The MCU Isn’t For You - Opinion
From Daniel Scott
Over the last 2 years being one of the contributors to the MoronsReviewingMovies Podcast, I have been able to witness trends within the online movie community. We are in a time where anyone with a Letterboxd account, a social media page or a podcast has their say on the current state of the film industry and one thing that seems to unite the amateur critics is the notion that the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) has been responsible for a perceived decline in the quality of cinema. It’s an easy target and if you can align your view with a soundbite from a powerhouse of the movie industry like Martin Scorsese and get a few extra comments under your Instagram review of Guardians of the Galaxy 3 with your celebration of the imaginary decline of these films, then go for it, but the one thing that’s always missed is… these films were never for you.
As a comic book fan who has been in love with these characters and stories, the MCU is more than just a series of films and shows. Marvel have managed to bring some of the greatest moments from 84 years of wonderful source material to life on a grand scale and at the same time bring back the huge anticipation for new cinema releases which had been missing for such a long time. The reason that these movies have made billions and can spawn countless future films, tv shows, holiday specials, toys, collectibles and computer games is due to the massive existing audience for the source material. Now don’t get me wrong, I understand that to someone who hasn’t been an avid reader of comics it seems crazy that there can continue to be more films and more characters and more stories. It may seem absurd that they could continue to produce films after Avengers: Endgame because to a movie fan (or online film critic), it has to come to an end, but in reality Marvel have barely scratched the surface of what is available. There’s no running out of ideas, there’s no creative block, they’re just getting started as this is the natural evolution of the continuous narrative that Marvel provides in their books.
So where would we be without the MCU? Cinemas were in serious trouble after the worldwide financial collapse of 2008 and by 2011 it really started to show. James Cameron’s garbage Pocahontas rip-off Avatar managed to inflate numbers in 2010, but the following year saw a huge drop in attendance for cinemas worldwide. The MCU revitalized the cinema experience and many others have been able to benefit from the resurgence (especially the return of kids and young adults). Do we think that the savior of the blockbuster (according to the latest nonsense narrative) Tom Cruise would be churning out Mission: Impossible films where his character has become increasingly invulnerable and each film leads on to the next in an ongoing series, without the success of the same format in Marvel? Nobody seems to mind when the latest Fast & The Furious installment hits and they’ve gone from a DVD player related crime ring to driving cars in space. Why are these different? Because they belong to the movie goer. You have a connection to Dom Toretto or Ethan Hunt and you can take off your critical glasses to see these films as something fun and worth seeing because they mean something to you, but don’t lie to yourself and pretend these are of a higher standard in storytelling or artistic quality.
To the more extreme end we have the Christopher Nolan fanboys and the Wes Anderson apologists who pretend to themselves they are involved in something that’s at a higher standard. Let’s all just be honest here, there’s more meaningful dialogue in a Viagra advert than there is in your average Nolan film. Oh great, another visually impressive, but ultimately empty experience with no meaningful or memorable characters. Now if you are one of those people who thinks anyone who doesn’t rate Interstellar somehow doesn’t understand it, I’m speaking directly to you here. We understand it… We just don’t like it. The only meaningful characters in any Nolan film were created by DC comics and without those, Nolan would still be making box office flops like Insomnia, Memento and The Prestige. Ask yourself, would Robert Downey Jr being cast in Oppenheimer have happened without Iron Man? The MCU has become a launching pad for the careers of new and unknown stars like Tom Holland, struggling former stars like RDJ and good actors who didn’t have the profile or pay scale they deserved like Mark Ruffalo.
If World War Hulk, God Loves Man Kills, Secret Wars, Secret Empire, Jonathan Hickman’s Avengers and New Avengers, The Coming of Galactus or The Night Gwen Stacy Died mean nothing to you, that is absolutely fine, but don’t pretend that Marvel don’t know where they are going with the story and the narrative when you don’t understand that the material already exists and we have so much still to come. The idea of a continuous and never ending plot where numerous stories build over time into large events has more in common with a successful TV show like Game of Thrones or maybe more accurately, WWE wrestling television or sport than it does with traditional cinema and that’s okay. I couldn’t care less about tradition; give me a multiverse collapse and Secret Wars, give me the rebirth of the Marvel Universe with a new generation of movie stars, give me more roles for less successful actors who can translate their new profile to go on and make the next films you might enjoy.
It’s okay to dislike the MCU. It’s not for you, but be grateful.
