My Journey as a Disney Nerd
By: Nicole Maharaj
Tags: Disney Plus, Star Wars, Disney, Storytelling, Marvel Cinematic Universe

A galaxy of Star Wars

With the news that Disney, and eventually Disney plus creating new Star Wars films and Series, I was a bit apprehensive. I grew up watching Disney, but I also spent my teenage years loving Han Solo and Indiana Jones. I was one of the many fans that rushed to the theatre to watch; Star Wars: The Force Awakens.

The final three movies in the Skywalker Saga gave people different reactions. A lot of the fans of the original work were heartbroken watching as Han Solo, Luke Skywalker, and eventually, Leia Skywalker fell. But if you are a fan of stories the way I am, and you actually went back to the very beginning in Episode I all the way to Episode VI, and then watched the new three episodes you will see that the story was perfectly done. Disney perfectly tied all the loose ends of the first episodes while giving some hope for the future of the franchise.

Photo by Joseph Barrientos on Unsplash

A lot of people think that every story Disney makes has a happy ending, but in the last installment, Rise of Skywalker Disney showed that they weren’t afraid of making the audience unhappy. A lot of people (myself included) expected Ben Solo to be redeemed. Which he was, but he similar to Leia he also fell. What I took from his death, however, is that Leia knew Ben would fall as a Jedi. She waited for him to return to her before she left the world herself.

I’ve never been afraid of an unhappy ending. I know that the world isn’t black and white.

I enjoy novels and films that aren’t afraid to show ambiguous characters like Kylo Ren, who was on the dark side but was inches from the light. Trying to reach Rey, he did what Anakin Skywalker never could and chose the light over the dark.

Disney buying the rights to Star Wars initially might have given most Star War’s fans groan initially, but Disney and specifically Disney plus are showing us how much they themselves love Star Wars too, with The Mandalorian (And Baby Yoda) that everyone loves, and the new Kenobi story, that got not just Ewan McGregor back to reprise his role but Hayden Christensen to reprise his own role as Anakin Skywalker/Darth Vader.

I have absolutely no idea how they plan on having them meet again when in the first movie (Ironically Episode IV) it was explained that they don’t actually meet until they see each other again in the Death Star, where the Master and Padawan fight one last time. If we are getting more information into Darth Vader’s beginnings are we finally going to see Darth Sidious? Is he real? Or is he just Palpatine? So many questions.

Similarly, we also heard the news that a new show was greenlit. Ashoka is getting her own chance in the limelight. I loved her in The Mandalorian and I’ve always been a huge fan of Rosario Dawson who shows over and over again, her unique way of representing a multitude of characters. Ashoka stole the show in The Mandalorian, making it seem like The Mandalorian and Baby Yoda were guests in her world.

It’s not just Jedi stories that we are getting, however. Much like the way that they did the Mandalorian we are also getting a prequel series for Rogue One that has been defined as a Spy thriller, which I think will be interesting but I would probably miss Jyn Erso too much to really like it as much as Rogue One. Another series that was announced is The Rangers of the New Republic, a spin-off to The Mandalorian. This I hope means that we will be seeing more of Cara Dune’s story. Or even more of the republic officers that we’ve been seeing pop up in a couple of the Mandalorian episodes in season Two.

One of the series I’m most psyched about seeing on screen is one that hasn’t yet been cast or put in production. Lando is going to be a story of Lando Calrissian which I’ve always wanted to know about. Han Solo was all over the Star Wars saga and Lando was always a frenemy of his. So with Lando getting his own show, there’s always the hope that Han Solo and maybe even a Baby Ben will show up in that series. One can hope at least.

The Marvel Universe

As everyone who owns a TV or the Internet knows, WandaVision is set to come out at some point in the new year. Along with Falcon and Winter Soldier and the much-awaited Loki.

Photo by Timur Romanov on Unsplash

I will admit, I am not really psyched to see WandaVision so much, even though I know that the WandaVision series is going to lead to Doctor Strange’s Multiverse of Madness.

What I’m really looking forward to watching, is Falcon and the Winter Soldier, and of course Loki. Ever since Endgame came out we have had no Marvel movies to look forward to, (I know Spiderman: Far from Home came out, I’m electing to ignore it) so when I heard Falcon and Winter Soldier was coming out in a series, I was really excited. I’ve always loved Captain America: The Winter Soldier, I thought it was well done, and I loved watching Bucky’s journey. Sam I always knew would eventually end with the Shield, even though many people probably thought Bucky would.

Sam, however, was the most like Rogers. He had morals and the bravery to stand up for those morals. The fact that Bucky is now on his side as a potential partner is amusing, to say the least. Sam had never really been a fan of Bucky’s despite his many attempts to be friendly. Probably because Sam remembers Bucky as the guy who ripped out his steering wheel when he was trying to evade him on the bridge in Winter Soldier.

Bucky will always be my favorite of the two and I’m so happy that we will be getting more of his story. I already watched the exclusive spot of Falcon and Winter Soldier and it’s only made me more interested in the show.

From the moment Loki disappeared with the Tesseract, we knew it was only a matter of time before he showed his face, and thankfully we not only get to see him again in full Loki form but as a series! The Loki that we’ve seen thus far in the exclusive previews shows a Loki that is the embodiment of mischief. Loki has always had the best one-liners in the movies, and it would be interesting to see the misadventures he will get into all by himself. The Loki we are getting is one, that is still angry at both his adoptive father and brother Thor. I hope that one day that means they will meet again. So far both these shows make me wonder at the future of the Marvel universe without Robert Downey Jr., Chris Evans, and Scarlett Johanssen.