There is no doubt about it that Marvel Studios is a cinematic juggernaut which has in the past half-decade turned relatively obscure characters to the audiences point of view into house hold names and pulp culture icons. They have created a cinematic universe unlike anything we have ever seen with multiple movies under their belt, two of which are the 3rd and 5th highest grossing movies of all time. But how did the MCU make so many right choices and end up being one of the most recognized brands around? Well that’s what this editorial is for. I’m going to list the main reasons why the MCU has been so successful.
A Little Bit of Everything: MS has done a great job broadening their horizons and have given us multiple franchises, each with a different atmosphere and appearance. First we have Iron Man, which is about a genius, billionaire, playboy, philanthropist who loves being a superhero. Iron Man is all about the advancement of technology. Technology is intricate to its plot and is what makes the movies so different to say, Thor. It’s got a sort of techno thriller vibe to it. Thor is a fantasy adventure and feels like one as it should do. It’s all about these grand, larger than life and otherworldly places and the people who inhabit these worlds interacting with humans. Captain America: The First Avenger was a sort of campy, WWII movie but this directly contrasts to Captain America: The Winter Soldier, which is a dark, political thriller about the corruption of the government and how the world has changed since Cap’s time. Each film has a different genre. Although all being Action Adventures they all have a sub-genre which distinguishes them from each other preventing them from being to repetitive. Even the upcoming Guardians of the Galaxy movie is different being a sci-fi, Star Wars-esque movie and the Ant Man movie reportedly being a heist film. Each one is different to the other and Marvel Studios has achieved a balance of these genres. But each movie does have something in common.
Laughter Makes the World go Round: This is sort of a controversial topic. Many people believe that comedy is bad in Super Hero movies and should be toned down to make way for more grittier, realistic and darker themes. Well they are wrong. Darker does not mean better. The thing with Marvel Studios is that it has a formula. Its formula is humor and darkness in shots throughout the movie. For example in Iron Man 3 we see Tony discovers that the Mandarin is Trevor Slattery. That’s a Humorous moment. Then when he gets captured, Killain shoots and kills Maya Hanson in cold blood. That’s a Dark moment. In TDW Malekith kills Frigga. Dark. Then when Thor frees Loki we get the comedic bit with Captain America. Humor. See what I’m saying? Marvel studios know that taking everything seriously would bore audiences. Can you imagine a whole movie of Tony brooding and not cracking a single joke? It would be horrible and out of character. Humor also makes the experience a lot more enjoyable. I came to watch a superhero film and that’s exactly what I get when I see a MS movie.
Nothing Stops the Marvel Studios Juggernaut: MS is not perfect. We all know that. They have made mistakes, some fairly recently. But they don’t let that stop them. Iron Man 2 and the Incredible Hulk were not well received by the masses, but that didn’t stop them. They kept on forging ahead not letting anything interfere with their plan to bring the world the Avengers and they succeeded. Now they are still going they have plans that go to 2018 as far as we know. They continue to bring us more and more movies and they are even heading for the small screen. Agents of SHIELD, Power Man, Iron Fist, Daredevil and Jessica Jones all TV shows that are connected to the MCU and can be used as catalysts to introduce more and more characters from the comics. But all this has been possible because Marvel had a plan. Since the beginning MS has had a plan. It started off with Iron Man and ended With the Avengers. That was Phase 1 and was the first time something of this scope was pulled off. It was the first time that multiple heroes from different franchise all culminating in this one blockbuster epic. It was so successfully that it caused every company with the film rights to a superhero to try and replicate its success. But even now Marvel is still trucking along and carrying on with Phase 2 which is nearly half way through. MS even has a Phase 3 prepped and ready to go starting with Ant Man.
A True Marvel Universe: MS has done a magnificent job bringing their characters and worlds to life and this attributes to their being three parts to the Marvel Universe. First and most importantly there are the Avengers. By the Avengers I mean big name heroes like Iron Man, Cap, Hulk, and Thor who take on world ending threats. Then there’s the cosmic side which is just starting to appear. We got a glimpse in TDW but GotG will give us our first true look of the Cosmic MCU. Then finally there are the street level heroes that have yet to be introduced. The Netflix shows will focus on that aspect of the MCU. This gives us a very wide scope of what’s going on in the universe and gives a more invested feel. One of their best choices was to create a universe on the smaller screen. This allows for more information on SHIELD with Agents of SHIELD and Agent Carter. While on the other hand the Netflix shows all have independent character all eventually lead up to a crossover in Defenders. So now they have a Marvel Cinematic Universe and a Marvel Television Universe which is all linked together. It hasn’t even fully started yet and the MTU is already huge.
The Consultant: The Avengers was successful due to the hard work of many but none worked as hard as director Joss Whedon. He has now been appointed as a sort of Grandfather to all the MS films watching over and giving his creative input on them. This allows him to makes sure everything in the solo movies that lead up to the Avengers crossover make’s sense and fits with his script and story. MS did a good job snapping Whedon up and appointing him this job, because it allows him to have a unique view on the MCU and allow for tweaks and fixes which the movies can benefit from.
Star Power: MS track record for casting is both good and bad. They have had some issues with replacing actors and payments but when they get it ride, boy do they get it right. MS have a strange way of combining big name actors with relatively unknown ones. They have legendary actors like Benecio Del Toro, Robert Redford, Glenn Close and John C Reilly. Then mix them with, at the time small time actors like Chris Harmsworth, Mark Ruffalo and Tom Hiddleston. After debuting in their respective MS movies they became more and more popular and became big name actors. Same goes for RDJ who relaunched his career in Iron Man and is now an extremely famous actor.
SHIELD is the Glue: The one thing that ties all these different elements of the MCU together is SHIELD. SHIELD is the glue that holds the MCU together. If a superhero or alien appears, SHIELD is not far behind. Having an organization like SHIELD is pivotal to showing that all these characters are connected. All it takes is Fury, or Coulson or Hill to show up and bam you know it’s a MCU movie. SHIELD also allows for the explanation of some superheroes. Some people loathe the fact that some characters (like Falcon) are introduced as SHIELD agents but this actually a good idea. It prevents the need to delve into the characters backstory which could cause the movie to become cluttered. For example nobody needed an explanation as to how Hawkeye became an archer and where he came from. They just introduced him as a SHIELD agents and the audience just accepted the fact that SHIELD would have someone like that employed. If Hawkeye appeared at the beginning of the movie with no explanation and wasn’t a SHIELD agent people would be confused. MS can use SHIELD as a launch pad for a plethora of heroes.
Embrace the Strange: Marvel isn’t afraid. That’s all I have to say. But seriously Marvel isn’t afraid of how audiences will react to a talking tree and gun totting Raccoon. They don’t care that Ant Man seems like a lame superhero. They know it doesn’t matter if some of their characters are a little wackier. Imagine if someone told you that a Guardian of the Galaxy movie was coming out? They would laugh in your face and call the local asylum to lock you up. But because Marvel isn’t afraid of stepping outside of the proverbial box they have provided us with not just constant Iron Man, Thor and Cap movies but they spice thing sup by adding Guardians of the Galaxy, Ant Man and Doctor Strange. They could of easily had Age of Ultron come out in 2014 and just have Phase 3 consist of Cap, Thor and Iron Man but they are focused on expanding their universe and to do it in every possible way. In my opinion I think its actually a good thing that MS don’t have FF, Xmen and Spiderman. Because if they did we wouldn’t see the likes of Ant Man and the GotG making it to the big screen, and erase movies that fans would like to see like Black Panther and Inhumans from the equation.
All of these things have attributed to the success of MS but it still needs to approve on a lot of things. As I said before MS is not perfect but the universe they have created for us is more than any Comic Book fan could have hoped for six years ago.