Entertainment
Star Wars Is Responsible For Marvel's Biggest Problem
By Chris Snellgrove
| Published
There have been countless think pieces and social media posts about what has caused the decline of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, and one of the most common complaints boils down to many shows and films feeling like homework. Disney seems to expect fans to soak up every bit of ancillary media to simply understand its latest releases. More often than not, this doesn’t really tell a complete story because the newest content spends too much time setting up what comes next. It’s a frustrating approach to blockbuster storytelling, and we can blame George Lucas and his approach to the Star Wars prequels pretty directly for Marvel’s decline.
How Star Wars Made Homework For Fans
At this point, you’re probably asking the obvious question: how could the Star Wars prequels negatively affect the Marvel Cinematic Universe, especially when The Phantom Menace came out almost a decade before Iron Man brought the MCU to life? The answer starts with Darth Maul, a killer new character who, despite his awesome design and instant popularity, only had three lines of dialogue. Audiences understandably had plenty of questions about his origins and motivations and were invariably told they had to go read various books and comics to piece together what this guy’s whole deal was.
For the Star Wars prequels, that became a persistent problem, one that Disney would replicate with Marvel after buying the franchise set in a galaxy far, far away. You had to read outside media to learn crucial lore about other villains like Count Dooku and General Grievous, and reading books and comics was also the only way to learn more about equally crucial relationships such as the friendship between Obi-Wan Kenobi and Anakin Skywalker and the marriage between Padme Amidala and future Darth Vader. It was, frankly, insanely lazy storytelling built on the assumption that ravenous fans wouldn’t mind the expensive and time-consuming homework of extra reading.
Marvel Gets Its Own Homework
Now, Disney has bought Star Wars, which means it is owned by the same monolithic studio that owns Marvel. Unsurprisingly, Disney has replicated the prequel problem of assigning audiences homework, hoping that you’ll dig into outside media to explain major plot details like the rise of the First Order, Kylo Ren’s fall to the Dark Side, and why the Resistance is separate from the government that they work to protect. What was surprising, though, is that Disney began applying this approach of making fans do homework with their other blockbuster IP.
With the launch of Disney+, the House of Mouse adopted a Variant (so to speak) of the homework strategy. Instead of encouraging fans to mainline books and comics to fully understand new films, they wanted fans to watch Disney+ shows instead. Now, you have to watch WandaVision to understand both Doctor Strange and the Multiverse of Madness and Agatha All Along. You have to watch Loki to understand who the Big Bad of Quantumania is, just as you have to watch Ms. Marvel to understand who the heck this new character in The Marvels is.
The irony is that fans acted like this was an annoying new storytelling decision by Disney, but the reality is that they simply applied George Lucas’ annoying homework strategy to Marvel. Honestly, they had every reason to expect this strategy to work…for as frustrating as those prequels were, fans really did flock to stores to buy ancillary media and fully understand these new films set in a galaxy far, far away. But that was because we hadn’t had new cinematic Star Wars content since Return of the Jedi in 1983; that strategy didn’t work for Marvel because Disney released so much so soon, effectively creating the superhero fatigue now threatening their bottom line.
There you have it, folks: whether fans of either franchise want to admit it, Star Wars helped inadvertently create Marvel’s biggest problem. And considering the only way to fix it is for Disney to focus less on profit and more on telling great stories, that problem won’t go away anytime soon. Pretty soon, the MCU as a whole might be a bit like Logan’s skeletal body: a pretty corpse Deadpool gets to play with whenever Disney needs a safe box office hit.
Entertainment
Buy a $300 Delta gift card and get a free $20 Starbucks gift card
BUY A DELTA GIFT CARD FOR $300+ AND GET A FREE STARBUCKS GIFT CARD: Through May 11, buy a Delta gift card for $300 or more and get a free $20 Starbucks eGift card.
Credit: Delta / Starbucks
The price of flying these days is shocking. If you plan on traveling soon on a route served by Delta, it’s well worth checking out this deal to get something for free. It’ll help ease the pain of the ticket price.
Through May 11, purchase a Delta gift card worth $300 or more and get a free $20 Starbucks eGift card. It’s as simple as that. You can also qualify for the deal by buying multiple gift cards that total at least $300. The deal with apply automatically and you’ll receive a separate email containing the free Starbucks card.
Booking flights these days is not much fun. Prices are ahh…. abnormal, but Delta has eased the pain a bit thanks to this deal. The carrier is positioning this free Starbucks gift card deal as a good option for Mother’s Day, but realistically, it’s useful for anyone who plans to book with Delta soon.
Keep in mind the Delta gift card and Starbucks card will never expire. Delta mentions this offer is valid until May 11 at 11:59 p.m. ET or for the first 11,000 purchasers, whichever comes first. That means it might be smart to hop on this deal soon since there’s no way to know if it’ll last until May 11.
Mashable Deals
If you plan on flying soon or want to gift a special someone a Delta gift card worth $300 or more, snag this deal to get a free $20 Starbucks eGift card. It’s a win-win situation for those who plan to fly with Delta.
Entertainment
Snag a pair of Bose QuietComfort Ultra headphones for $50 off
SAVE $50: As of May 6, get the Bose QuietComfort Ultra Headphones (2nd Gen) for $399 at Amazon, down from their usual price of $449. That’s a discount of 11%.
$399
at Amazon
$449
Save $50
If you want to experience your favorite music to the fullest, you need headphones that are up to the task. Bose can typically be counted on to provide that kind of quality, especially with its QuietComfort lineup. You can try its newest model for less right now for less thanks to this Amazon deal, which heavily discounts the cans so you don’t have to spend an arm and a leg on them.
As of May 6, get the Bose QuietComfort Ultra Headphones (2nd Gen) for $399 at Amazon, down from their usual price of $449. That’s $50 off and a discount of 11%.
Though an incremental upgrade from the previous QuietComfort model, these have some new features you’ll want to try out. But mostly, these comfortable headphones are all about feeling great on your ears and sounding fantastic. They offer noise cancellation and spatialized audio so it sounds as though you’re right where the music is. The new Cinema Mode can help to spatialize and balance background and sound and sound effects when watching movies to help put you right into the film as well.
Beyond that they can be used to take calls with their built-in microphones. They’ll last a long time while you’re on the phone too, with 30 hours of play time when listening to songs, podcasts, or taking meetings.
Mashable Deals
Mashable Lead Shopping Reporter Bethany Allard took the headphones for a spin in her review and and called them a “well-rounded pair of headphones”, praising their blend of “comfort, noise cancellation, and sound”.
If you’re ready to pick up a new pair of headphones at a discount that’ll tick all the boxes for you, grab these before the discount disappears.
Entertainment
Score up to 64% off at EcoFlow and snag free solar panels with your purchase.
SAVE 64%: Between May 6 and May 17, you can score up to 64% off at EcoFlow and snag free solar panels with your purchase.
Get up to 64% off plus a free solar panel with purchase
I live in an apartment, so I don’t exactly have a “whole home” to back up. But if there’s one thing I hate, it’s losing power. There goes the AC, the internet, the food in the fridge — it’s a total nightmare. If you actually own a house and have been putting off buying a backup power system because it’s pricey, I have some good news.
The DJI Power 1000 Mini portable power station just launched — U.S. availability is pending
Right now, EcoFlow is running a Mother’s Day Sale through May 17 with discounts as high as 64%. They’re also throwing in free hardware to sweeten the deal: All single orders between $600 and $3,000 come with a free 45W solar panel, and orders over $3,000 come with two free 160W solar panels. If you’re looking for something more portable, their RAPID Power Banks are also up to 53% off right now.
Just keep an eye on the countdown clock — it’s for the Flash Sale items that have even better, limited-time price cuts. If you miss the flash window, the standard Mother’s Day and Home Improvement deals (including a $700 installation discount for larger systems) are still valid through mid-May.
Mashable Deals
Here are a few of the best deals I’ve spotted so far:
Buy a $300 Delta gift card and get a free $20 Starbucks gift card
Snag a pair of Bose QuietComfort Ultra headphones for $50 off
