Summary
- The MCU has a hidden trend of featuring museums in many of its movies and shows, adding a subtle but effective backdrop for intimate and suspenseful scenes.
- Museums serve as a way to inform the characters’ personalities, showcasing heroes as well-educated intellectuals before their battles in the MCU.
- The presence of museums in the MCU is likely to continue in future movies and shows, further solidifying its role as a significant setting within the franchise.
The MCU keeps finding new ways to include an oddly specific trend that has been hidden in several movies and shows. Never has the MCU been more varied than in the Multiverse Saga, which has featured anything from birthing Celestials and underwater civilizations to multiversal battles and fourth-wall breaks. Yet, certain elements keep popping up across the franchise, and some are harder to pinpoint than others.
Some noticeable MCU trends include the overabundance of nanotech suits and unlikely resurrections. A sneakier trend previously hidden in the MCU was all Phase 2 movies featuring a character losing an arm, which isn’t as evident as it sounds, as every character who lost an arm in the Infinity Saga did so in very different ways. Likewise, the MCU has repeatedly featured a specific setting for years, and it doesn’t seem like it will be stopping anytime soon.
Secret Invasion Continues The MCU’s Museum Obsession
Many scenes in MCU titles take place in museums. For instance, Captain America: The Winter Soldier introduced the Captain America exhibit at the Smithsonian Institution, and Sam Wilson handed over the Captain America shield in The Falcon and the Winter Soldier. In Black Panther, Erik Killmonger stole Wakandan artifacts from the fictional Museum of Great Britain. Soon after, Peter Parker’s school trip to the Da Vinci museum in Italy was cut short by Mysterio’s attack not long before Spider-Man’s allies sought shelter inside the Jewel House in London. Coincidentally, Peter Parker also wasn’t able to go to the Museum of Modern Art due to his superhero duties in Avengers: Infinity War.
During Phase 4, Eternals‘ Sersi and Dane Whitman met at the Natural History Museum in London, where both worked. Similarly, Moon Knight‘s filming locations include the Museum Of Fine Arts in Budapest, which doubled for London’s National Art Gallery, where Steven Grant first embraced the Moon Knight mantle. Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness not only used the real-life British Museum for its Illuminati scenes, but it also teased the Strange Museum, constructed in honor of Earth-838 Doctor Strange. Now, Secret Invasion featured a scene between Talos and Gravik in the National Portrait Gallery, where Talos stabbed Gravik’s hand.
Why The MCU Features So Many Museums
Unlike the Phase 2’s tribute to Star Wars with its arm amputation scenes, there’s no particular through line that connects all museum scenes in the MCU. Museums are simply a useful setting for intimate scenes, and action scenes tend to be more suspenseful in such delicate places where many valuable items are stored. Museums also help inform the characters’ personalities in a subtle way, as heroes like Sersi, Black Knight, and Moon Knight are shown to be well-educated intellectuals prior to their first MCU battles. Hence, it’s quite likely that future MCU movies and shows will continue to feature museums in their stories.