As the most lucrative film and television enterprise of the modern era, the Marvel Cinematic Universe is free to do pretty much whatever the hell it wants, knowing full well that either paying theatrical audiences or Disney Plus subscribers will be there on day one regardless of what happens.
That being said, there’s been some frustration online about the deliberately open-ended nature of Phase Four so far, especially when it comes to the Disney Plus slate of projects. On the big screen front, Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings has a sequel in development, but fans have been left hanging on the future of Eternals for six months, while Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness ended with not one, but two unresolved plot points.
On the small screen side of the equation, neither Hawkeye nor Moon Knight have been officially renewed for second seasons, with everyone involved playing their cards close to the chest. As part of the Assembled special focusing on Oscar Isaac’s mythological superhero, Marvel Studios’ Head of Streaming, Television and Animation Brad Winderbaum explained why we’ve been left hanging.
“There are new challenges and new rewards that come with making longer-form stories. We’re keeping the endings more open now, I think. We don’t have to tie up every loose end. And when you create characters as strong as Moon Knight and Scarlet Scarab, we can confidently go into the future knowing that there’s more stories left to tell and new characters that we can bring in to tell them.”
It’s not quite the explanation folks would have been hoping for, but it does at least keep the mystery alive as to who could return where and why, even if the fanbase would prefer Marvel to come right out and say it.
