Quantum Physics in the Marvel Cinematic Universe: New Capitalist Realism for the Anthropocene

Abstract:After Disney's nineteenth MCU film, Avengers: Infinity War, kills half of the franchise's superheroes, its sequel, Endgame, introduces the Quantum Realm—a subatomic reality that superposes all possible worlds as an inexhaustible resource to extend its grand narrative of superhuman salvation. Through Disney's quantum leap, this paper examines how new materialist thinking in current cultural production re-ontologizes, or "quantumizes," its intellectual properties as excess that enfolds contradictions, such as scenarios of hidden risks and their preemptive solutions. The current ontological turn in the social sciences and humanities speculates about this sort of quantumized substratum as a strategic means to think about disciplinary sustainability in the Anthropocene.