It’s an ironic coincidence that the Marvel Cinematic Universe has been battling back against the most heated criticism the franchise has ever experienced at roughly the same time the Justin Roiland allegations almost derailed Rick and Morty entirely, seeing as several of the animated favorite’s alumni have made the jump to Kevin Feige’s outfit.
Jessica Gao spearheaded She-Hulk: Attorney at Law as showrunner, which ranks as the lowest-rated film or television project of the entire Marvel Studios era when it comes to Rotten Tomatoes audiences scores. Similarly, Jeff Loveness has been coming under sustained fire for penning Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania, which has had an adverse effect on Avengers: The Kang Dynasty hype as a result.
Michael Waldron may have won plenty of praise for shepherding the first season of Loki, but he took plenty of hits in the wake of Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, and the enthusiasm for Secret Wars took a tumble when he was revealed as the scribe behind the Multiverse Saga’s grand finale.
With that in mind, the reactions to Waldron re-upping his development deal with both Disney and Marvel has generated precisely the sort of reactions you’d expect.
Waldron was additionally tapped to pen Kevin Feige’s Star Wars blockbuster before it was cast onto the developmental scrapheap like so many before it, so he’s evidently one of the MCU architect’s favorite creatives of the moment. Of course, that doesn’t mean the fandom is required to be similarly enamored, but the best way to prove the doubters wrong is to deliver some Phase Five and Six content that manages to unite the divided masses for a change.