Writer Michael Waldron didn’t bother to watch WandaVision before repeating Wanda’s arc from the show in Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness. Taika Waititi turned Thor, one of the most powerful Avengers and above all, a god, into a parody in Love and Thunder. There are so many more examples that stress Marvel Studios pays little attention to what its collaborators are doing with those whose storylines affect the shared universe, which should have been impossible given that the studio has a “Parliament” of its own.
Marvel’s Parliament? Those who managed to stop tapping their toes in impatience while waiting for the mid and post-credit scenes in the MCU films would have noticed a group of filmmakers being credited as “Marvel Studios Parliament.” Sounds like some big, autocratic organization that makes all the significant decisions pertaining to the franchise, right? Well, sorry to burst your bubble, but it ain’t that scary, and judging by the recent state of the franchise, not that attentive either when it comes to sidestepping even the most obvious pitfalls.
So, what does this Marvel Parliament do?
In simple terms, the Parliament within the studio is like a “brain trust” for Marvel, made up of filmmakers who have, as explained by Nate Moore (producer on Eternals, Black Panther: Wakanda Forever, etc), worked with them for a very, very long time.
“Parliament is essentially those of us who’ve been with the company for longer than we want to admit who sort of help each other with ideas across all the properties, regardless of whether it’s my movie or Jonathan [Schwartz]’s movie or Stephen [Broussard] ‘s movie. And so yeah, it’s nothing more than that. We kind of came up with the name as a lark and it kind of stuck, and now I’m forced to answer questions from my friends, like, ‘What’s Parliament?’ I’m like, ‘Oh boy.’ It really is just kind of a brain trust to help elevate the movies when we can.”
Looks like this Marvel team — made up of Stephen Broussard, Eric Hauserman Carroll, Nate Moore, Jonathan Schwartz, Trinh Tran, Executive, and Brad Winderbaum — has a lot on its plate! But this doesn’t even begin to cover all their duties, which also include keeping an eye on continuity and ensuring stories across the different projects don’t start overlapping, but it is not their responsibility as it falls on the directors, writers, etc., who are working on their respective projects but are not part of the team i.e., the non-Parliament folks.
Another point in their job description is to decide which comic book superhero will get the live-action treatment. As shared by Shang-Chi producer Schwartz with Murphy’s Multiverse, the team sits down, discusses characters they all want to adapt or only one person is excited about, and then divides up the work between themselves based on who is most excited to do a specific task.
“There definitely is a camaraderie for a lot of us who have been around for a long time just throwing ideas back and forth […] It’s great when you have people who have been through the process, and who you trust, and whose creative taste you trust, and everyone’s taste is different, and that’s part of what’s really useful about it. Not all of us see movies the same way, so we’re all able to bring something a little bit different.”
Some five years ago, Marvel boss Kevin Feige expressed the confidence that if he were to leave Marvel one day, the Parliament would keep the franchise successfully running. Today, after the mess that has been Phase Four and Five, his claim feels like a premature prediction given how this crucial committee — which was tasked to bring the delayed Secret Invasion on track (we all know how that went) — has been having a hard time to stop relying on past victories to keep the MCU afloat and conjure fresh success from new projects.
But Loki season 2 so far seems like the studio is finally finding its balance. Then there is the shocking decision to fire Daredevil: Born Again’s director and writers to start from scratch, and the promise to completely shift how Marvel has been treating its TV output. Do we credit the Parliament for trying to bring Marvel back on track? Well, unless it works, figuring out who needs to be thanked is the last question that needs answers.
