Therefore the MCU remains stagnant with no clear cut Avengers team or narrative. D&W didn’t move the needle the multiverse narrative wheels remain stuck in the mucky mud.
IMHO, the short lived TV series Counterpart was really best kind of practical compromise for a "multiverse" storyline for a mostly casual audience. Something to consider is that you can't rack up huge dollars, and worldwide appeal without creating something that is digestible for the casual viewer. For example, Christopher Nolan's Interstellar has some major plot holes and some real structural problems. But it has a fairly well done parent/child dynamic that's openly manipulative, it has good star/cast firepower, it has an amazing soundtrack and some game changing visual effects. But since the average casual viewer isn't going to follow too much of a plotline with too much hard science behind it, that was the best compromise available. And it was popular and made tons of money. On the flip side, SyFy's 12 Monkeys tv series had a pretty complex and structured roadmap, mostly very well done, and all that time travel just lost the casual audience eventually.
Counterpart's storyline gives you a "Prime" universe and an "Alpha" universe and that's it. It's a multiverse built on having just one doppleganger. And that set up naturally creates tension, complexity, character arcs and real functional structure. It's putting your writers room in a position to win. Here's the problem. From a skill standpoint, JK Simmons is simply a better actor than the core original Avengers. I have nothing against RDJ, Hemsworth, Evans, ScarJo, and Renner. Ruffalo is a total moron and a limited actor, so he's definitely not pulling it off. Fun to watch and having the physicality/charisma to be a super hero lead is not the same as having the technical skill to pull off two different characters and sell so many complex distinctions between the two to a widespread audience.
The MCU, the current lineup, doesn't have the acting firepower to really build out a Counterpart like multiverse. Who can do it? Who has the legitimate acting talent to pull it off? Florence Pugh. Hailee Steinfeld. Sam Rockwell proved he could do it in Duncan Jone's Moon. Benedict Cumberbatch. Benedict Wong, though he's a minor character. This was only feasible if Ed Norton had stayed on as the Hulk from the start and Feige got his first choice for Black Widow, Emily Blunt. They could do it. But that's just not enough against the entire MCU roster. You can't really sell major films with just Justin Hammer, Wong and Girl Hawkeye.
The other issue is once you get the actuaries and bean counters involved, the character lineup is a list of assets first and foremost. If you break down the entire history of the Indiana Jones franchise, to actuaries and bean counters, it left money on the table. There were several long gaps that could have been filled with comics, graphic novels, TV series, web shorts, other films, tie in books, etc, etc. Now whether there were any good stories to be told is a different matter. But there are basic breakdowns of how to maximize milking the cow until it falls over. It's not about telling a good story then. It's not even about true filmmaking. It's just producing content. You are now an energy drink company. You aren't making movies, you are making neon billboards for cases of energy drinks or super protein chocolate milk or whatever else.
A dying MCU character who stays dead, even from a narrative standpoint that makes sense will be seen as a lost asset. Can you prop that cow up somehow? Then why can't you milk it? That's the methodology here. The reason the MCU keeps giving you the same tired repeated multiverse story over and over again ( i.e. you will destroy yourself in the pursuit of changing the past, if you do get it, you will regret what you have become, with "cost certainty" that's false also comes the loss of hope) is they can't functionally give you anything else. They don't have the acting firepower. The casual audience can only handle a certain level of complexity in the narrative. The people in charge are running an energy drink company first and foremost. It's just content. Their last stand is convincing themselves that you'll hate watch it anyway, talk about it non stop anyway, even if it's bad, and still rack up your preorder list with merchandise and action figures from The Big Mouse's overall banner. (Are they wrong there?)
A good MCU multiverse story is only possible IMHO if that film is segmented off from the main Avengers storylines. You get smaller, not bigger. You focus on getting real acting firepower, people with the skill set, even if they aren't the most bankable nor look good in the costume. You give characters that people will care about, not surface level cut outs for quippy humor and more brand merchandising. But you will never see that film. Because energy drink companies don't make films in the first place. They make content. They are daring you to cancel every last Disney product off your Hot Toys preorder list and expect that you won't really do it.
It used to be, these juggernaut corporations would treat you like a whore, but not say it out loud. Because why do that. That's rude and it's undignified. Now they are not only OK with saying it out loud, they are proud to do it, they are actually using it for viral marketing too. They won't change, but you can. You can walk away entirely. If enough people do that, the worst parts of these energy drink companies will finally die.