Commentary: A Look At Horror In The Marvel Cinematic Universe
by Frank Martin
The Marvel Cinematic Universe is expansive. Not just in terms of its characters and locations, but also in regards to genre. Critics often wondered in the early days how the shared universe would fare featuring so many different kinds of characters with different specialties. Iron Man (Robert Downey Jr.) is a science fiction hero whereas Thor (Chris Hemsworth) deals with magic and fantasy. There’s also elements of romance, comedy, and action in almost every Marvel Studios tale. But horror is a very particular genre and needs to be approached carefully. The Marvel movies and shows want to appeal to a wide range of audiences, including families. It’s hard for horror to pull that off as it can sometimes lean too far in a mature direction. But so far, what little horror the MCU features has been handled well.
Originally, Doctor Strange in the Multiverse Of Madness was billed as the first horror story in the MCU. This made sense as it was directed by Sam Raimi, traditionally a filmmaker specializing in horror — the elements of which focused primarily on the Scarlet Witch’s (Elizabeth Olsen) descent into madness. She looked particularly fearsome at times and the film took great strides to make her look as scary as possible. But it technically wasn’t the first horror story in the MCU as an episode of What If…? featured zombies a few months earlier. Also, Werewolf By Night is another example of Marvel horror as it leans into the classical Gothic feel of the genre.
Even though it wasn’t billed as horror, Marvel’s most recent television series, Agatha All Along, also has elements of the horror genre. Witches are traditionally horror characters, so even though it doesn’t focus on scares, a show about Agatha Harkness (Kathryn Hahn) still falls within the genre. After all, it’s a show in which a witch has a romantic relationship with Death (Aubrey Plaza). Horror fans tend to think of blood and gore, but atmospheric horror exists, too. As the MCU continues to expand and explore new territory, it’s interesting to see it becoming more comfortable playing around with different types of horror.
The Marvel Cinematic Universe is now streaming on Disney+.
