The Multiverse Saga gives the MCU more focus — but not what it needs most

polygon.com:

One of the longstanding complaints about the post-Avengers: Endgame era of the Marvel Cinematic Universe is that, three years in, it seems to lack direction. To a certain extent, this is a problem fans can only have with the benefit of hindsight: When Iron Man premiered in 2008, the only big promise made was that the Avengers would eventually show up in the franchise. Once they did, in 2012’s The Avengers, that film’s post-credits scene introduced a new apparent focus for the MCU: the arrival of Thanos, who was eventually revealed to be after the Infinity Stones. While the road to Infinity War and Endgame was long and circuitous, there was alwayssome kind of destination clearly signaled to the audience.

Current MCU projects don’t have these visible goal posts. For years now, the franchise has focused on Endgame cleanup, telling stories around and after what’s already happened, and mostly looking backward: What happened to Wanda Maximoff after she was forced to kill her husband? What’s Hawkeye been up to? What did the late Black Widow feel so guilty about all this time?

When recent projects like Eternals and Shang-Chi have introduced new characters, those projects have largely been unconcerned with the big picture, the question of how the new arrivals will factor into the comic book world we’ve been getting to know. Instead, audiences have just been teased with the idea that these characters will matter. The origins of Shang-Chi’s 10 rings are kept a mystery, but still teased as important. Or Kit Harington’s Dane Whitman in Eternals is set up for a larger role in a future film, thanks to a post-credits scene where he’s about to claim a magic sword.

From a charitable point of view, this aimlessness is just part of the