I Know It’s Fiction. Shut Up.
Warning: This essay contains prolonged Marvel analysis, multiversal speculation, and light emotional unraveling. Proceed only if you’re cool with superhero tangents written by someone who definitely does not work for Marvel except in her own head.
Something shifted recently.
I haven’t been this wired about Marvel news since Endgame. My daughter was right there with me. So was the entire internet.
I actually found myself (I wish I was making this up) Googling how to get into San Diego Comic-Con 2026.
We missed out this year, but now I want in…mainly because getting into Hall H feels like a goal to justify the unhinged amount of emotional investment I’ve put into fictional people.
This Isn’t About RDJ. (Except It Kind of Is.)
He’s back. But not like that.
Last week, I wrote about what it felt like to fall in love with movies – the kind that hit you in the gut and stay there. I feel like that kind of connection is rare now. But every once in a while, something breaks through the noise and reminds you why you cared in the first place.
For me, that reminder came after the return of Robert Downey Jr. It was Marvel cracking open the vault and letting us know they weren’t done yet.
Then came the recent cast announcement that made it very clear that the stakes are back.
I’m not a screenwriter. I don’t run a billion-dollar franchise. I’m sure my loved ones were hoping that at this stage of my life, I’d be writing about the sociopolitical subtext of The Seventh Seal or drafting a long-form essay on The Double Life of Veronique.
Instead, I’m just someone who genuinely loves the MCU and clearly hasn’t fully recovered from Endgame.
[1] I could dissect Bergman’s existential dread or Kieslowski’s metaphysical symbolism. But I’d rather unpack RDJ playing a villain and the way Holland breaks your heart without saying a word. Priorities.
But somewhere between the multiverse rules changing every fifteen minutes and the noticeable drop-off in quality, I tapped out.
To me, it just felt like trying to recreate a fireworks finale with a sparkler in the driveway. Even the Russos’ have acknowledged the post-Endgame struggle to recapture that emotional momentum.
I never got into the Disney+ lineup. It’s just not my thing. Loki was my favorite and widely considered by far the best of the bunch, so I gave it a shot. It was good. Tom Hiddleston and Owen Wilson are absolute magic together onscreen. But I couldn’t finish it. Partly because the ending was spoiled for me, and I refused to let that live as my headcanon (if I don’t watch it, it never happened, right?). And partly because I had a life to deal with while Marvel sorted itself out.
In my headcanon, these two are still out there chasing variants and arguing about jet skis.
We needed space.
[2] Believe it or not, I’m a grown adult with a job, mortgages, and deadlines, even if my attention has been consumed by all things Marvel as of late.
Where It All Went Off the Rails (For Me, Anyway)
Thor: Love and Thunder dropped, and my God, I hadn’t cringed that hard since The Incredible Hulk, a film so wildly out of sync with the rest of the MCU that The Reign of Marvel Studios called it a ‘creative misfire’. It became a tonal outlier the studio quietly buried under a mountain of better decisions.
It felt like déjà vu, but louder and dumber.
[3] I’m so sorry, Hemsworth. Still a fan, though. Just… not of whatever that was.
Being a Marvel fan began to feel… complicated. Like when you talk about The Avengers, Spiderman, Guardians, but someone looks at you like you endorsed Love and Thunder on purpose. You still love it, but now you have to clarify specifically which era you’re talking about.
Somewhere between Endgame and Quantumania, I stopped feeling like these stories were made to move us. They just felt slapdash and manufactured and just….I don’t know, off.
So I did what a lot of fans did: pretended I’d moved on and acted like I was above it all.
But deep down, I was still thinking about that first saga, the weight of it, the way it made you feel. Especially because I didn’t watch it alone. My daughter and I grew up with these characters together, one movie at a time. Her first superhero movie was Iron Man. So when RDJ walked back on stage, it didn’t just hit me. It took us both right back to where it all started.
And clearly, I was not the only one.
The Avengers: Doomsday cast reveal shattered records: 275 million digital views and 3.1 million social interactions. The biggest Marvel Studios livestream ever. Some say that proves the spark never left.
I’d argue it proves my point.
We weren’t over it. We were waiting for a reason to care again.
So now that Marvel’s finally getting serious again, I have thoughts.
Kevin, Hit Me Up. I Have Notes and Reasonable Expectations.
The return was one thing. The five-hour cast reveal afterward was Marvel saying,“We’re not just back. We’re all in”.
It’s a lineup stacked with emotional weight and fan-favorite chaos. Some of the biggest names they’ve ever assembled. (With rumors that more are still under wraps. Squee!)
Hemsworth is back. Hiddleston’s still anchoring the emotional core. Stewart. McKellen. Pascal. The convergence of characters makes it feel like Marvel is finally leaning back into what it does best.
And I’m betting the budget’s probably larger than some countries’ GDP.
X-Men, Fantastic Four, multiverse chaos, all orbiting around Doom.
I think we all know the sun will shine on those yet-to-be-named characters again. Especially (please, Kevin!) on the brothers who never got their goodbye. If Marvel believes in emotional symmetry, Thor and Loki, older and changed, will stand together again but bound by more than fate. A therapy session disguised as spectacle.
[4] Not unlike most of my family gatherings, except with better costumes and slightly less yelling.
Where This Feels Like It’s Going
I wouldn’t call these theories, per se, just things Marvel’s been quietly setting up for years.
Call it prelude, fallout, or just Marvel foreplay, but either way, all of this is leading to Secret Wars.
Tony Without the Cave = Doom
Without the cave or the eventual self-reckoning, Tony doesn’t become Iron Man. He becomes the problem he needed to solve.
Crisis of Perception
Doom looks like someone Peter once trusted, maybe even loved, but there’s absolutely no recognition. Just a cold stare and a “who’s Tony?”. Uggghhhh…..
616 Tony: One Last Kick in the Feels
C’mon, you know they’re bringing him back…just long enough for Earth-616 Tony to see what he might’ve become. Marvel lives for delivering this type of emotional trauma.
[5] Yes, I’m preemptively unraveling over scenes that don’t exist and may never exist. This is who I am now.
My actual theory
I think we’re heading into Infinity War: Part Deux. Not a redo, just that it’s giving that same slow-burn, tension-building setup.
Marvel’s setting the stage.
And we’re doing what we always do: reading too much into it, spiraling early, and pretending we’re not emotionally invested.
Again.
[6] In my defense, they started it. It’s fine. I’m fine.
Maybe I’m wrong. Maybe I’m Not.
Maybe it is just more noise.
But something about this lineup makes me interested again…for old times’ sake, of course, but also for what it could still mean.
Like I said earlier, none of these thoughts are exactly new, but still, if one lands, I’d like a little credit.
And maybe a premiere invite in exchange for never posting about it again.
[7] Just kidding. I live for this nonsense.
Final Thoughts
The Russos said it best: when stories are told with weight and intention, they stop being “just for kids” and start to stick.
The Infinity Saga didn’t just entertain; it earned its weight.
Characters changed. Choices had consequences. Losses stayed forever lost (RIP Nat).
Maybe this is where it stops spinning its wheels and actually goes somewhere.
And if it does, then maybe I’ll get to share another moment like that, in a packed theater, feeling everything all at once with the kid who grew up watching these stories with me.
[8] Ideally from a premiere seat. Preferably not next to anyone who defends Love and Thunder.
Two nerds. One franchise. 100% self-awareness.
So what’s the moment you’re still holding out hope for?
Because if this is the MCU’s redemption arc, I’m all ears.
Coming Next: Ridiculous Motivators: living in your own head can be productive… eventually.