Why is Marvel Comics killing its MCU stars?
Doctor Strange will be dead soon. So will Peter Parker, AKA Spider-Man. Or at least Marvel Comics really, really wants its readers to think they'll both be taking a dirt nap in the near future. September 2021's Death of Doctor Strange #1 (Image credit: Kaare Andrews (Marvel Comics))  Now that's hardly an unusual circumstance. Unlike in real life, death in comic books is somewhat akin to jury duty - it's a nuisance everyone has to deal with periodically but it's only temporary. And, while frustrating, you'll usually be back to your normal life and job in no time. The death and/or retirement and/or incapacitation of superheroes is also part of a marketing cycle that's particularly useful for characters that are published periodically and indefinitely for long periods of time, and in the case of iconic superheroes - that means for decades, sometimes several times a month for years on end. During a DC Comics panel at what would have been the 1998 or 1999 Comic-Con International: San Diego, long-time DC editor/executive Mike Carlin answered a fan question about the Superman Red and Superman Blue storyline (the fan was less than enthused, as I recall) that has stuck with me in the 20-plus years since I heard it from the back of the panel room. I'm liberally paraphrasing, but I believe Carlin's sentiment was to the effect of "Sometimes you have to publish Electric Blue Superman to remind readers how great regular Superman is." 1998's Superman Red/Superman Blue #1 ... yes, this was really a thing (Image credit: DC)  What I think he meant was sometimes when privileged with reading about great and classic characters every single month for long periods of time, readers can begin to take them for granted. And sometimes it takes an Electric Blue Superman, or for another example, someone else in the Iron Man armor like Doctor Doom, to refresh fans' interest in the classic iteration of the characters. Most major superheroes have died and/or retired during their history (sometimes on multiple occasions), only to triumphantly return to their namesake comic book series eventually with a boost in sales. Readers often react to this common cycle with derision, but as an observer of the industry and sales for over two decades (and the person in charge of marketing Marvel comics to comic book stores for 14 months once upon a time) I can state unequivocally that it works. In the case of Doctor Strange, he's been dead (he got better) and replaced by other characters as the Marvel Universe's Sorcerer Supreme before, including by Doctor Doom (him again), Brother Voodoo, and Loki. In the case of Spider-Man, he's been replaced several times as well, including by his arch-nemesis Doctor Octopus most recently and most pertinently by his clone Ben Reilly, who in October will be replacing him in Amazing Spider-Man title for a second time (you might have heard of the infamous 'Clone Saga'). That's Ben Reilly, Peter's blond-from-a-bottle clone in new promotional Marvel artwork (Image credit: Marvel Comics)  Now in the interest of full disclosure for you casual or non-comic book fans reading this - it's nearly certain Stephen Strange and Peter Parker will one day be resurrected from the dead (assuming they're even really 'dying') and be re-installed in their traditional roles of Doctor Strange and Spider-Man, be it months or years down the road. Because comic books. So none of that is much of a noteworthy surprise. But what is interesting about this particular cycle is the timing of their deaths or apparent deaths and replacements. Because both are happening right before the characters have high-profile new MCU films coming up. The comic book switch from Peter to Ben happens in October, just two months before Tom Holland's Peter Parker returns in Spider-Man: No Way Home on December 17, featuring an appearance by Benedict Cumberbatch's Doctor Strange. Cumberbatch then returns to star in March 25, 2022's Doctor Strange and the Multiverse of Madness. And that movie opens just months after the conclusion of the five-issue monthly limited series that launches in September - The Death of Doctor Strange. And even overlooking the fact that Marvel Studios president Kevin Feige now has purview over all of Marvel Entertainment including Marvel Comics, either way, we can assure you this is no accident. Marvel Comics knows exactly what it's doing and when it's doing it. It's no trade secret that Marvel along with DC usually prepares for the release of major films by having products starring the characters on the shelves of comic book stores and mainstream bookstores timed to the film's opening. Hence Marvel just completed a Shang-Chi limited series that has been collected and just launched a new ongoing Shang-Chi series with the film Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings opening September 3. July's Suicide Squad #5 (Image credit: DC)  For their part, DC has recently installed the obscure-ish character Peacemaker into a new Suicide Squad series and specials in anticipation of John Cena's role in James Gunn's The Suicide Squad opening in theaters and streaming on HBO Max beginning August 6. The logic of it is pretty straightforward - give potential new or lapsed readers something in a comic book and/or a collection resembling the movie they just watched. But in the case of Doctor Strange and Spider-Man, if we take Marvel at face value by the time these two films open readers will find a new Sorcerer Supreme in the Marvel Universe (we expect it to the Scarlet Witch, co-star of the Multiverse of Madness, which is an interesting wrinkle) and a blond Ben Reilly in a new costume in the pages of the Amazing Spider-Man. There are a few potential explanations for this unusual development. One is just that Strange and Parker aren't dying at all, and both The Death of Doctor Strange and the Amazing Spider-Man stories will end in twists on the premise the main characters are dying. Such marketing misdirection is not unprecedented. Another could be Marvel is engaging in a counter-intuitive marketing experiment. Perhaps where it usually zigs (giving potential new readers something familiar) maybe this time around it's going to zag, going against the grain with an attention-getting 'stunt' (for lack of a better term) to take advantage of the increased awareness. We all know Marvel and Sony still have the future of Tom Holland and Spider-Man and the MCU versus Sony's own Spider-Man cinematic universe to work out long-term. Robert Downey Jr., Chris Evans, Chris Hemsworth, Scarlett Johansson, Don Cheadle, and Mark Ruffalo all have or had occupied their roles for over a decade over multiple films, including at least three solo films for the first three actors, but that doesn't mean all actors will follow their leads. Probably not. But the idea can't be completely dismissed. And we'll talk about that more soon. Speaking of Shang-Chi, we look back at how the character is part of the original foundation of the MCU.