The Multiverse Saga of the MCU offers a lot of chances for storytelling, but the author of Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania realises that there are drawbacks as well.MCU Author Recognizes the Drawbacks of the Multiverse
After Ant-Man 3 was released, Jeff Loveness was transparent about his choices for the threequel and what his upcoming MCU project, Avengers: The Kang Dynasty, would include.
The emphasis of the Multiverse and Kang‘s position within it, however, are the only constants between Quantumania and The Kang Dynasty. But limitless options also come with certain difficulties.
How the Multiverse Is Surmounted by a Marvel Writer
The writer of Ant-Man 3 Jeff Loveness was candid about the drawbacks of the Multiversal storytelling in an interview with The Hollywood Reporter.
Loveness responded that the Multiverse is actually “too accessible,” and the new difficulty is how “to put your own unique spin on it,” when asked how he combines creating material for the general public with complex comic book themes like the Multiverse.
“In many ways, it’s too accessible to the audience now, and the challenge is to put your own unique spin on it because of great things like ‘Rick and Morty,’ ‘Everything Everywhere All at Once’ and ‘Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse.’ So I feel that the audience is a bit smarter than we give them credit for, and the trick is to find the humanity in the middle of it.”
There is no indication that the Multiverse storytelling blitz will ever stop.
This year will also see the release of Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse and DC’s The Flash in addition to the continuation of the Marvel Multiverse Saga.
In response to the question of how he creates stakes when there are several iterations of a single character, Loveness focused on what the Multiverse “means for the particular character,” rather than the story device itself.
“So I try not to focus on the multiverse; I try to focus on what it means for the particular character who’s facing it.”
He continued by explaining how “helping me put a very personal touch” on Quantumania was Ant-Man and Kang’s individual relationships with time:
“What probably helped me get the job was drawing the connection between Scott Lang and Kang the Conqueror. I’m a die-hard comics fan, but I don’t think they’ve ever had a conversation together in the comics. So, in the room, when I found out about ‘Ant-Man 3’ and that they were considering Kang as a villain, an idea just popped into my head of like, ‘Oh yeah, Kang the Conqueror is a time god. He’s this time pharaoh who’s lost more time than Scott Lang in the MCU.’ And so that helped me put a very personal touch on it.”
Last but not least, the Marvel writer expressed his own resolve to “evolve a bit” with future Multiversal narrative in the MCU:
“You’ve seen Spider-Man with a mustache, you’ve seen Doctor Strange without a goatee, so it’s time to evolve a bit with our multiverse storytelling. And between me doing ‘Avengers: The Kang Dynasty’ and Michael Waldron doing ‘Avengers: Secret Wars,’ I think we’re both excited to take it up a notch because the audience already has a pretty good education in it.”
The MCU Multiverse Changing
About how used people are to the Multiverse, Jeff Loveness makes an intriguing point.
When Loki first appeared in 2021, the idea sounded complicated and improbable, but that is no longer the case. Nevertheless, by the time Avengers 5 debuts, viewers will undoubtedly have seen more.
Moving forward, it sounds like the best course of action is try to be creative and innovative while also focusing on the characters.
The writing team’s execution, though, might be the issue that some fans have.
The trailers did a better job of showing Kang and Ant-shared Man’s motive than the final movie did, despite Loveness pointing up the personal time-related similarities between Kang and Ant-Man.
What remains to be seen is how Jeff Loveness and the other Marvel writers will genuinely “take it up a notch” between now and The Kang Dynasty.
In theatres now is Ant-Man and The Wasp: Quantumania.