BREAKING: PATRICK STEWART AS PROFESSOR XAVIER IN #MultiverseOfMadness
So, so disappointed they are going this direction.
I'll be honest, I totally get this.
I had a similar feeling when they first started leaking and advertising No Way Home. I thought using the old villains and possibly the other two spideys was a very bad idea. I imagined it'd be super gimmicky and feel hollow and without meaning or purpose. Boy....was I wrong. They pulled it off better than I could have ever imagined.
Because of their success and strategy with No Way Home....and ONLY because of that....I am going to give them the benefit of the doubt on this one and not assume the worst.
And I likewise get what you are saying. I felt the same way, both before and after No Way Home. But while it worked there, and extremely well, I might add,
part of the reason why it worked is because it was novel. As a one-time thing, it was cool. Having something similar happen again just feels...I dunno...cheap? Cash grab? Marvel running out of ideas? Generally, I hate that kind of criticism, and I don't generally feel comfortable saying such things. But that is just what this feels like. The MCU is as good as it is because it started fresh, told good stories, and developed good characters, and, like it or not, is free from the "Marvel" stories that came before, whatever studio they happened to come from. Incorporating more and more of those other threads through the cheap device of, "well, it just happened in an alternate universe" feels...well, cheap.