The MCU Repeated The Darkest Avengers Decision Twice In 6 Years

As the Marvel Cinematic Universe continues to expand, it repeats some storylines and not-so-good decisions by its heroes, and it has now repeated a very dark Avengers decision twice in just six years. Over the course of more than 30 movies, the MCU has seen some truly tragic events that have affected entire countries, planets, and civilizations, and while these have mostly been the result of a villain’s actions, this universe’s heroes have also been involved and even contributed (often unintentionally) to the suffering of thousands of innocent people.

Among the most criticized things about the MCU is how the battles between heroes and villains often lead to destruction, disaster, and the deaths of innocent people, and the MCU’s heroes hardly ever face the consequences of this or show up to help. Now, the MCU seems to have a new, dark obsession and trend that has already been repeated twice in just six years (and across the Infinity Saga and the Multiverse Saga), and which is also challenging the idea of what a hero really is and the morality often attached to superheroes from any universe.

Both Thor & Captain Marvel Left People To Die

Thor & Captain Marvel saved some & left others to die

Two of the current Avengers have made the difficult and dark decision of leaving people to die in order to save as many as they could: Thor (Chris Hemsworth) and Captain Marvel (Brie Larson). In Thor: Ragnarok, following Odin’s death, Thor’s then-unknown sister, Hela (Cate Blanchett), was set free, and she returned with a plan to gain power from Asgard and rule it to create an Asgardian Empire. However, when the people of Asgard refused to bow to her, Hela massacred Odin’s armies and enslaved the Asgardians, prompting Thor to take extreme measures.

With Loki’s (Tom Hiddleston) help, Surtur was released and Rägnarok was triggered, destroying Asgard and killing Hela. Thor, Loki, and Valkyrie (Tessa Thompson) did their best to save as many Asgardians as they could, but many were left behind and killed when Asgard was destroyed. According to the TVA files shown in Loki, Asgard’s destruction killed almost 10,000 people, while those who were evacuated (and survived Thanos’ attack in Avengers: Infinity War) formed New Asgard on Earth. Having to leave thousands of Asgardians behind has been one of Thor’s darkest decisions, and the MCU repeated this with Captain Marvel in The Marvels.

In The Marvels, Captain Marvel, Kamala Khan (Iman Vellani), and Monica Rambeau (Teyonah Parris) traveled to the Skrull refugee colony in Tarnax to save them from Dar-Benn, and they evacuated as many Skrulls as they could before the planet was destroyed by the Kree. The Skrulls were then taken to the planet Aladna for their safety, but it was also attacked by the Kree. Although Aladna wasn’t destroyed, many Skrulls surely died in the attack, and Captain Marvel had to leave them behind (again) in order to save the planet.

These dark decisions taken by Thor and Captain Marvel have challenged the idea of what a superhero does and what their priority should be when saving any city, country, or planet, and contradict the morality of “nobody gets left behind” that the audience often links to superheroes.

The MCU Has A New Obsession With Hard Decisions

Thor & Captain Marvel aren’t the only ones

Although Thor and Captain Marvel have made similar dark decisions in recent years, they aren’t the only characters in the MCU who have gone on dark paths with their decisions. Some examples of this are He Who Remains, who earned praise for pruning branches when the TVA started, with Loki later questioning how it’s possible to decide who lives and who dies; Thanos deciding to wipe out half of life in the universe to “bring balance” to it; Doctor Strange considering killing America Chavez in order to save the multiverse from Scarlet Witch in Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, and the Illuminati wanting to kill Strange to save the universe.

The MCU now seems to have a new obsession with hard and often dark decisions that can potentially have catastrophic results, and while these add more drama to the heroes’ storylines, they can also become tiring. Surely, as mentioned above, these hard decisions challenge the idea of what a superhero is and does, which isn’t bad, but the MCU tends to overuse what works well once, and these hard decisions taken by the heroes risk becoming a tiring resource in the MCU.