5 Reasons Why The MCU Works
Discover how Marvel conquered the world
Launched in 2008 with the hugely successful Iron Man, and the often forgotten The Incredible Hulk, the Marvel Cinematic Universe started a franchise that would forever change the world of cinema.
Spawning over 22 films (and counting), earning every dollar ever made at the box office, and conquering the hearts of trillions of fans around the galaxy, I think it’s safe to say they have been doing something right. Aren’t you curious about what that might be?
Then you’ve come to the right place!
Here I will go over what I think are the Top 5 reasons (in no particular order) why the Marvel Cinematic Universe is the most successful franchise in the history of, well, in history!
1.) Pitch-perfect Tone
If you’re on the younger side of the human life span scale, you might not know this, but there once was a time when comic book movies were hit or miss. Now long forgotten are the days of Batman Forever and Superman IV: The Quest for Peace, now we get critically appraised comic book adaptations every couple of months.
What happened? Somewhere after the release of Spider-Man (2002) and the first X-Men (2000) movies, comic-book adaptations were getting rather good, and then in 2008 The Dark Knight and Iron Man got released.
Nolan’s film went for a grittier and more realistic tone, for a superhero film, while Favreau’s films went more for the fun “action-adventure” style. For better or for worse this made DC the house of the gritty and edgy superhero films, and Marvel the house of action-comedy.
Through the years the Marvel formula has proven to be more successful, at least in the box office, I won’t enter into a debate of which company has released better “films.” The MCU struck a careful balance between thrilling action and great comedy that keeps audiences in their toe while laughing their bellies off.
The relaxed and fun approach to superheroes films gave a breath of fresh air to mass audiences around the world.
2.) Genuinely great storytelling
I’m not going to lie to you here and say that every Marvel film is a masterpiece, in fact, some of them are downright terrible *cough* Iron Man 2 *cough* but they have released exceptional and truly inspiring hero myths which struck a chord with audiences around the world.
Iron Man (2008) and Captain America: The First Avenger (2011), managed to tell action stories based around the character growth. Tony Stark’s evolution from arms dealer to world defender is frankly amazing; and so is Steve Roger’s journey from Brooklyn weakling to all-American hero. But wait, there’s more!
They’ve also managed to do this ACROSS several films, look at Thor’s evolution from irresponsible manchild, to the strong leader of his people. Thor’s growth spans several films, directors, and screenwriters.
That’s careful and planned great storytelling.
3.) Understanding the Source Material
Watching a Marvel movie is seeing a comic book turned into furious motion.
I think it is fair to say that few movies have captured the feeling of reading a comic book as the Marvel Cinematic Universe has. This is due to the creators’ understanding of what comics books are; Comic books are power fantasies mixed with soap-opera style-drama, sprinkled with imagination and dipped in fun comedy-oil.
In Marvel’s films, there is no shame about the source material, ever. Some studios run away from the source material, instead of “Superman,” they go for “Man of Steel,” instead of colorful films like those of the pages of a comic book, the go for dry blueis tones.
Marvel relishes in what they are doing, and unapologetically so.
4.) Kevin Feige
As you might imagine, carefully engineering 22 films with their own separate styles, directors, screenwriters, and have them all still fit within the MCU is a difficult task, but not an impossible one.
Meet Kevin Feige, the producer behind every single Marvel Studios film so far. Experience before the MCU? Well, he co-produced the “Spider-Man” and “X-Men” movie franchises which helped comic books movies to become more respected within the industry.
What is his secret?
“I do know that problems tend to happen when people try and re-invent the wheel. If you actually open the comics, there is a lot of depth there.” — Kevin Feige.
He knows what’s his doing. He knows comics. When screenwriters tried to turn Thor into something like The Lord of The Rings, he stopped them because he knew the character, he knew that wouldn’t work AT ALL.
Joss Whedon put it like this:
“Kevin [Feige] is just a huge nerd. Possibly more than I am.”
Feige knows how to do comic book movies because he is the audience. He loves comics, and that love spilled over his film work.
5.) Characters
And last but not least, the characters.
The Marvel Cinematic Universe is something halfway between a series of movies and a TV show, something we’ve never seen before. Or have we? We have! The MCU is the modern equivalent of the old “Movie Serials” which were:
“(…)a series of short subjects exhibited in consecutive order at one theater, generally advancing weekly, until the series is completed”
And just like on TV or Serials, people come to watch because of the characters. We want to know what’s going to happen next to the heroes we have learned to love and care about.
Do you know why people watch old TV shows like “Friends” or “Seinfeld” again and again? It’s not because of the plot, if because of the characters! People want to hang out with their old friends again. Something similar happens with the MCU, you want to know what your old pal Steve Rogers is up to now.
For these reasons (and many more) the Marvel Cinematic Universe is the most successful film franchise in history!
