Evolution and growth are necessary for the survival of, well anything. Nothing stays the same and survives indefinitely, it must grow and evolve as survival needs demand it. This need to survive holds as true in man made endevours as it does in nature.
Marvel Comics has managed to do just that. It has evolved from on thing into something stronger and more capable of long term survival and positive growth. Comic book movies and television shows are nothing new. Superman, Batman, Spiderman, etc etc have been around for years. Live action, animated and most recently in video games, comic storys are brought to us through every available entertainment medium.
That bit of introduction brings me to the heart of my article. Marvel is in the process of absolutely ground breaking, genre defying evolution. We all recognise the awesomness that is a combined, shared cinematic universe (its amazing how quickly we as CBM fans have taken this phenomenon for granted) and the potential of successfully combining television plots with their cinematic counterparts. With Marvels introduction of it's four netflix series the have taken the shared concept even further. A quick look at the Comic Book landscape and you can see something pretty amazing.... Marvel is slowly combining the cinematic stories and the comic story lines. They are combining the various mediums to form a single, cohesive universe that crosses entertainment genre's.
As Marvel moves forward this dosent appear to be anything short of Marvels long term business plan. Moving forward Marvels attempt (thus far a resounding success) to combine story telling methods is laying the blueprint for future success and product viability. Not only is Marvel reinventing themselves and setting the standard by which the new Golden Age of comics stories will be told but they are doing so in a manner that has never been attempted before. They are succeeding and becoming not just profitable but record breaking profitable. In 2012 Disney, who purchased Marvel, posted over 1 billion dollar profits. That was a DOW Jones record and a yearly earnings statement that was second only to Bank of America. That billion dollar profit (according to Disney) was a direct result of the cinematic success of the Avengers.
By comparison WB/DC appears to be following a different plan. With the exception of Batman (probably the most cinema friendly character in all of comics) they seemed to make CBMs at random, through them against the proverbial wall and see what sticks in order to generate a sequel or two. With the success of the Avengers and the way Marvel was able to support and insure atleast a profitable film (due to connectivity if nothing else) DC/WB has been quick to begin building its own cinematic universe. Personally im excited to see the JL on screen but thats not the point. As it stands Marvels vision is so far ahead of anything else out there that its difficult to really see the whole picture.
Comics, television, movies and now online shows are not JUST reflective of each other or influential from one genre to the next but they are slowly becoming intertwined upone one another. Story continuations, cause and effect and interconnected plots. Media defining and genre cross story telling. Its the next evolutionary step in comic book story telling. This is the major difference between Marvel and DC/WB. Sony and Fox are limited in what they can do, make movies, period. Marvel and WB/DC have much more flexability. Marvel is taking full advantage of this in attempting to combine all of their available mediums. They have a clear plan that goes beyond the Infinity Gauntlet. WB/DC on the other hand appear to be scrambling just to get the Justice League on film. Again, im VERY excited to see the result. Batman and Wolverine are hands down my favorite charactes and my 3 favorite CBMs are the Dark Knight, the Avengers and Spider Man 2. Im not trying to bash companies with this article, what I am trying to do is point out the scope and the ambition of what Marvel is attempting to do. The new Golden Age of comics is upon us and Marvel comics is not just leading the way but it is breaking entirely new ground and is in completely uncharted territory.
As I wrap this (much longer then intended) thought up, I just want to say that I love that we can argue over MoS, AoS, Arrow and the Mandarin. That all of these movies are not just available to us but being made with big budgets and a level of seriousness (even IM3).
4 times, the 1st time it was removed because the title wasnt good enough (yes that was the reason I was given) and the other 2 times I accidentally put it in news. Twice. There are ALOT of people in the house.