Doctor Who Delivers The Ultimate Insult To ... The Marvel Cinematic Universe?

This article contains spoilers for "Doctor Who" season 2, episode 5 — "The Story & The Machine" 

Ncuti Gatwa's Fifteenth Doctor might be a fairly upbeat regeneration compared to some of his predecessors, but if needs must, that only makes him more dangerous than the average Time Lord (or Timeless Child, as the case may be). In "The Story & The Machine," he handily proves that he can deflate a villain with nothing more than a heartfelt laugh and some inside information. 

The unfortunate antagonist on the receiving end of this treatment is the Barber (Ariyon Bakare), who has just finished his big villain reveal monologue and unveiled himself as the God of Stories — an eternal being who has been worshipped as the ancient Greek pantheon's Dionysus, Sága and Loki from Norse mythology, Akan folktale story lord Anansi, and many others in the same vein. The Doctor reacts to this information with a moment of stunned silence before breaking into such an infectious laughter that Belinda Chandra (Varanda Sethu) and some of the other people present can't help but lose it, either.

This is because the Doctor knows that the Barber is completely and utterly full of it. The Time Lord has personally met every single entity the Barber rattles off, and goes on to briefly recount his various adventures with some of the story deities the Barber just name-dropped. It's both a hilarious moment and a devastating counter to the Barber's grandstanding ... and in the process, the Doctor sneakily drops a devastating insult to the Marvel Cinematic Universe. 

According to the Doctor, he's partied with Dionysus and placed doomed bets with Anansi. However, his time with Sága was considerably chiller, as they simply hung out and watched MCU films ... but only up until "Avengers: Endgame."

The Doctor doesn't elaborate on the reason they ended their MCU marathon there, but he does mention that Sága wasn't shy of pointing out inaccuracies — in fact, he specifically says that she felt Chris Hemsworth's Thor didn't pack enough muscle. As such, it's not hard to see why a time-traveling alien and a critical Norse goddess would stop their MCU watch party at the conclusion of the Infinity Saga. It's reasonable to assume that Sága (a goddess associated with both storytelling and seeing the future) and the Doctor (an ultra-curious time traveler) already had some information on what was coming, and wanted little to do with the Multiverse Saga.

If you've kept up with popular culture at all in recent years, you already know that the MCU's Multiverse era has been full of mistakes, flops, and behind-the-scenes incidents that have dealt the franchise one blow after another, and that the people behind it are now openly calling out. These days, even Kevin Feige admits that things went wrong after "Avengers: Endgame," and Disney CEO Bob Iger has promised to pivot to a quality over quantity approach. "Doctor Who," of course, is also operating under the Disney umbrella these days, and it's a fun self-own to allow its main character to continue this trend of MCU self-flagellation by insinuating that he got promptly out of Dodge after Thanos (Josh Brolin) was defeated.

New episodes of "Doctor Who" premiere Saturdays on Disney+.