MCU Retrospective: The Best Things To Come from the Marvel Cinematic Universe
In just fifteen days, Avengers: Endgame will be in movie theaters across the globe and the universe will never be the same. Furthermore, the universe that has been carefully crafted across eleven years and twenty-two movies, the Marvel Cinematic Universe, will be doubly altered forever. That’s what happens when an intergalactic purple sociopath sent fifty percent of all living creatures into the dustbin. You don’t really just go back to normal after something like that.
No one ever will. So I want to honor this final brief interim of time before the grand finale to this saga is released with a celebration of Marvel as we’ve known it ever since Tony Stark was stuck in a cave. I’ll have a few more special events to come soon about the movies and the characters and such, but for now, I want to focus on the elements of the MCU that exist outside of the logistical canon.
Beyond some really amazing films and performances, Marvel Studios has given the fans so much more quality that will be beloved for generations to come. I want to celebrate some of the best things that wouldn’t exist without the Marvel Cinematic Universe and without further ado, let’s talk about the Black Panther soundtrack!
The Black Panther soundtrack
Just think, without Iron Man, we would have never gotten this music! Easily one of the best ancillary things to come from any movie franchise, the Black Panther soundtrack had a massive cultural impact, akin to the movie itself. Ludwig Goransson’s score was Oscar-winning and this album was Grammy-winning, including some major nominations in top categories.
Many of these songs have become some of my all-time favorites and they introduced me to an entirely new genre of music that I’d never really jived with before.
I’ve talked a lot about this album already, so I’ll just give my quick recommendations once again. “The Ways,” “Opps,” “I Am,” “King’s Dead,” and “Pray for Me” are my favorite songs from the album.
But my favorite, favorite song from the soundtrack is “All the Stars.” It’s legitimately one of my favorite songs ever. I adore it!
“Guardians Inferno”
The only thing more glorious than Chris Pratt’s pose on the poster for Guardians of the Galaxy, Vol. 2 is the fact that this music video exists. A send-up of some warped kind of VHS Soul Train disco video from the 1970s, “Guardians Inferno” implants the cast (The Sneepers) of the best Marvel off-shoot franchise into a wacky world where David Hasselhoff (Zardu Hasselfrau) sings lyrics like, “That weird thing by his side’s an infantilized sequoia / The two of them walk by, people say ‘oh boy-a.’”
It also resides on the film’s sequel soundtrack. Between the two albums, James Gunn has introduced us to some of my all-time favorite tunes that can also be found in that playlist Apple makes for the twenty-five songs you’ve listened to the most. Gunn also makes an appearance in the video and his reappearance to Marvel Studios is also among the best feelings this journey has ever given me.
Jimmy Fallon Brings Music to Marvel
Jimmy Fallon may not seem like an obvious connection to the Marvel Cinematic Universe. After all, most of the press interviews for Avengers: Infinity War and Avengers: Endgame have transpired on Jimmy Kimmel Live!. But Fallon has had his fair share of having fun with the Avengers.
The cast is so loose and fun-loving and The Tonight Show obviously will always give them a chance to show off that side of themselves and flex a few muscles they don’t always get to in their movies, namely singing.
Above is Jeremy Renner, as Clint Barton, singing about his superpowers to the tune of Ed Sheeran’s “Thinking Out Loud.” Below is the cast of Infinity War partaking in a parody of The Brady Bunch theme song. (Chris Hemsworth apparently needed a lot of persuasion to take part because he is self-conscious about his singing voice.) They’re easy jokes, but they’re lots of fun to listen to!
Robert Downey, Jr. Is Adorable
Robert Downey, Jr. is no stranger to dancing. And now, we’re getting a special gift of his moves every day on Instagram. This is a recent addition, but a welcome one nonetheless.
“Team Thor”
In response to Captain America: Civil War, Taika Waititi and Chris Hemsworth enlisted the help of Jeff Goldblum, Mark Ruffalo, and Daley Pearson to form their own team. Team Thor. This really helped set the tone for Thor: Ragnarok and introduce the world to a brand new version of a character who had always gotten shafted.
This is literally one of the funniest short films I’ve ever seen and every joke has layers of hilarity. It all works beautifully for me, but I’m not going to dissect it because that would do a disservice to it. Please watch it and laugh!
This promo for Ant-Man
Ants! Ants! Ant-Man! No Marvel promo has ever topped this. No Marvel promo ever will. God bless the fact that Paul Rudd is in these movies. Hopefully, this fun will eventually continue to Walt Disney World at some point.
The reinvention of Chris Evans
When Chris Evans was cast as Captain America, his biggest role before that (aside from some off-kilter teen comedies) was as Johnny Storm, the Human Torch, in the Fantastic Four movies. Talk about a reinvention! He went from a hot shot playboy who doesn’t play by the rules to the moral compass of the Marvel universe and real life Captain America thanks to his liberal crusades that seek to put shitty people in check. He’s become one of Hollywood’s leading figures and yet he’s the most introverted action star ever. He’s beloved now. I also love having a big Boston sports fan in this universe!
“Each one you buy is a bullet in the barrel of your best guy’s gun.”
The fun we have with spoilers
Tom Holland (revealing the extent of the Spider-Man movies) and Mark Ruffalo (streamed the opening twenty minutes of Thor: Ragnarok on Instagram Live) have developed notorious reputations for spoiling Marvel movies. So much so that Holland and Ruffalo are now sent on press tours with people like Benedict Cumberbatch and Don Cheadle, respectively, to make sure that nothing leaks out.
It also became a part of the marketing push for these movies as Holland “accidentally” revealed the teaser poster for Avengers: Infinity War (his movies’ teaser poster is pretty good, too) on his Instagram story and Mark Ruffalo was “fired” from Avengers: Endgame. It’s been delightful to watch Marvel have fun with everyone, even going back to when the teaser trailer for Avengers: Age of Ultron leaked and when the release date for Infinity War moved up.
Speaking of teaser trailers…
Ever since Marvel announced Phase Three back in October 2014 at an amazing event, I watched fan-made trailers for the Avengers: Infinity War movies. None of them were as good as the actual teaser that Marvel put out. It exceeded every expectation and was just so beautiful. The marketing is really good for Marvel movies and I find myself revisiting the best trailers. But this one might just have been my favorite. It promised an absolute party!
That’s what Marvel has been: a party. It’s a party and it’s family and it’s been so fun to chronicle this journey and get to know everyone along the way. We’ve never seen anything like this before and we may never see it again. I’m so happy we got to have so much fun along the way!
