The Marvel Cinematic Universe began Phase 2 with last month’s Black Window. It continues next month with Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings. It’ll grow with the release of this fall’s Eternals. The never ending series of comic book movies feels inevitable. It should. Goodnight Moon prepared us for this. 

Goodnight Moon, the 1947 book written by Margaret Wise Brown and illustrated by Clement Hurd is classic children’s literature. It has lulled both kid and parent to sleep for generations. The story really isn’t a story, more of a checklist of goodnight acknowledgements than anything resembling a narrative. It’s beloved for sentimental reasons and Hurd’s pleasant art, not for its lesson or lack thereof. 

Don’t get me wrong, I love Goodnight Moon, I think I love it more than my kid. But I’m aware enough to know it’s not a ‘good’ book by traditional standards. It’s one of the reasons the book wasn’t available in the New York Public Library until 1972 (if you’re interested in this fascinating story, we recommend listening to the 99% Invisible episode “Goodnight Nobody”). But like most things, what the public wants is more important than what librarians, critics and other gatekeepers think. 

I loved comic books as a kid. I gravitated towards X-Men and Spawn. My indifference to Batman, Spider-Man and Superman didn’t necessarily put me at a disadvantage when the biggest superhero movies of my childhood were Superman (80s), Batman (90s) and Spider-Man (00s). I understood the tropes even if I wasn’t as familiar with the titles. It’s not like X-Men and Spawn were much different, it just felt like something actually consequential might happen from issue to issue. The perception of consequences appealed to me. But there’s a reason Superman, Batman and Spider-Man* were and are more popular. Nothing happening might be better than anything happening.

A familiarity with comics and a recently renewed reading of Goodnight Moon has made it clear that our very formative kids brains have been prepped for the MCU. 

Nothing really happens in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Stuff almost happened in Phase 1, but Avengers: Endgame literally wiped all of that clean. The culmination of 22 films didn’t exactly wrap up a story but give viewers something nice to follow along to for 50 hours or so. Which isn’t a bad thing, it’s just not a ‘traditional’ story. 

Similar to Goodnight Moon, the main takeaway from the MCU was other MCU movies. If you’re not sure what I’m writing about, take a closer look at the book. 

The most interesting aspect of Goodnight Moon is finding the mouse on each page. Most of the book features a rabbit in bed and a static collection of items. The mouse is our first introduction to Easter eggs. It seems like Easter eggs are the most interesting aspect of modern comic book movies. 

Goodnight Moon presents us with a fantastical image of death. It may not seem like a big deal, but on the ‘Goodnight room’ page of Goodnight Moon, there’s a piece of art hanging above the mother. A rabbit is fishing for a smaller rabbit and the smaller rabbit in the water is jumping, about to be caught with a carrot by the fishing rabbit. This trope, a premonition of death, is in most every MCU movie. A death that may or may not be real, something that seems out of the ordinary yet consequential but probably not. 

The piece of art is a reference to The Runaway Bunny, another book by Wise Brown and Hurd. It’s an Easter egg and a plug for their other books. What’s more comic book movie than that? 

Goodnight Moon is a never ending story with no real consequences. The Marvel Cinematic Universe is a never ending story with no real consequences. Both are balms for sleep. I am a fan of both.  

*I realize Gwen Stacy dying in the Spider-Man book is extremely consequential but she does not die in the Sam Raimi trilogy.

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