Fans of the Marvel Cinematic Universe have generally been very happy with the studio’s style of keeping everything as connected as possible, making references from one work to another and crossing them over in intricate ways. But some saw the obvious impending problem in this – the complexity of maintaining all of those connections in a sensible way – and it looks like we’re about to see some effects of this issue in the upcoming “Captain America: Civil War”.
Reports indicate that the film might see some conflict between its plot and that of “Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.”, to the point of completely ignoring events that occurred in the latter. In a recent episode of the show, we saw the world getting infected with a new virus-like substance which dramatically alters human beings and resulted in the arrival of “Inhumans”.
The creatures became a central part of the plot very shortly, as we saw them in various places all over the show, but it looks like they will not play any role in the upcoming “Captain America: Civil War”. The disease will be nonexistent in the world of the film from what we can tell from the initial previews, and the reason seems to lie in the fact that the writers found it too difficult to develop their own plot around this particular idea.
Some fans were quick to point out that this could create a major divide between the TV show and upcoming film, something which could spill over into a more general array of differences later on, ultimately interfering with Marvel’s “everything is connected” idea. According to those fans, it might actually make sense for the studio to slowly start letting go of the idea at this point, as it only seems to cause trouble for the studio right now and doesn’t actually do much good for them.
Of course, there are also those who defend the style, claiming that it adds a lot to the characters and plots that we see unfolding on the screen. There’s obviously truth on both sides of the argument, but Marvel should probably think about the immediate situation and figure out what place “Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.” will have in their cinematic universe later on.
If the show gets ignored in the upcoming “Captain America” film, this could imply that it will be completely glossed over in future films as well. And if that happens, what’s the point of keeping all sides of the franchise connected when consistency can obviously be sacrificed in certain circumstances?
These are hard questions that Marvel will have to consider sooner or later, and it would be interesting to see how the studio handles the future development of their Universe. According to some, the solution could lie in new developments in the plot of “Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.” itself, which could help the show tie in with the films around it better. But it would be quite difficult to just sweep the idea of Inhumans under the rug right now.
The film is going to hit the screens in about two months, so that leaves some more time for these discussions to take a solid form. After it’s released, it’s pretty much guaranteed that there will be a lot of attention focused on Marvel with regards to their plans for the next installment in the franchise. What’s the studio planning, and are they going to bring the Agents in the spotlight for a future film, or are they just going to limit them to their TV appearances?