Willem Dafoe’s MCU Return is a huge mistake

According to Chris Snellgrove
| Published 1 hour ago

Willem Dafoe played the most iconic villain Spider-Man long before the Marvel Cinematic Universe even existed. As the Green Goblin, he threatened our titular hero in Sam Raimi’s first installment Spider-Man film and later returned to the role to stalk Tom Holland’s Spidey No way home. Recently, the actor confirmed that he would be willing to return again (“I could come back,” he told Entertainment Tonight), but the stark truth is that Willem Dafoe’s return to the MCU would be a huge mistake.

Willem Dafoe in the MCU

That’s nothing against Dafoe himself. He is a great actor and has long since earned the status of a Hollywood legend. Frankly, it was a real coup for Raimi to cast a man for his original Spider-Man film, and the veteran actor managed to channel equal amounts of pathos and mania in his performance as Peter Parker’s greatest nemesis. Willem Dafoe’s acting skills have never been questioned, but if he were to return to the MCU, it would mean once and for all that Disney running out of original ideas.

Even the biggest at the moment Miracle fans are starting to admit that the House of Ideas has… well, run out of ideas. After fatigue played a role in the transformation The Marvels Kevin Feige and the crew decided to play a historical bomb at the box office and for some inexplicable reason they cast the beloved Iron Man, actor Robert Downey Jr. Doctor Doomanother Avengers Big Bad. Now there are reports that Chris Evans will be returning as well Avengers: Judgment Daymaking it clear that Disney’s whole plan is to bring back everyone’s favorite performers and simply hope it puts asses in the seats.

Various Variants

And just as cool as Willem Dafoe’s MCU premiere No way homeit’s important to note that all the variant storytelling is symptomatic of Marvel’s larger narrative problem. While the comics gave us great stories built around alternate universes, and Sony’s Spiderverse showed how well it could work on film, the MCU has historically relied on Variants as a simplistic way to appeal to fanboy nostalgia. After all, why take the time to write a good story when the audience will mostly be interested in seeing Patrick Stewart as Professor X again?

At the risk of sounding like an old nut (get off my lawn, younger fans!), viewers need to remember that every time a variant is used as a narrative crutch, it’s because an overpaid Disney writer didn’t want to come up with a memorable new a villain or an engaging story. This is why all old school portraits are the worst part No way home; it’s fun to see multiple Spideys team up on screen, but Tom Holland’s webhead makes no sense in the narrative to fight villains from another universe he’s never met.

While it was fun to see Willem Dafoe in the MCU is probably the worst example of this. Instead of getting a memorable new villain like Vulture or Mysterio, Holland’s Spidey got Tobey Maguire’s leftovers. Emotionally, the only way this movie changed Peter Parker is by killing his aunt, which any villain could do. No way home was generally well-received by fans, but it’s a member-driven film, and aside from our nostalgia for these old Sony heroes and villains, there’s not much there for our actual hero and his world.

Willem Dafoe has expressed interest in returning to the MCU and would likely do his own thing if given even half the chance. But it should never come back, because Disney needs to learn to stop relying on nostalgia and multiverse shenanigans to compensate for its inability to offer us anything new. It’s time for the House of Mouse to drop the member berries like an old pumpkin bomb and try to create the kind of original storytelling that has made the Marvel Cinematic Universe one of the most popular franchises in the world.

Source: ET Online