The MCU Needs A Reboot, According To Arrowverse Co-Creator Marc Guggenheim
The Marvel Cinematic Universe has been in a bit of a weird place since the end of Phase 3, and Arrowverse co-creator Marc Guggenheim believes he has the solution: a full-on comic book reboot. Guggenheim isn't the only one who believes the franchise needs to trim back. Disney CEO Bob Iger has also spoken out recently about the need for Marvel Studios to prioritize quality over quantity — something that's become a consistent criticism in the MCU's Disney+ era.
There is perhaps no more grim judgment of the current state of the MCU than "Secret Invasion," the most recent installment that just wrapped up its six-episode run. Despite starring fan favorite Samuel L. Jackson as Nick Fury in the character's first leading role, the show failed to generate the kind of attention that big Marvel projects once did. It's the latest in a long line of quickly forgotten entries that have failed to contribute much of significance to the larger MCU lore.
"If I was suddenly in Kevin Feige's role, basically I would do what Iger was saying, which is prune the tree," Guggenheim said in a recent interview on The Aarthi and Sriram Show. "I think of these universes like ships, and the longer a ship sails, the more barnacles get attached to its hull." The answer, according to Guggenheim, is a proper reset. "Every now and again," he said, "you need to do some sort of reboot that scrapes off the barnacles, like 'Crisis on Infinite Earths.'"
What Marc Guggenheim thinks is wrong with the modern MCU
During his appearance on The Aarthi and Sriram Show, Marc Guggenheim laid out what he sees as the main issues plaguing the MCU today. "I'm like the biggest Marvel nerd ever, and I haven't seen 'Moon Knight,'" he said. "I just can't keep up. There's just too much content." While this core problem of producing too much material has been acknowledged by Bob Iger and others at Disney, it isn't the only issue Guggenheim sees with the franchise.
"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." He went on to use "Captain America: The Winter Soldier" and "Black Panther" as additional examples — movies that set up big storylines for later, but which still stood entirely on their own. Guggenheim contrasted these older films with "Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness," which required viewers to have seen all of "WandaVision" in order to really understand the plot.
This increased interdependence is absolutely a factor in fans checking out of more and more MCU movies and shows. If you need to watch everything, but there's just too much, then why not stop? However, Guggenheim also sees a possible solution on the horizon with "Avengers: Secret Wars" — a film that he believes could be the big reboot the series needs.
Could Secret Wars provide a proper MCU reboot?
It's been so long since there was a new "Avengers" movie that you might have forgotten there are two on the horizon. "Avengers: The Kang Dynasty" is currently slated for release on May 1, 2026, and "Avengers: Secret Wars" is set for May 7, 2027. If Marc Guggenheim's theory is correct, that second film could be the MCU's path to a full-on reboot.
"My guess is what they are building up to," Guggenheim said on The Aarthi and Sriram Show, "is the 'Secret Wars' that they've announced is not the 'Secret Wars' of the 1980s, it's Jonathan Hickman's 'Secret Wars' which basically was sort of like a reset for the Marvel Universe." The 2015 comic storyline involves a massive multiverse reset, bringing together different corners of the Marvel cosmos and rebooting the status quo. "So I think they are gonna, if they do what I expect them to do, they will end up pruning the tree," Guggenheim said.
That could well be true, especially given how everything in recent years has been centered around the multiverse. The bigger question is whether or not such a reset will be too little, too late. "Secret Wars" is still four years away, and with the ongoing WGA and SAG-AFTRA labor strikes, that date could be pushed even further. Will enough fans stick around that long to make the wait worth it? Or will the MCU simply fizzle out before it gets a chance to make a fresh start?