While you can’t fault Marvel Cinematic Universe fans for their dedication to the cause, there’s always been a recurring habit of a vocal minority trying to drum up Academy Awards buzz where there doesn’t really deserve to be any.
If there was one egregious oversight when it comes to the Oscars overlooking the MCU, then at a push you could say that maybe Robert Downey Jr. could have been a dark horse candidate for Best Actor in the year Iron Man was released, but he ended up getting a supporting nomination that year anyway for Tropic Thunder.
Did he deserve Best Supporting Actor recognition for Avengers: Endgame? No, he did not. What about Tom Holland making the Best Actor shortlist for Spider-Man: No Way Home? Not a chance. Okay, but did No Way Home get snubbed for the Best Picture nod everyone was campaigning for? Nope, it was a top-tier blockbuster, but not one of the year’s finest films.
With that in mind, the latest spicy take to circulate on the internet has touted Everything Everywhere All at Once as helping to legitimize and set the stage for future Marvel Studios productions landing a coveted victory, with Black Panther the only one to have secured a nomination so far. Why? Well, because the directors referenced the MCU during the press tour, and it’s got a multiverse.
People love few things more than turning on a hit movie the second it becomes too popular, and Everything Everywhere All at Once has already been branded as derivative, uninspired, and merely an arthouse superhero film that piggybacks off the MCU with its dynamic action sequences, alternate realities, and mind-bending sense of wonder. So what?
It’s a better picture than almost anything the MCU has ever put out, and while the franchise is on a downward trajectory that’s even got its most ardent of followers somewhere between frustrated and forlorn, a widely-acclaimed smash lands smack dab in the midst of the Multiverse Saga to tell a universe-hopping tale and goes home with an armful of Oscars to celebrate.
There are superficial similarities and a coincidence or two, but Everything Everywhere All at Once is very much its own thing, and the MCU has been left with a near-impossible game of catch-up to play in order to top it by the time Avengers: Secret Wars rolls around. It’s easy – and should be encouraged – for people to enjoy both, without claiming that one hand needs to be feeding the other.