How Marvel Keeps Ignoring Its Own MCU Canon (& Why) | Screen Rant

The Marvel Cinematic Universe keeps ignoring its own canon – but with good reason. Few subjects have the potential to excite and divide fans than the question of what should be considered “canon” in their favorite franchise. That’s because “canon” is basically a shorthand for “feeling that something matters.” In a shared universe like the MCU, when something is ignored or rewritten it can easily feel like something of a slight.

The MCU has always done a fairly decent job when it comes to ensuring everything feels interconnected, but every now and again there are continuity problems – especially with tie-in mediums such as Marvel’s official Prelude comics. Speaking on Twitter, James Gunn declared one tie-in for Guardians of the Galaxy non-canon when he wrote the sequel, because it contained an origin story for Gamora that conflicted with the one he wanted to write. And Black Widow contradicted the Avengers: Infinity War Prelude when it retconned Steve Rogers’ jailbreak from Captain America: Civil War. Why are there problems like this?

Related: Black Widow: All Easter Eggs, MCU Connections & Hidden Details

Marvel’s shared universe model creates tremendous storytelling opportunities, but unfortunately it can also prove restrictive for writers and directors. That’s especially the case with tie-in mediums; some attempt to flesh out characters by presenting origin stories (for example, preludes for Doctor Strange did a tremendous job with Kaecilius), while others exploit gaps in the narrative in order to tell their tales. No scriptwriter or director can realistically be expected to be familiar with the full gamut of tie-in content, ranging from comics to handbooks, and it wouldn’t be right for their storytelling opportunities to be limited based on tie-ins only a tiny minority of viewers are aware of.

This doesn’t necessarily mean tie-in comics and books don’t matter, though, because Marvel Studios will certainly work closely with their writers and artists during production. Thus the Avengers: Infinity War Prelude reflected the build-up to Avengers: Infinity War, and all the reveals will have been factored into the marketing campaign. The best approach would be to consider these comics a sort of second tier of canon, part of the overarching lore unless and until they are contradicted by Marvel’s films and Disney+ TV shows. This is similar to Lucasfilm’s treatment of the old Star Wars Expanded Universe, where books, comics, and games were considered canon up until the moment George Lucas contradicted them, when they were dismissed.

Of course, even the Marvel Cinematic Universe doesn’t have perfect continuity in and of itself. Guardians of the Galaxy revealed Gamora was last of her race, the Zehoberi people, but Avengers: Infinity War retconned Gamora’s backstory to reveal half her race had survived. In these cases, the storytelling imperatives had changed; Marvel had settled on their portrayal of Thanos, coming up with the idea he was devoted to the idea of balance rather than the consort of death, and their previous stories had to be retconned as a result. Marvel enjoys a reputation for long-term planning, but in reality, they’re a lot more flexible than most think, and this means retcons are inevitable. But that’s actually a strength of the MCU rather than a limitation, because it affords writers and directors a lot more freedom. Perhaps sometimes those details really don’t matter after all.

More: All 13 Marvel TV Shows Releasing After Black Widow

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