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AN ORIGINAL MARY & BLAKE PODCAST

The MCU Diaries

Marvel Storycraft With Mary & Blake

New mask. Same podcast. MCU Diaries breaks down what matters in the MCU—why it works, why it doesn’t, and how it all points to Doomsday and Secret Wars.

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THE EPISODE LIBRARY

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Browse the original conversations, with the newest published episodes first.

30 EPISODES
BEHIND THE CONVERSATION

About this podcast.

The MCU Diaries is Blake Larsen’s craft-first Marvel podcast and essay series for fans who love the MCU but want more than recap, lore-dumping, cameo hunting or empty hype.

This is Mary & Blake’s front door for Marvel storycraft, Avengers: Doomsday, Secret Wars and the Multiverse Saga — including Doctor Doom, incursions, anchor beings, Loki, Spider-Man, Deadpool & Wolverine, Doctor Strange and the story choices that actually matter.

What makes MCU Diaries different?
Each episode or essay asks how the story works: character pressure, turning points, theme, consequence, moral debt and the machinery underneath Marvel’s biggest swings. Strong opinions. No sacred cows. No cameo bingo required.

The Road To Doomsday

Marvel Has Already Set The Board

The MCU is moving toward Doctor Doom, collapsing realities and Secret Wars. Our job is not simply to predict who walks through which portal. We want to understand the argument underneath it: what happens when heroes who refuse to sacrifice the people they love are confronted with a crisis where reality itself appears to demand a cost?

That is the story we are tracking now.

What To Watch Before Avengers: Doomsday →

Start Here: Avengers Doomsday, Doctor Doom & Secret Wars

If you are trying to understand where Marvel is heading next, these are the pieces I would start with.



Start Here · Avengers: Doomsday
What To Watch Before Avengers: Doomsday — And Why Marvel Chose These Stories
Disney’s 15-story watchlist is more than homework. We break down how Marvel appears to be dramatically priming Doom, Xavier, Magneto, Steve, Loki, Reed and the multiverse crisis. →



Secret Wars
What Secret Wars Really Means
Why Marvel’s multiverse needs to become a moral engine instead of an encyclopedia of cameos. →



Multiverse Rules
Anchor Beings & Incursions Explained
What Marvel’s multiverse rules actually mean and why they matter heading toward Doom. →



Loki
Marvel’s Multiverse Has One Weak Spot
Why Loki’s sacrifice creates the exact philosophical problem Doctor Doom may try to solve through control. →



Doctor Strange
Moral Debt & Doom’s Path
How incursions turn Marvel’s reality-bending shortcuts into consequences somebody eventually has to pay. →



Deadpool & Wolverine
Why Deadpool & Wolverine Matters For Doomsday
The TVA, dying realities and the emotional argument underneath saving your universe. →

The MCU Diaries

Listen Or Watch

Each MCU Diaries episode is basically an essay you can listen to: Marvel storycraft, character pressure, theme, structure, consequence and whatever ridiculous rabbit hole Blake has decided deserves several thousand words this week.

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Avengers: Doomsday & Doctor Doom

Doctor Doom is not interesting because he is powerful. He is interesting because he believes he is right. The best version of Avengers: Doomsday does not simply give the Avengers another opponent they have to punch harder. Doom should attack the beliefs that make these heroes who they are.

That is why we are tracking the road to Doomsday through moral debt, control, incursions, alternate realities and the impossible choices Marvel has been quietly priming across the Multiverse Saga.

New · The Doomsday Assignment

Why Did Marvel Choose These 15 Movies & Shows?

Marvel’s official Doomsday watchlist runs from X-Men and The Avengers through Loki, No Way Home, Deadpool & Wolverine, Thunderbolts* and The Fantastic Four: First Steps. We think the choices reveal more than which characters matter.

They appear to be priming the beliefs, relationships, rules and unresolved costs Doctor Doom can attack.

Read The Avengers: Doomsday Watchlist Analysis →

Marvel Multiverse Explained

The MCU’s multiverse only matters if it creates pressure. Anchor beings, incursions, variants, timelines, the TVA and the Sacred Timeline are not interesting simply because Marvel gave them names. They are story rules, and good story rules eventually force somebody to choose.

Secret Wars Explained

Secret Wars should not be cameo bingo. It should be the point where Marvel’s multiverse chaos finally costs something.

The story becomes interesting when broken worlds, Doctor Doom, Loki’s burden and collapsing realities force heroes to decide whether saving existence gives them permission to choose who gets sacrificed.

MCU Reviews & Storycraft Essays

Not everything has to be about the fate of the multiverse. Some of our favorite MCU Diaries pieces take one scene, relationship or craft choice and ask why it works — or why it absolutely does not.

What You’ll Get From MCU Diaries

Storycraft Analysis
Character choice, theme, structure, payoff, failure and consequence.
Multiverse Explain­ers
Anchor beings, incursions, variants, timelines and the rules Marvel expects us to remember.
Doom & Secret Wars
How Marvel can turn enormous franchise machinery into actual moral pressure.
Reviews & Reactions
What works, what does not, and why a Marvel story lands or falls apart.

The MCU Diaries Rule

Character, Not Cameos

A portal opening is not automatically a story. A familiar face is not automatically a payoff. Lore is useful only when it creates pressure on somebody we care about.

The bigger Marvel’s movies become, the more important character becomes.

The Deeper Room

Join The Nerd Clan

Support Mary & Blake and join us for bonus podcasts, deeper story analysis, community conversation and all the extra nonsense we keep making because apparently we do not know how to behave.

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MCU Diaries is an unofficial fan podcast and essay series from Mary & Blake Media. We are not affiliated with Marvel Studios, Disney, or the Marvel productions.