Warning: This article contains spoilers for Deadpool & Wolverine.
The Marvel Cinematic Universe just set up the best excuse to reboot the franchise after Avengers: Secret Wars via the plot of Deadpool & Wolverine. With a now 16-year history behind it, the MCU’s overarching world and story has become increasingly elaborate, with different characters, factions, and even planets being regularly introduced throughout its run. This has had several positive and negative knock-on effects for the franchise, as an increased amount of lore means more things for the MCU timeline itself to balance.
The MCU’s consistent expansion and the issues that have unfolded from it have led to theories that an MCU reboot is in sight, with the most popular of these takes being that a soft reboot will come following Avengers: Secret Wars to allow the franchise to reconfigure any aspects of its world that would benefit from adjustment. Secret Wars alone suggests this is possible due to the comics using the story to reset its own universe, and this prospect is further supported by a concept introduced in Deadpool & Wolverine, which gives the MCU its best excuse yet to bring about a potential reboot in the franchise’s upcoming Marvel releases.
Deadpool & Wolverine’s Anchor Beings Explanation Would Make An MCU Reboot Easy To Pull Off Avengers 6
The MCU’s Anchor Beings Makes A Reboot Much Easier To Explain
Other than the cameos and references galore Deadpool & Wolverine brings to the table, one of the most focused-on points of the movie following its release is that of its explanation of the MCU’s anchor beings. As Paradox explains to Deadpool, anchor beings are figures whose lives are inherently tied to the survival of their universe, with their deaths beginning the slow degradation and decimation of their world. This is used to explain why Deadpool’s own universe is dying, using the death of Wolverine in Logan to explain why Earth-10005 is set to be destroyed.
However, this explanation also sets up a perfect excuse to reboot the main MCU timeline. Theories that Robert Downey Jr’s Tony Stark was Earth-616’s anchor being emerged immediately after the concept was revealed, and there’s a real weight to this idea and the possibility of it letting the universe end and be reborn. This is especially true since the premise of an anchor being itself seems a somewhat meta way to address cinematic universes in the superhero genre themselves, which often do hinge on one or a few main characters or actors to carry the heart of its overarching story.
Tying The MCU’s Reboot To Avengers: Endgame Makes Its Hardest Task Easier
While the prospect of rebooting the MCU is one that a good portion of its audience have already suggested is a good idea for its future and general longevity, there are definitely also many who have understandable concerns about whether this is the right avenue for the franchise, and if it can be pulled off in a manner that makes the storyline work in-universe. Reboots are a naturally controversial concept because they inherently require an upheaval of the existing lore, and even a soft MCU reboot risks altering much of what worked and felt natural for Marvel’s movie and show landscape.
However, tying the reboot in to be a natural consequence of the events of Avengers: Endgame and Iron Man’s death within it lets this feel more like a plot point than solely an executive decision. There’s already been a lot of talk about whether the MCU can ever one-up Endgame, and embracing the movie’s significance and success by using it for what would be the Multiverse Saga’s major ending seems a natural path forward that could also ensure the next two Avengers movies feel less like they’re just the Multiverse Saga’s versions of Infinity War and Endgame.
Using Iron Man To Reboot The MCU’s Story Works Perfectly For The Franchise’s Arc
Having the MCU start with Iron Man only to then effectively end – and begin again – because of his death would add a certain sense of poignancy to any possible reboot narrative. This is key, as it grounds what otherwise risks feeling like more of a business decision than solely a move to continue the franchise’s story in the best way.
Without a clear and universally understandable explanation for the prospective reboot, it is easy to imagine audiences struggling to know why the MCU reset outside of the real world reasons. As such, linking the reboot to the story of the biggest MCU hero of all time ensures this otherwise complex concept has an easy and relatively palatable explanation. It also means that the eras of the franchise can be more easily split in people’s minds, with its own arc essentially mirroring the arc of this iteration of Iron Man and providing the universe-defining hero an even bigger sendoff.
