Who said the MCU‘s 2024 was going to be a barren wasteland? Sure, we might only have the one Marvel Studios movie coming over the next 12 months, but Disney Plus is already serving up its first TV show of the year — mere days after the arrival of What If…? And it might just be vastly more informative to the future of the Marvel multiverse than we realized.
As Chancellor Palpatine might say; a surprise, to be sure, but a welcome one. Speaking of, have you ever wondered why Disney has never ordered a Marvel/Star Wars crossover, despite the cosmos of cash it would bring home? Well, brace yourselves because this one is going to sting. But first…
Marvel makes a shock announcement about its new big bad, but not the one you were expecting
We’re all waiting to find out who will take over from Jonathan Majors as the chief mustache-twirler of the MCU’s Multiverse Saga, so that’s why it’s so surprising that Marvel has confirmed that another big bad is rising up in Kang’s wake. Starting with his return in Echo, we have been told to expect Wilson Fisk aka Kingpin to become “the Thanos of the street-level corner of the MCU.” He’ll obviously feature heavily in Daredevil: Born Again, but it sounds like he’ll go on to make a big impression after that too. Yes, it seems we’re truly entering the era where the MCU is getting so unruly it’s having to split into two. Although if Kingpin did want to battle all the Avengers in Secret Wars too, fans likely wouldn’t complain.
Echo can’t stop, won’t stop confirming Daredevil is canon — and breaking MCU canon in the process
Speaking of Echo and Kingpin, Vincent D’Onofrio is the latest Marvel employee to confirm that Daredevil is now considered part of the Sacred Timeline, which flies in the face of everything we’ve heard about the MCU canon for years now. On the one hand, it’s great to hear that the upcoming Daredevil-verse will respect everything that came before it in the Defenders Saga, but here’s the thing — due to them all being so interconnected, confirming Daredevil as canon means that every other Marvel Television production has to be canon too, which just creates a whole heap of splintered timelines that even the TVA couldn’t fix.
A Darth Vader-level betrayal is the reason why we’ve never had a Marvel/Star Wars crossover
You know how torn up Luke Skywalker is when he finds out Darth Vader is his father? Well, that’s how we’re feeling now after learning the one person who’s been standing in the way of a Marvel/Star Wars crossover. Prepare yourselves, folks — it’s actually Kevin Feige. The Marvel Studios president is confirmed to have vetoed a potential Star Wars team-up episode in What If…?, with the cap-wearing chief said to have no interest in “crossing the streams.” We put our faith in you, Feige! But, hey, it’s not too late. Having Vader show up as the MCU’s new big bad for Avengers: The Darth Vader Dynasty might be the only way to wipe away all lingering memories of the Kang calamity. Search your feelings, Kevin, you know it to be true.
