Marvel Comics' Inability to Commit Hurts Venom, Mephisto, and More
In recent years, it's become a trend in Marvel Comics that major changes to characters and events are rather impermanent, and recent stories featuring the likes of Mephisto, Venom, and more are potentially paying the price. An inability to commit to new changes to the status quo in the Marvel Universe is being noticed, leading to fans struggling to invest in the interconnected comic book medium. Why should they care about what's happening to a certain character, group, or event if things will ultimately be restored to their typical status quo by the series' end?
This has most recently been seen with the cancellation of Ghost Rider's current run, leading to a restoration of how things were before the run began. However, a series doesn't have to be cancelled for this effect to take place. Marvel creatives have spoken of a "toy box" methodology, where writers are able to manipulate characters as they wish, provided they essentially put everything back the way it was by the series' end. While it does create a clean slate for the next writer, this type of storytelling has led to any new concept or idea being met with caution by fans. Why embrace anything new if it's only temporary?
Even within the last year, big changes have happened in the Marvel Universe that either have fallen prey to this trend, or very well could occur in future issues. Additionally, some stories like the Avengers' Phoenix Tournament may have even sacrificed a better narrative in favor of making sure a new change stays permanent for a longer duration. Here's a few of the biggest examples that show why Marvel Comics needs to be willing to embrace lasting change more than it currently has been.
As previously mentioned, one of the most recent example of "toy box cleanup" is with King In Black: Ghost Rider #1 from writer Ed Brisson and art by Juan Frigeri. Serving an an epilogue of sorts for the cancelled Ghost Rider series, the end of this issue sees all of Johnny Blaze and Doctor Strange's hard work to keep Mephisto contained undone. While Ghost Rider has been the new king of Hell, his time as such is very brief, as the issue ends with Mephisto once more on the throne (as is typical for the the Marvel Universe).
This quick exchange of power back to the "natural order" seems like an oversight. Even if the series had been cancelled, couldn't Johnny Blaze has made future appearances as Hell's ruler in other comics for a while longer with a more meaningful reason as to why he needed to give up the throne? Furthermore, there could have been a miniseries focused on Mephisto's attempts to take back his throne, rather than it quite literally being handed back to him due to an apparent need to reset the chess board. Sure enough, Ghost Rider is back on Earth doing what he usually does as a supernatural anti-hero, while Mephisto is back to being the demon lord of Hell.
Furthermore, concerns could be raised for arguably one of the biggest status quo changes currently going on in the Marvel Universe: Venom's transformation into a god. With Marvel Comics having just concluded its King in Black event featuring Knull the Symbiote God being defeated by Eddie Brock's Venom, Brock has become the new King in Black, seemingly in control of a vast army of symbiotes at his command. However, Donny Cates and Ryan Stegman will be ending their highly praised run on the character with Venom #200. Will Venom somehow get reset back to being a simple Lethal Protector by the end of the upcoming issue?
It should be noted that while Venom has had quite the impressive redemption arc from villain to hero in the comics, Venom debuted in 1988. While he's had different hosts over the years, the symbiote always find its way back to Eddie Brock, and the change to being a hero was very gradual, spanning over what is now decades, and even then Venom can be prone to more sinister moments from time to time.
Something as big as turning the former Spider-Man villain turned eventual hero into a literal god is something that's huge, though it seems as though the bigger the change, the less permanent it becomes in the Marvel Universe. As such, fans should be worried about Venom's new status being possibly transitory, reverting back to form under the usual standard circumstances for his character.
In the same vein, this concept of maintaining the determined status quo more than likely influenced current Avengers writer Jason Aaron to have Maya Lopez' Echo be the Phoenix Force's chosen host. While the Phoenix Tournament featured big characters like Black Panther, Captain America, Wolverine, She-Hulk, Namor, Doctor Doom, and more, none of them were ultimately chosen. Instead, Echo has become the new Phoenix, most likely because of her lack of name recognition and lesser popularity in comparison. This way, Jason Aaron's status quo change with the Phoenix is able to last much longer than it would have if someone like Black Panther or Captain America been chosen before they would inevitably need to be reverted back to form under Marvel's current mode of operation.
Unfortunately, this led to a somewhat lackluster conclusion for the tournament itself. While many of these big names such as Captain America, Black Panther, and She-Hulk make it all the way to the final rounds, Echo is brought in as a surprise victor despite having already been defeated by Namor (a "rising from the ashes" reasoning was provided). This comes off as an attempt of having cake and eating it too, while keeping the status quo change for the future regulated to a lower tier character in comparison. Many fans have picked up on this rising trend as well, as hardly anyone thought that Captain America or Wolverine would end up walking home as a new Phoenix. Even if they did, the assumption was that it wouldn't have been for long.
A contained story like Marvel's Strange Academy from Skottie Young and Humberto Ramos runs the risk of having very few of its events within actually mattering once the series come to an end, much like the Avengers Academy. The Guardians of the Galaxy are about to enter a new Age of Space where they'll no longer be outlaws and will instead become sanctioned galactic heroes. Will they stay that way, or will they eventually revert back to being outlaws down the line once Al Ewing's run is done? How are fans supposed to be invested when so many stories run the risk of barely making a dent in the interconnected mythos that is the Marvel Universe? While there are some shining examples of evidence to the contrary such as the X-Men's new island nation of Krakoa, they're few and far between.
The reasoning for this disheartening trend is likely due to a desire on Marvel's part to publish what they know will sell. However, certain events in the Marvel Universe's past such as Kree-Skrull War persisted as long as it did due to the respectability of its history. However, history can't be built up if changes to the status quo are constantly removed and reverted back to the norm within a few issues. Marvel Comics has fallen into a pattern of a lack of commitment, which more often that not is staring to hurt some of their best stories, recent characters like Mephisto and (potentially) Venom, and the narrative of their entire interconnected universe overall.