How incredible have the past few years been for us Marvel fans! Iron Man blew us away with such fantastic realism only matched by our own imagination. Captain America had given us yet another reason to stand up to the bully. Spider-man provided a truly amazing appearance and depth like never before. And of course The Avengers, making us giddy with excitement all over again – “And Hulk… SMASH!”
So, who can help but look to the future with Iron Man 3, Thor 2, Winter Soldier, The Wolverine, X-men Second(?)Class and Guardians of the Galaxy… Wait – who?
I will be the first to admit, I am not as familiar with the lustrous background of the cosmic adventures of the marvel universe, outside of their impacts to the X books. But, there lies my concern. "Who are these guys?" will be a very big question to those who like the movies, but don't read the books. I believe Marvel is taking a good sized risk introducing a true cosmic storyline to the big screen. Do I want it to happen – the answer is a sounding “HELL YES!” for multiple reasons.
Although Sci-fi movies are not hard to define, there appears to be a split consensus among critics and movie goers alike. True “space oriented” movies do not seem to fare as well as alien invasions on Earth. Of course, there are exceptions – Star Wars, Star Trek, and Alien to name a few. But, how many recent Sci-Fi movies have held the caliber that these movies held? Movies like MIB, Independence Day, War of the Worlds, even Total Recall and Armageddon all are considered successful Sci-Fi movies, but they have an earthly element to help ground the audience into belief. So, what direction can Guardians take and what does it need to be successful? Here is my take on 5 things this Sci-Fi movie will need to be successful for the casual and non-comic book fan.
Association with the Avengers:
As a lead into Avengers 2, the association with this world should be reflected early and often, not necessarily in the movie itself, but more through marketing. Although it severely suffered from identity crisis (no pun intended), part of what I believe hurt the support for Green Lantern was a lack of association with DC in general. There were no lead-ins from other movies, no ties to superman or batman, and loaded with characters not as identifiable to the non-comic book movie-goer. This same path could hurt the interest of the average movie watcher from spending their hard earned dollars to see this movie. We need a reason why we can’t miss this movie and the set up for Avengers 2 should be the coal for the train.
A fantastic, original story:
This is kind of no brainer statement, but Marvel better have their thinking caps on here. The success of The Avengers will help push this franchise, but without an original story to capture the non-comic book fan, it could set it pretty far back. The Mad Titan was introduced, but who is he and why should we care? How dire is the situation that we need future\alternate universe heroes to come back in time to help our universe? The direction here could mean the difference between watching The Matrix and Battlefield Earth.
Limit the Universe – for now:
Accepting a new team will be challenging enough – but to open the vast universe could really put out fans from seeing the movie, especially since we now have the 9 realms from Thor. Introduce only those main characters needed to advance the franchise. Let the audience take in and get to know the Guardians and the threat they face. Make cameos just that, cameos for the fans to enjoy. Don’t spend too much of the first story trying to introduce a slew of new characters and places that may not matter to the large picture – a la Wolverine: Origins. Not only will this bog the movie down with too many subplots, it leaves less room for main character development. Leave new introductions to future sequels, if successful enough.
Watch out for "the camp factor":
There is a reason Sci-fi movies make for great parody fodder. Up to this point, Marvel has done a fantastic job of writing in a great blend of humor with action. This formula should carry over into this universe. We may already see a rough talking, gun toting raccoon, that could easily be the center piece of a lot of jokes. If the humor is not carefully balanced, it could turn off a lot of movie goers who will already be on the fence of seeing a true sci-fi flick. Especially if they saw Green Lantern and it left a bad taste in their mouth.
Confidence – Not Cockiness:
This is a phrase that I normally would reserve for successful sports athletes that breeze through their division, and then lose in the first round of playoffs because they underestimated their opponents. I feel it fits here. Yes – Iron Man, Captain America, and The Avengers were huge successes that brought in money hand over fist. But, Marvel Executives, PLEASE, don’t go into the assumption that people will go see a Sci-Fi Marvel movie just because it is a Marvel movie and relax on the formula that was worked great so far (Batman and Robin – anyone?)! In the end, we still need to be entertained. We still require a great story with character development. The fans still need worthwhile cameos. The critics still want to write great reviews. The expectation has been set and as the saying goes – “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it!”
With risk comes reward. Marvel can limit the risk by continuing with the formula currently set and using previous successful “space flicks“ as examples for future success with this series. But the fact remains that they still need to cater to the casual fan and movie watcher to truly keep this train running.
Agent Smith loves a good space flick – especially if it involves Mystery Science Theater 3000