, and without warning. People were blindsided by the sudden disappearance of their loved ones. The blip destabilized governments and brought life to a screeching halt. It was a never-ending tragedy that had most people in support groups, as shown in Endgame, and nobody knew how to cope with the reality that half the world was gone. People in the post-blip MCU had to learn to live in new ways twice during the same five years due to the Avengers' exploits.

Related: Thanos' Infinity War Snap Created 1 Big Character Problem For Phase 4

For this reason, it is irksome that the MCU seems to be treating shared public traumas like the blip and the Battle of New York as non-issues that people can just joke about and move on from. All the references to these events in the MCU have a little cheekiness to them, which is fun for the audience but doesn't quite make sense for the people living in that universe. Every time Marvel makes a lighthearted joke or reference to an event that changed people's lives en masse, it becomes harder to believe that citizens in that world would actually find it funny.

MCU Phase 4 Continues To Treat Thanos' Snap Like A Joke

Bucky Disappearing in Infinity War

For example, the Loki cosplay seen in Ms. Marvel is fun for those at home watching but essentially amounts to glorifying a mass murderer within the context of the MCU. Another instance where Marvel uses shared trauma as a joke in Thor: Love and Thunder by naming of the ice cream place in New Asgard, "Infinity Conez." Although funny, it is, again, unlikely that anyone would name their ice cream shop after the weapon that killed half the universe. People went through a lot in the five years since the blip, and it is very likely that those who suffered the most don't want to be reminded of the time their loved ones vanished while they're trying to get some ice cream on a cruise.

The insensitive behavior that the MCU has shown while trying to create Easter eggs isn't worth losing the suspension of disbelief that goes along with assuming that everyone is just okay with jokes about the Battle of New York and the blip. Easter eggs are fun, but the MCU would be better served by addressing the seriousness of what happened to the world than it has been in trying to make jokes for those watching.

Next: What If Thanos Had Snapped The Other Half Of The Avengers In Infinity War?

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