Longtime followers of the MCU still think Marvel missed "a great opportunity" by not setting a movie or TV show during the Blip.
In a new Reddit post, one fan argued that it "still feels strange" that the studio never gave us a real glimpse at Earth-616 after Thanos' game-changing Snap in Avengers: Infinity War, and how people coped with 50% of all living things being zapped from existence. "Given that Hawkeye did his Ronin stint during then, some stuff must have surely happened that's worth seeing," they noted.
"I think they came up with arguably one of the best plot devices they probably could have ever found in the Blip. You're telling me literally 1/2 of every human being just disappears? And possibly animal life as well? That's a threat like you cannot even imagine," said someone in response. "God what I wouldn't give to see the aftermath of that on screen."
"It's weird that they barely acknowledge it at all in some projects," wrote another. "I was reading an interview from 2 of the producers of Ms Marvel who were asking about the snap and they said [Kevin] Feige told them to ignore it because it's not relevant. I understand that aspect, but they can still build on the foundations of something that was previously established."
"I thought it would have been cool to see a mockumentary style thing showing the chaos and how regular people adapted to that happening and dealt with everything," added a third, while a fourth said: "Tons of interesting opportunities within that five-year window, especially for any side characters or new characters. The ramifications for Wakanda alone would have been wild, with T'Challa and Shuri blinking out."
Comment from r/marvelstudios
On the flip side, a naysayer argued that filling in the gap between Infinity War and Endgame would take away "the shock value" of the five-year gap and potentially pose questions that we might've never gotten answers to. "If full stories focus on that time frame, we don't get to move forward," they replied. "Most, if not all, of the stories would be incredibly bleak, too. Even if it followed Carol, Rocket and Nebula in space, it'd still be bleak because the Snap [affected] the entire galaxy. I think showing the aftermath in different projects and letting us dip our toes into it is far better than throwing us into the deep end of a world in global mourning."
"I've said it a million times, because the Snap was nothing more than a storytelling device. What they wanted from the Snap was a way of showing how different characters were before and after and to give some stakes but it was never supposed to be more than that."
Others pointed out that shows like WandaVision and The Falcon and the Winter Soldier touched on how certain heroes' were emotionally affected by The Blip, even if they didn't explicitly pick up with them during their loved ones' absences.
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