'Doctor Strange in The Multiverse of Madness' Screenwriter Michael Waldron Reveals How Big the MCU Can Get
The creator of Loki and writer of Doctor Strange 2 talks about how he and this generation of Marvel creators have reinvented a very popular wheel.
It’s amazing how quickly things can turn for someone in the television and movie business. Only eight years ago, Michael Waldron was an intern on Rick and Morty, and a writer’s production assistant on Dan Harmon’s other popular show, Community. In the last three short years, Waldron has climbed the ladder to become producer of Rick and Morty, created and produced the first season of Starz’s family wrestling drama, Heels, pulled off the amazing first season of Marvel’s Loki, and inherited the script to Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness. If that weren’t enough of a successful jump in the business, both Heels and Loki have been picked up for a second season, and he is scheduled to pen an upcoming Star Wars project.
If that’s still not enough of a challenge in your opinion, then how about being one of the main Disney creators responsible for blowing up the massively popular and massively sized Marvel Cinematic Universe? An undertaking as gargantuan as the multiverse, Waldron and only a handful of other Disney prodigies have reinvented the wheel. For four phases, Marvel has sustained massive box office success and undying fan devotion because it has stuck to a very successful formula, and in this particular phase, they have thrown that out the window to take bigger and bolder chances, and take stories in completely unexpected directions.
Yet in this dynamic Phase Four of the MCU, nothing seems to phase Waldron. “I think you have to be fearless. We started writing ‘Loki’ when ‘Endgame’ was coming out, and it was like, ‘alright, here we are at the conclusion of the Infinity saga. This is the biggest movie of all time’. It's on us to blaze a new trail”.
If you are unfamiliar with just how intense the Marvel fanbase can be, please feel free to visit YouTube Movie Reviewer’s channel, or if you’re truly feeling brave, search a Marvel related hashtag on Twitter and see how ravenous and rabid fans can be. Most mortal men would fear possibly messing it up, but Waldron’s approach was cool, collected and contemplative on just how to accomplish such a feat. “ I think you look to what came before and draw inspiration from it, but don't be afraid to take chances, because that's how Marvel got where they are. I don't want to do the same stuff that they were doing for the last 10 years. I don't think that's what Kevin [Feige] or anybody over there wants to do. You can see they’re making increasingly bold choices with the stories they're telling. So you just trust your own internal compass. ‘What's a story in the MCU that I would be so surprised to see’? That was that was our approach.
“I think you have to be fearless. We started writing ‘Loki’ when ‘Endgame’ was coming out, and it was like, ‘alright, here we are at the conclusion of the Infinity saga. This is the biggest movie of all time’. It’s on us to blaze a new trail.”
When asked just how big the MCU can get using the scripted words from Phase Four creators like Waldron of Wandavision creator Jac Shaeffer, Waldron seems to think there is no limit, and the way in which Wandavision, Loki, Spider-Man: No Way Home and now Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness has completely blown things open, it seems like the sky is the limit. Yet you might be surprised how conservative he is when it comes to the characters he would choose to bring into the MCU, and perhaps even the ones he was permitted to bring into the fold, but within those choices lies opportunity. “What I love is characters like Mobius, who wasn’t in the comics much to him at all. He had very few appearances, and he was just basically an office worker at the TVA who yelled at the Fantastic Four for ‘breaking the rules’. That was an opportunity for me and for our writers and for Owen [Wilson] to create a new and a new beloved character within the MCU. So I get I get excited for characters that exist in an interesting world and have an interesting place within it, or an interesting corner of the comics cannon, but maybe there's not such a defined backstory or personality there, that I get to be a little more creative with with who they are”.
Much like Jon Favreau was to the initial Phase 1 of the MCU, Waldron might easily be considered the godfather of Phase 4. He was only the second show, following Wandavision to suggest that the fabric of the comic universe is being torn asunder, and as mentioned will have more of a chance to tell his multiverse story in season 2 of Loki, and Multiverse of Madness. To circle back to the moral of the story, perhaps it’s not about how long you’ve been preparing for you big break, perhaps it is obvious; it’s simply about being prepared. In the short time Waldron has skyrocketed in the writing world, he has had a baptism by fire working with renegades of narrative like Dan Harmon or Sam Raimi.
Mirroring what he said about what he finds interesting about smaller characters like Mobius, or popular leading characters like Loki, Waldron reveals “What I've learned from those guys is that... character’s everything. It's not about the spectacle. It's not about the action. It's about Dr. Strange, and that's Sam's focus…always. That's what matters the most in this movie, and that's, that's a good thing”.
Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness is in theatres May 6th
See the full interview, below:
