Why I Learned To stop Worrying And Embrace The Future (Of Marvel Movies)

Hey everyone,

First off, can I start off with a “HOLY SHIT!” I mean that Marvel event yesterday was pretty awesome. It’s not everyday that we get a full reveal like this, and while DC did the same thing a while back, I don’t think it nearly impacted me as much as the Marvel slab.

Not to say that I’m a Marvelite, which is a dumb term to even use. It’s not like I’m a Pizzaite, or a Girlite; these are things I enjoy. I enjoy pizza, girls, and Marvel. All three in a coincidence would be perfect. Kate Upton, a Pulled Pork Pizza, and Guardians of the Galaxy. Sound off in the comments on how cool that sounds to you.

It’s funny all these movies that got announced, of which we have:

• Captain America: Civil War (May 6^th, 2016)
• Doctor Strange (November 4^th, 2016)
• Guardians of the Galaxy 2 (May 5^th, 2017)
• Thor: Ragnarok (July 28^th, 2017)
• Black Panther (November 3^rd, 2017)
• Avengers: Infinty War, Part 1 (May 4^th, 2018)
• Captain Marvel (July 6^th, 2018)
• The Inhumans (November 2^nd, 2018)
• Avengers: Infinity War, Part 2 (May 3^rd, 2019)

First off, that’s a lot of movies, and whether you’re someone who generally sees a general through line of quality in the Marvel mvoies, like me, there’s a lot to get excited for. I’m not really a fan of the Thor movies, but I’d rather watch a Thor movie then Dawn of the Planet of the Apes. CBM User Lozzy is really angry with that. Comfort him in the comments.



So on that not, I was not a fan of the first two Thor movies. I don’t find Black Panther to be an interesting character. I know practically nothing about the Inhumans; so screw Marvel they have lost me and they deserve to curl themselves into a corner and rot right?

Wrong. A lot of people, myself not included, were dismissing Guardians of the Galaxy as Marvel’s first bomb. Clearly, Guardians of the Galaxy was not a bomb. It in fact was a commercial and critical success. People I knew both on this site and off were all praising this movie.



As I said earlier, I don’t find Black Panther to be the most interesting character out there. I’m sure someone out there has read every single Black Panther book and is raging on me right now, but that’s how it is. I don’t want to dismiss Black Panther however, because while I’m not too confident that it’ll be my favorite MCU film, I also know better then to dismiss Marvel.

A lot of fans are waiting for Marvel’s first bomb, and to that I always say that Marvel had their first bomb, and it was 2008’s The Incredible Hulk. It was a film that while entertaining, came opposite to Iron Man that had wit, charm, and humor. The Incredible Hulk had some of that, but in comparison to the grounded The Dark Knight and the witty Iron Man it somehow managed to fall in the muddled middle ground. I enjoy TIH but I also have to recognize that it came out at a bad time. It also didn’t quite have the elements of a Marvel movie that we now know and love, or at the very least, not as much as we’d come to expect.
That said, Marvel learned their lessons (sort of) they went back to Iron Man with the sequel, which had faults but at least it bounced back. I’d argue Thor had too much humor, but then Captain America and The Avengers came out and both of those had a much better balance between action, drama, and humor.
I think of Phase I as a learning experience for Marvel, and I think they see it as such too. They learned that their movies need balance, they need the right amount of those elements; think of it as the difference between cooking and baking. Cooking can be inaccurate, you can deviate and try wildly different things and generally your end product will be edible. Baking is much more precise, you have to put in the right type and amount of a certain ingredient otherwise it falls apart. To me, moviemaking is not either or, but for the blockbuster type movies like the Marvel movies, it is baking, it’s about the right proportions.
Phase II was in many ways, a way for Marvel to showcase their lessons. Iron Man 3, Thor: The Dark World, Captain America: The Winter Soldier, Guardians of the Galaxy all are marked improvements in my eyes over their Phase I counterparts, or in the case of Guardians it showed a precise knowledge of how to make these characters work in this world.



With two movies left in this phase, and the upcoming Phase III, I think that Marvel may make mistakes, and that’s possible, but I also think that Marvel has shown that they’ve learned from their mistakes. They want to make good movies, not just because of that whole box office dough, but I think they want to make sure their vision is coming through well.

Of the Phase III films, Thor: Ragnarok, Black Panther, Captain Marvel, and Inhumans all have huge question marks next to them. Then again, there was huge question marks next to Guardians before that furry raccoon destroyed the box office.

I’m not saying all these movies will be perfect, but I think Marvel has set the precedent that these movies will have a standard quality, and for as much as people harp on the effects of Feige being so active in each movie’s development, I think it does produce a great end product, and I’d imagine that going forward we have a lot to look forward.

So stop worrying and learn to love the chick with cosmic Kree powers, the African prince, and the group of moon dwelling people with a teleporting dog.