Summary
TheMarvel Cinematic Universehas had an unbreakable grip on pop culture since it first began in 2008. Recently, however, the atmosphere around the MCU has been shifting a bit.Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3performed well at the box office, but not as well as films such asBarbieorThe Super Mario Bros. Movie. Meanwhile,Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumaniaunderperformed whileThe Marvelsis expected to do the same.
While there are several possible factors at play here, such as lack of creative control given to directors, an overabundance of content, or general cultural fatigue, the problem at the heart of everything is Marvel’s subtle shift in philosophy. The Marvel Cinematic Universe has changed from being a series of good movies with a connection element to a series of movies where the connection is the entire point.
The Beginning of the Marvel Cinematic Universe
The Marvel Cinematic Universe is a noteworthy phenomenon for many reasons, most obviously the enormous financial success and massive cultural impact. However, an especially interesting aspect of it, especially taking those two factors into account, is the lack of competition. Typically, when a certain style of film achieves such an enormous amount of success, the industry follows the trend. The Marvel Cinematic Universe, however, stands relatively isolated as far as connected film universes go.
There have been attempts to replicate the formula, but none have really panned out the way the MCU did. DC tried to create their own superhero film franchise, and got off to a strong start with the relatively well-receivedMan of Steel. However, the studio then misfired by releasing their first big team up movies,Batman v Superman: Dawn of JusticeandJustice Leaguefar too early on for fans to have grown attached to the characters or universe yet. The poor critical reception to both films didn’t help. A much less notable attempt was made by Universal Studios, who wereplanning on launching a Dark Universecentered around the monster characters they owned, beginning with 2017’sThe Mummyreboot. Unlike the MCU or DCEU, the Dark Universe’s first film was blatantly marketed as being the beginning of a cinematic universe. This apparently did not have the desired impact on audiences, asThe Mummyperformed horribly both financially and critically, making it clear to the studio that the interest was just not there and killing the Dark Universe before it ever began.
What DC Comics and Universal failed to understand was something that Marvel now seems to be forgetting: the allure of a cinematic universe is a series of good movies that happen to be connected, not the connection itself. If no one likesThe Mummy, no one’s going to care about the assortment of followups that take place in the same universe. It is true that Marvel began production ofThe Incredible HulkandIron Manwith the intent to create more films in the same universe,culminating in a big team-up blockbuster. What’s important, though, is that their idea revolved not around the tantalizing premise of a cinematic universe, but around making good movies that would build audience interest in more of them.
The Marvel Cinematic Universe is available to stream atDisney Plus.
The success ofIron Manand the failure ofThe Incredible Hulkwere surprising to the Marvel executives who expected the opposite result, but the fact is that the firstIron Manis a solid, entertaining movie that still holds up to this day. It has a self-contained character arc, fun action, excellent visuals, and strong performances, especially from Robert Downey Jr. It’s simply a good movie, andaudiences became excited for more Marvel moviesnot because they were invested in the cinematic universe yet, but because they likedIron Manand wanted to see more like it. The first followups toIron Manfollowed suit.ThorandCaptain America: The First Avengerare well-crafted, relatively serious movies with broad appeal. Importantly, they also stood on their own, not depending on viewers having watchedIron Manto be enjoyable.ThorandCaptain Americaeach had obvious details connecting them toIron Man, but they could still be enjoyed and fully understood without ever having seen another movie in the series.
The Avengerswas an unprecedented event for film, taking characters from multiple different movies and uniting them on one screen. There had never been anything quite like this done before, and for a film combining so many existing movies together, it was understood that there would be a bit more lore to be aware of going in. There were five MCU movies released beforeThe Avengers. That leaves, at maximum, five movies to watch to have a solid understanding of what’s going on inThe Avengers. Certainly a lot to ask for a single film, especially when the concept was brand new, but nothing too outlandish.
The Switch To the Plan
Compare this to Marvel’s most recent film,The Marvels. In order to understand the plot of this movie, one would have to, at minimum, watch the movieCaptain Marvelas well as the two TV series’Miss MarvelandWandaVision. However, to understand both of these shows, one would have to have seenAvengers: Endgame, which means they would have had to watchAnt-Man and the WaspandAvengers: Infinity War. However, to understand the former, they would have to have seenAnt-Man,and the latter at minimumThor: RagnarokandCaptain America: Civil War, each of which have their own set of prerequisite films required for full comprehension. The chain keeps traveling backwards until eventually, the viewer would find themselves needing to watchThe Avengersand the four films that preceded it, right back where things all began. Getting caught up for Marvel’s latest team-up movie has gone from taking around nine hours to talking well over sixty.
Not all of this is really fair to criticize. In a series of films sharing the same cinematic universe, of course it’s a good thing for the story to keep building on itself, for the events that happen to stick and have lasting consequences. Needing to watch more of a series as it continues to grow is just going to happen. Unavoidable as it might be, however, the fact is that a film requiring this much homework is going to be intimidating for a lot of viewers, especially given that the MCU largely attracts casual movie fans who may not go to the theater more than a few times per year.In an interview with Entertainment Weekly, Kevin Feige said:
I do think one of the powerful aspects of being at Marvel Studios is having these films and shows hit the zeitgeist. It is harder to hit the zeitgeist when there’s so much product out there — and so much “content,” as they say, which is a word that I hate.
Something that does seem fair to critique is the reason why viewers need to have seen more movies going in now. WhileThe Avengersmakes more sense having seen the MCU movies that precede it, the plot of the film is actually relatively self-contained. The movie explains the bulk of what’s happening, and someone who has never seen another MCU movie could probably follow along just fine. The reason to watch the other films first was to enhance the depth of the characters.The Avengersis better when audiences know the relationship between Thor and Loki orwhy Steve Rogers mightnaturally distrust someone like Tony Stark. It’s enhancement, not fundamental understanding.
Compared to this, something likeAnt-Man and the Wasp: Quantumaniafeels like a complete slog to prepare for. If a viewer watches the entirety of theLokiTV series orFalcon and The Winter Soldier, it will not give them a remotely deeper understanding of Scott Lang and what makes him who he is. If they don’t watch both shows, however, they probably will have no idea about the greater societal ramifications of Thanos' snap or who Kang is.
This, fundamentally, is the issue with the current MCU. The focus has shifted from making good films to making content that collectively moves the greater narrative forward. The MCU beforeEndgamehad a general outline guiding it, but there was no set plan in motion. Movies contradicted each other all the time, because they were given the creative freedom to do so.Iron Man 3ends with Tony Stark blowing up all of his suits and with the potentially world breaking Extremis virus in existence. And yet after Iron Man 3, Tony is back tobeing an armored AvengerbyAge of Ultronand Extremis is never mentioned again. These aren’t things that happen in a story planned out to the most granular detail, but no one seemed to mind them, because they worked in the context ofIron Man 3and could be safely discarded after that one movie.
The overemphasis on incorporating everything into one unified arc makes every movie feel simultaneously overcomplicated and toothless. There can’t be a world ending cosmic threat in every movie, or these stakes will stop meaning anything. Some people praise the MCU for its immaculate planning leading up toEndgame, but in reality that storyline didn’t start dominating untilInfinity War. The buildup of Thanos' plan was mostly happening in brief mention of Infinity Stones or inGuardians of the Galaxy, and most Earth based characters didn’t know Thanos existed until his final plan set into motion. There is just no reason to throw the next ultimate villain into the first film of the new wave, especially if that film is anAnt-Manmovie.
The MCU is suffering from a problem Disney seems to be having across the board lately, which is an overflow of content. The massive financial success they had with event cinema likeStar Wars: The Force AwakensandAvengers: Endgameseems to have blinded them a bit. Event cinema only works if it actually feels like an event. If there’s more and more of it releasing constantly, it begins to feel like sludge. It seems as though many are just not finding the MCU as fun to keep up with as it used to be. It was one thing when keeping up with it meant preparing for the big team-ups by watching a handful of pretty good movies. It’s another thing entirely when watching any minor MCU property requires watching hours upon hours of movies and TV shows, most of which are reportedly not that great.
MCU
The Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) is a sprawling movie and television franchise that weaves together individual stories of superheroes including Captain America, Thor, Spider-Man, Hulk, Black Widow, and many more. The first film in the franchise, Iron Man, was released in 2008. The MCU has garnered critical praise and financial success, earning billions at the box office and becoming a cultural phenomenon.
MORE:Captain America’s Ending In Avengers: Endgame Was Bad, And Here’s Why
