Marvel Mishap: Have they gone too far?
Photo by Samuel Ramos on Unsplash
I have to admit that this particular style of writing is outside of the realm of my normal tendencies or comfortability. However, I was inspired by my best friend's piece on Ariana Grande, a hot take on the pop princess and whether or not therapy has made a monster of her. Between that, the small conversation between my dad and myself about Marvel in general, and my background in film and theater, it has led me to put thoughts on paper that have been ruminating in my mind for months now.
I am a huge Marvel fan (movies, not comics) developed from my time working on board Disney Cruise Lines. I got to work with various characters and experience Marvel Day at Sea (a magical day filled with tons of characters, incredible shows, and fun all the way around). The magic built behind it built my love for Marvel. Since then I’ve watched every Marvel movie from Iron Man to Endgame a few times. But that is where my investment in the Marvel universe has ended.
After Endgame was released, we lost a beloved cast of familiar heroes we have been watching grow and evolve since Iron Man’s first release in 2008. The ten-year cumulation of films ranged from Iron Man’s witty and sarcastic demeanor to Thor’s outright obliviousness to life creating daft humor. We watched Hulk build a fanbase aching to be on his green team and Black Widow inspire young girls everywhere to come back fighting harder.
Not only was every character cast to near perfection, but the balance between the personalities was sound and believable. The dynamic between the team was strong and clear. They weren’t best friends but they were one team. They had their riffs and at times battled each other like in Captain America Civil War where the team splits in two and we see Spiderman and Ant Man join the cause for the first time in the franchise.
The story lines were easy to follow and keeping track of the growing cast of characters was rather simple.
(If you go back to the beginning today and watch the movies, my recommendation is to watch them in chronological order based on where they fall in the Marvel timeline. It makes following the stories much easier and you don’t miss anything in between.)
Today though, keeping track of the characters has become rather difficult. I still find myself supporting the films in the theaters whether I enjoy them or not because I have to see them through.
My question has now become has Marvel gone too far? Did they take the success of the first few phases of Avengers segments, dive off the deep end, and neglect the idea of quality filmmaking?
I think yes. I think they took to the comics and wanted to implement as much as possible. And while I love the idea of this, they sorely neglected the quality of each series and movie to date. I remember when Shang-Chi and The Legend of The Ten Rings released in 2021. I was so excited to be able to jump back into a familiar space I hadn’t been in two years. I saw the movie at least three times in theaters. (Support your local movie theater friends! There really isn’t anywhere else like it to watch a good movie.) However, with every viewing the excitement wore off and the analytical film student I was trained to be began to creep in. I suddenly went from pure enjoyment to thinking ‘The effects are terrible’. Sorry Marvel, but they are. Comparing the visual effects in this movie to Endgame, which again, had only been released two years earlier, it seemed as though they went backward in time, putting too much into CGI and less on the authenticity and skill that the actors they hire have. It took me out of the entire movie experience. But that wasn’t everything.
The humor…
Marvel is known for its quippy one-liners that leave people quoting films months after the release. This movie felt like it was trying too hard. It felt like the script needed to force the laughs rather than let this new world and new characters naturally build their dynamics and humor.
Some of my favorite Marvel moments are in Thor Ragnorak and Guardians of The Galaxy. There are a million one-liners including Thor’s ‘I told them we were friends, you’re embarrassing me’ line to Korg’s ‘Piss off ghost’. Or Yondu’s ‘I’m Mary Poppins ya’ll’ and Peter Quill’s jab at Rocket calling him a ‘trash panda’ following it up with it’s so much worse than being a raccoon.
These are two examples where the flow in the comedy was natural between the characters. It is not only genius, but we know the Hulk really only knows to smash and we know Thor loves himself and gives off puppy-like energy for those he also loves. We also know that Yondu knows nothing about the human world other than what Quill has shared with him and Rocket hates just about everything Peter says to him. We know these characters and how they interact with each other. This creates a natural and fluid dynamic without force. Loki and our new favorite Valkyrie even clashed fluidly only ever adding to the storyline but still bringing us into those deeper, darker moments with ease.
Maybe it’s the familiarity of these characters that made it so easy, however, I don’t think so.
If we go back to the beginning, and we look at Tony Stark, we find his sarcastic, proud nature prevalent from the get-go. This could also just be a testament to Robert Downey Jr. and how he chose to portray the character but this was consistent across all of the characters in the first three phases of Marvel films. Each character’s demeanor and attitude are specific from the beginning making each piece of humor shared just a normal interaction between two people, only funny because of the difference’s in their personalities.
When we look at Shang-Chi, the humor felt forced and it hasn’t stopped there. Apart from a few movies still holding our classic Marvel characters, anywhere that new characters have been introduced has felt unnatural. This includes the multitude of mini-series that Marvel has also been releasing on Disney+ to try to keep fans engaged between films.
The idea behind this is great, but what these shows are sorely lacking is quality. From scripting to visual effects to the storyline, most of these have just been letdowns. Wanda Vision and Hawkeye have easily been the only two that I was fully engaged in, excited for the next episode, and believed every second of. Again, these characters had already been developed and it was a further storyline, but the visual world had me captivated the whole time, not questioning where we were or even taking notice of the lack of visual effects on the screen. On top of that, the fighting sequences were believable.
Outside of that I have tried to watch series like Moonknight, Loki, and Ms. Marvel and have failed to make it through each one successfully. For nothing other than being bored. I love Loki as much as the next person, but the show just didn’t do it for me. I got to the end of the first season and didn’t bother to attempt to engage in the second season for lack of interest. If you read Eliana Dockterman’s piece on the decline of Marvel and How Marvel Lost It’s Way with Time magazine, the first thing she says is “It is almost impossible to follow the plot of the first episode of Season 2 of Loki…as someone who has been writing about the Marvel Cinematic Universe for a decade…”
But this is where it gets interesting. They now have all these mini-shows launching, that quite frankly aren’t up to par with the original franchise, however, if you do not watch these series in between the movies coming out, you not only miss information, but pieces of the new movies don’t make sense.
My opinion: Marvel is making too much content.
For one, it is overwhelming as a viewer to keep track and keep up. Two, it makes me disengaged from the films because I’ve lost vital pieces of information along the way. Beyond that, if you do not have an active subscription to Disney+ there are no other (legal) ways to view these various shows. If you enjoy going to see these movies in theaters, I suppose you can just assume you are SOL.
For example, the other night I was watching The Marvels with my dad and while I hadn’t seen the whole Ms. Marvel series, I had watched a couple of episodes and got the gist. I had to attempt to explain to my dad how Ms. Marvel got her powerful bracelet that allowed her to be able to become Ms. Marvel because he hadn’t watched any of the series.
This actually may be the first Marvel movie for me, that I also felt a little out of the loop and had questions that would surely not be answered unless I now choose to sit down and watch a consecutive 8-10 hours of a show I just don’t care to watch. I feel behind and I feel like I can’t catch up. Beyond that, if I do it will feel like a waste of time because the film student in me is so offset by the poor quality that is laid out on the screen.
As much as I love Marvel, I simply can’t be bothered to spend my time that way.
Will I continue to go see every movie in theaters? Yes, I will. Will I struggle to keep up? Most likely. But support the franchise I will because I am a product of this society.
I hope Marvel can find some space and pull back on the insurmountable projects they have undoubtedly overwhelmed themselves with, excited as they may be. I also hope that in doing so, they can redistribute those budgets to the bigger films so that we can get back to the heart of Marvel, the real raw characters that just exist.
And whether you continue on this journey we set out on sixteen years ago or not, may you always come back when that infamous Avenger’s Assemble calls you!
Love always,
Riss
