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
Doctor Strange’s Moral Debt Engine
Marvel keeps turning Strange’s control under pressure into moral debt — and that craft choice is why a Doom alliance can feel inevitable instead of random.
What Secret Wars Is (Defined In LOKI Season 1)
Secret Wars isn’t about collecting universes — it’s about forcing an impossible choice under pressure, then living with the scar. Loki Season 1 proves the engine Marvel needs to...
RDJ As Doctor Doom: The Mirror Villain Move
RDJ as Doom isn’t a stunt—it’s Marvel externalizing Tony Stark’s core flaw (control) into the saga’s opponent. Here’s the craft tool and what it means for Doomsday.
Loki: Episode 1.06 “For All Time, Always” | The End Is The Beginning Is The End (SEASON 1 FINALE)
Loki episode 1.06 "For All Time, Always" is a perfect finale for both Loki and Sylvie. But, in terms of everyone else, well, that's a different story...
Loki: Episode 1.05 “Journey Into Mystery” | That’s Not Who I Am Anymore
Loki episode 1.05 "Journey Into Mystery" is a straight up bananaland episode of television which serves as a perfect "theme vs. anti-theme" mirror for our main character as it...
Loki: Episode 1.04 “The Nexus Event” | Hiding A Twist In Plain Sight
Loki episode 1.04 "The Nexus Event" has given you a major twist, but it's not the twist you're thinking...