The MCU Diaries is Blake Larsen’s craft-first Marvel essay series for people who love the MCU but want more than recap, Easter eggs, or empty hype.
This is where I break down what Marvel stories are actually doing under the hood: character pressure, moral debt, value shifts, structure, theme, and the choices that make something hit — or miss. These essays are built around one idea at a time, with on-screen receipts to prove it.
That means you’ll find writing on Loki, WandaVision, The Falcon and the Winter Soldier, and the bigger road to Avengers: Doomsday and Secret Wars. Sometimes the question is about a single episode. Sometimes it’s about a saga-level move. Either way, the goal is the same: figure out why the story works, why it doesn’t, and what it teaches us to watch for next.
If you’re looking for smart Marvel essays with a character-first lens and no sacred cows, you’re in the right place.
Start Here
- RDJ As Doctor Doom: The Mirror Villain Move
- What Secret Wars Is (Defined In LOKI Season 1)
- Why Doctor Strange Matters to Marvel’s Multiverse Saga
- Secret Wars Explained Through Loki Season 1
Prefer audio?
If you'd rather listen than read, the companion podcast lives here: The MCU Diaries podcast.
Latest MCU Diaries Entries
The Falcon And The Winter Soldier: 1.03 – The Power Broker | John Wick Lite
The Falcon And The Winter Soldier: episode 1.03 - Power Broker is an example of a story allowing it's plot to inform it's characters as opposed to it's characters...
The Falcon And The Winter Soldier: Episode 1.02 “Star Spangled Man” | Defining Captain America
The Falcon And The Winter Soldier episode 1.02 "Star Spangled Man" finally brings our main characters together and asks what it means to actually be "Captain America".
The Falcon And The Winter Soldier: Episode 1.01 “New World Order” | This Old World Is A New World
The Falcon And The Winter Solider episode 1.01 "New World Order" is certainly more conventionally Marvel than WandaVision, but it also reminds us that convention is what defines an...
WandaVision: Episode 1.09 “The Series Finale” (SEASON 1 FINALE) | A Thing Isn’t Beautiful Because It Lasts
The WandaVision season 1 finale, episode 1.09 "The Series Finale", is a deeply satisfying conclusion to the operative theme of the story and it shows the viewer that not...
WandaVision: Episode 1.08 “Previously On” | The Only Way Forward Is Confronting Defense Mechanisms
The penultimate episode of WandaVision - episode 1.08 - serves as an exercise in Wanda's fragile psychology while also exhibiting a magnificent balance of exposition, plot, and character.
WandaVision: Episode 1.07 “Breaking The Fourth Wall” | Be Careful What You Wish For
Wandavision episode 1.07 "Breaking The Fourth Wall" drops a major MCU bomb on us, but keeps it's laser focus on it's main character while warning us to be careful...