Brainstorming

Decoding the Marvel Strategies;
A study in Madness.

Nothing in the Marvel Universe can be taken in isolation.

From the moment that those first defining words were uttered-
​‘Why don’t you do one book the way you want to do it?
The worst that’ll happen, he’ll fire you, but you want to quit anyway.
At least you’ll have gotten it out of your system'
-the Universe started building its own gravity well.

See, here’s the thing about the Marvel combined Universes – across the full breadth and depth of the stories that have been created, there is the potential for absolutely anything to happen. There are more alternate Universes than most people could explore in their entire lives. And what Stan Lee proved to himself and to his audience is that one man can change a world.

It’s taken him 56 years to do, but do it he has, and not alone. The empire that his stories started has long since left him behind and that is, what I believe Marvel is trying to continue. If you’re anything like me, up until this year you’d heard of the comics, but it was mostly the MCU that got your attention. So it would be easily forgiven if you’d missed the plethora of alternate stories – not just the comics, the games and the TV shows, but the fan theories, the amazing wealth of ‘what if’s that are out there – all of which underpin this massive push.
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Marvel Studios have already said that the Avenger’s Infinity Wars are what they’ve been pushing towards since the very first movie. You could be forgiven for thinking that the war is about the Inifinity Gauntlet. It seems to be this all powerful thing, and every villain in all the Multiverses want to claim it. But the beauty of the way the Marvel Universe was written is in it's unique nature. 

.... To be Continued.
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On to my personal pet theory;

There are plenty of articles out there discussing what is known about the plot hooks and easter eggs, and there are die-hard fans out there that can tell you more than I can ever understand about the details of the comics. So rather than telling you how it’s going to be, I’m going to tell you my personal fan theory for how the next few years are going to play out.

Bear in mind – one third of me already knows the answer and she will be the one trying to misdirect you; one third of me just wants to play and be ecstatically happy for the rest of her life; and one third of me is trying fiercely to protect you, to guide and guard you so that you can understand the cosmic secrets being unearthed in front of you, under your very nose.

Read with a grain of salt and enjoy the ride. 😊

PT: The root of the Infinity Wars

The Avenger’s Infinity War is, at its core, the story of Mistress Death and how Thanos courts her. Across all the comics, that is his one abiding wish. That he might finally have his one true love accept him. It’s a love story like no other. But he had quite a bit of learning to do, so he did it in every Universe imaginable, tried every trick he could to show her his full power. And none of it held her interest, because she simply did not love him. And Thanos, like all men, human or not, had no defense against her disregard.

In fact, she went so far as to fall in love with someone else entirely. His jealousy was beaten only by his desire to win at all costs. But it seemed he was defeated. He had rearranged the Universe in his image, fractured and shattered it beyond repair and remolded it to suit him. He attacked those she loved, held her further and further from them until she would have no choice but to fall in love with him. 

But still, nothing worked. For he had forgotten the cardinal rule. Death exists beyond all others. And long after he was gone, she would remain. So instead, he tried something that he had never tried before. Instead of crushing this competitor for her affections, he studied him. He simply watched, and tried to understand. At first he did not understand, this world was so alien to him. But soon enough, in the fringes of his attention, he found other reasons to watch. 

And more and more, as he understood why she had fallen in love, he started to find himself softening, falling in love himself with this curious, contradictory little planet. For in this universe, this version of Earth, it was not Death that held Mistress Death’s heart, but Life. She had seen all of the known multiverses, riding on the coat-tails of her father, he who began and ended all worlds, and she had developed such a love for these worlds that she had made herself a part of them, a celestial being willingly enslaved to those she ruled over.

In this world, she had fallen in love instead with a man who thought himself a God. So much so that she chose to take human form, to step from all her the powers of creation, down into one fragile human body, in the hope that one day she would meet him and feel his love in person. This one man held the seed of all she dreamed for herself and the worlds she loved. He offered a chance to change everything. To rewrite her purpose, the rules which governed her existence.

To quote Thanos[TFH1] ; “War is endless, Builder. It never ceases. Death herself will not allow it.”

She had seen what war brought to the multiverse and was tired of the pain she caused. So she stepped out of her life. She chose to give it all up, for one human lifetime. So short in the grand scheme of things. She thought no one would notice her brief absence – her first sick day, if you will. But notice it they did. Because she did not quite manage to fit all of herself into the envelope. Enough of her essence leaked over that the world she chose as her last went into its own death throes. And bound as she was, she had no option but to watch helplessly as her very own gift destroyed the happy ending she had wished for.

All that she had achieved was to take the personal element out of death. Now it was indiscriminate, taking those who were unfinished, those who had more still to learn. She had simply created a world in her image. The image of death and destruction. Of fear and misery and suffering. And through it all, only she knew the reason that her world suffered was because she loved them. They called upon their gods, they created marvels the likes of which no world had ever seen before. But humans had no defense against her power, and so they died again and again.
 
Mistress Death is, in fact - the girl that time forgot. The one he thought wasn’t a threat. But Thanos is no longer Time. Now he is Death, and she is just another lost soul, trapped.