by Chris Snellgrove
| Published
Willem Dafoe played Spider-Man's most iconic villain long before the Marvel Cinematic Universe even existed. As the Green Goblin, he threatened our titular hero in Sam Raimi's first film Spider-Man movie, and later returned to the role in which Tom Holland chases Spidey No going home. The actor recently confirmed that he would be willing to return (“I could come back,” he told Entertainment Tonight), but the plain truth is that Willem Dafoe returning to the MCU would be a huge mistake.
Willem Dafoe in the MCU
This is no slight against Dafoe himself. He is a great actor and has long ago earned his status as a Hollywood legend. Honestly, it was a real coup for Raimi to cast the man in his original film Spider-Man The film, and the veteran actor manages to channel equal amounts of pathos and obsession in his performance as Peter Parker's greatest enemy. Willem Dafoe's acting skills have never been in doubt, but if he returns to the MCU, this will indicate once and for all that Disney Running out of original ideas.
At this point, even bigger marvel Fans began to admit that House had run out of ideas. After superhero fatigue played a role in the transformation Wonders In a historic box office bomb, Kevin Feige and his crew decided to play it safe and inexplicably cast beloved Iron Man actor Robert Downey Jr. in the role. Dr. Doomthe next big bad for the Avengers. Now, there are reports that Chris Evans will also be returning Avengers: On the Day of Resurrectionexplains that Disney's entire plan is to bring back everyone's favorite artists and simply hope that this will put butts in seats.
Different variables
And as great as Willem Dafoe's MCU premiere was No going homeit's important to note that all the stories revolving around variants are a symptom of Marvel's larger narrative problem. While the comics have given us great stories built around alternate universes and Sony's Spiderverse showed how well this worked on film, the MCU has historically relied on Variants as a simplistic way to appeal to fan nostalgia. After all, why should you take the time to write a good story if the audience is mostly going to care about whether or not they get to see Patrick Stewart in the role? Professor X once again?
At the risk of seeming like a weirdo (get off my lawn, you little fans!), audiences need to remember that every time a variable is used as a storytelling crutch, it's because an overpaid Disney writer doesn't want to appear With a memorable new villain or an engaging story. This is why all old school movies are the worst part No going home; It's fun to see multiple Spideys teaming up on screen, but there's no narrative purpose in Tom Holland's web-based combat of villains from another world he's never faced.
While it was fun to see Willem Dafoe In the MCU, he's arguably the worst example of this. Instead of Holland's Spidey getting a new, memorable villain like Vulture or Mysterio, he got leftovers from Tobey Maguire. Emotionally, the only way this movie changed Peter Parker was by killing his aunt, something any bad guy would have done. No going home It was generally well received by fans, but it's a raspberry member-supported film, and beyond our nostalgia for those old Sony heroes and villains, there's not much to our actual hero and his world.
Willem Dafoe has expressed his desire to return to the Marvel Cinematic Universe, and he would likely act wholeheartedly if given even half a chance. But he should never come back because Disney needs to learn to stop relying on nostalgia and multiverse shenanigans to make up for its inability to offer us anything new. It's time for the House of Mouse to ditch the member berries like the old pumpkin bomb and try to do the kind of original storytelling that has made the Marvel Cinematic Universe one of the most popular franchises in the world.
source: It Online
