Arrowverse Creator Urges Marvel Studios to Consider MCU Reboot

One of the Arrowverse creators from DC urged Marvel to consider rebooting the MCU.

After more than a decade of creating interconnected super-powered stories for the blue brand, Arrowverse creators Greg Berlanti and Marc Guggenheim have put the TV universe to rest in the midst of a DC-wide reboot.

Despite dedicating the last few years to working with DC, that does not mean the duo’s affection for comic heroes, and stories transcend the Marvel/DC divide.

At certain points in the past, the two have been linked to some Marvel projects, and there were reports that one of them is being approached to help Sony Pictures with its growing Spider-Man universe.

Arrowverse Creator Wants MCU Reboot

In a recent interview, Arrowverse co-creator Marc Guggenheim stated that he thinks Marvel should consider rebooting the MCU.

During the appearance on The Aarthi and Sriram Show, Guggenheim shared his thoughts about Marvel Studios’ underwhelming performance since Avengers: Endgame, saying he would “prune the tree” if he were in charge.

“If I was suddenly in [Marvel Studios President] Kevin Feige’s role, basically I would do what Iger was saying, which is prune the tree. You know, there’s just too much content. I’m like the biggest Marvel nerd ever, and I haven’t seen Moon Knight. I just can’t keep up. There’s just too much content.”

Additionally, he stated that the key to the MCU’s previous success was attributed to their “fundamentally [very] simple” stories, allowing viewers to jump in without watching previous films:

“And then of course like Iger was saying, there’s a question of how much content can you produce at quality. To me the difference between Phase 4 and Phases 1 through 3 is fundamentally something very simple, which is you could even be watching ‘Infinity War’ without having seen the prior X number of movies.”

This came in stories like Captain America: The Winter Soldier and Black Panther, according to Guggenheim, where the films were their own stories while also “[setting] the foundation for things:”

“Like you mentioned ‘Winter Soldier.’ ‘Winter Soldier’ was its own movie with a beginning, middle, and end. And yet, that movie set the foundation for things that, you know it didn’t deal with Infinity Stones, but it did deal with Hydra and SHEILD and Steve Rogers’ relationship with the government and the Winter Soldier. There were alot of pieces. And same thing with ‘Black Panther.’ ‘Black Panther’ works great as a movie beginning, middle, and end, even though it’s setting up this whole world of Wakanda that figures very large in ‘Infinity War.”

For everything to make sense, he compared those previous films to Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, where viewers “had to watch – not a movie – another TV show”:

“Compare that with ‘Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness’ where in order to understand the villain of the movie, you had to watch – not a movie – another TV show. A TV show that you had to spend money to subscribe to the service that aired it. That’s the problem. Each of these movies in Phases 1 through 3, they all stood on their own. Look I get it. “

The co-creator of Arrowverse claimed that the MCU is currently going through the issues that Marvel and DC comics have previously experienced. He further said, “I think of these universes like ships” that sail for long periods of time accumulating barnacles, and sometimes it is necessary to “do some sort of reboot that scrapes off the barnacles:”

“That’s the problem. Each of these movies in Phases 1 through 3, they all stood on their own. Look I get it. I think honestly what the Marvel Cinematic Universe is going through right now is the same discovery that Marvel print universe and the DC print universe also went through. Which is – I think of these universes like ships, and the longer a ship sails, the more barnacles get attached to its hull, and the more that weighs down the ship and the more it effects how fast the ship can move through the water. And every now and again, you need to do some sort of reboot that scrapes off the barnacles, like ‘Crisis on Infinite Earths.'”

The DC creative highlighted that there is a reason “Marvel [is bringing] back the Ultimate [Comics] Universe,” where readers can explore characters like Spider-Man without being constrained by “60 years of continuity:”

“I mean not for nothing, because obviously DC is much older than Marvel is, not for nothing has DC had all these reboots over the years. And, by the way, not for nothing does Marvel bring back the Ultimate Universe, because the whole appeal of the Ultimate Universe is for those readers who either don’t want to or haven’t learned 60 years of continuity, here’s Spider-Man for you unencumbered. Here’s Fantastic Four for you unencumbered.”

According to his best speculation, it appears that Marvel Studios is heading in a similar direction with Avengers: Secret Wars, where the MCU could potentially “end up pruning the tree:”

“And my guess is what they are building up with Phase 4 is – the ‘Secret Wars’ that they’ve announced is not the ‘Secret Wars’ of the 1980’s, it’s Jonathan Hickman’s ‘Secret Wars’ which basically was sort of like a reset for the Marvel Universe. So, I think they are gonna, if they do what I expect them to do, they will end up pruning the tree, as I said.”

Should the MCU Get Rebooted?

An MCU reboot has been a subject of discussion for some time. Many have wondered whether the franchise has grown too large for its britches, as it has continued after Avengers: Endgame, which concluded the Infinity Saga.

And if this “pruning the tree” is going to take place, Secret Wars seems like the ideal setting.

Due to the fact that Secret Wars is the ultimate Multiverse story, it could be a great opportunity for Marvel Studio to pick and choose what it wants to continue into whatever comes after the Multiverse Saga.

This would be the most likely scenario, suggesting that MCU might get trimmed back after Avengers 6, but a complete reboot is unlikely to occur.

The events of the Secret Wars comic story resulted in the emergence of a unified universe on the Marvel Comics Page, incorporating the best parts from both the traditional Marvel Comics Universe and the Ultimate Universe.

Therefore, while a reboot of the MCU may be in the store, it is more likely to follow this line of thinking than a complete reset and start from the beginning again story.