How the Marvel Cinematic Universe became a cultural phenomenon and set the main trends in cinema

However, this was not always the case. Of course, comics themselves in the United States and Europe have been loved since ancient times, and they began to be transferred to large and small screens back in the 1940s. But the massive mass popularity began just over 10 years ago with the advent of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. And it so happened that the company, which was on the verge of ruin, set the most massive and significant trend in cinema for years to come.

How Marvel achieved such popularity

I hooked the viewer to several films at once

In the late 1990s, Marvel was doing so badly that they had to sell the rights to film adaptations of many popular characters to various companies. Among them were Spider-Man, Fantastic Four, and X-Men. So soon there was Sam Raimi's trilogy about the Spider and Brian Singer's films about Wolverine and other mutants.

All of these paintings became popular and grossed an excellent box office. But they were built on the principle of a simple franchise: the Spider trilogy, the X-Men trilogy, the Fantastic Four dilogy.

And then the Marvel company decided to make their films. But in order to somehow stand out from the rest, she had to create something much larger - a whole world of superheroes, where each picture tells about separate characters, but they all coexist in one universe.

In fact, the studio went for broke. Literally every possible means was invested in the development of the first film; failure would have turned into the collapse of the company. Today it seems that "Iron Man", from which the story began, was originally doomed to success. But in reality it was a huge risk.

Today it seems that "Iron Man", from which the story began, was originally doomed to success

The leading actor Robert Downey Jr. only recently began to gain popularity again after a course of drug addiction treatment. The director's chair was taken by Jon Favreau, who shot only a couple of not the most popular films at that time.

But the idea was a success: the audience accepted Iron Man with delight. The charismatic protagonist also worked, perfectly repeating the image from the comics, and many references to the original Marvel works, which delighted fans. But most importantly, in the finale, the authors left a hint that further all Marvel films will be connected with each other: in the scene after the credits, Tony Stark met with the director of the SHIELD organization. Nick Fury (Samuel L. Jackson), who told him about the idea for the Avengers team.

The fans knew exactly what that meant. In the original comics, the authors often arranged crossovers - plots where different independent superheroes met. But on the screens this happened only in cartoons. Here, the audience was immediately hinted that further Marvel films should not be missed.

It is unlikely that "The Incredible Hulk" on its own could interest the audience

Therefore, all subsequent works of the studio immediately became the focus of attention. It is unlikely that "The Incredible Hulk" could independently interest the audience: in 2003, a film about this hero was already released, and he was received coolly. But everyone knew that after him there would be a second "Iron Man" and "Thor", and there were already rumors about a film about Captain America.

Thus, the company immediately managed to hook the viewer. The first paintings were not directly related, but the constant hints and mentions of the heroes smoothly led to the appearance of new characters and brought them closer to each other.

After the first five films, all the superheroes familiar to the audience have united in a large-scale crossover "The Avengers". This has never happened on large screens. Of course, there were already films about the X-Men, but there the characters originally appeared in one franchise.

And here the heroes of their own stories met on the screen. The audience already knew them, but now they were brought together, and therefore fans of each of the characters went to the cinemas. So the "Avengers" in 2012 staged a real revolution in cinema, after which all studios rushed to create their own universes.

Built a whole world on screen

All of this would not have worked so well if it had not been for a clear organization. After all, you need not just to link the main characters together. It is necessary to build a whole world in which there will be no logical contradictions.

Therefore, the MCU has a leader, Kevin Feige. He himself does not make films, but commands the process as a whole. Although at first inconsistencies did happen.

As planned, one character should be played by the same actor in all films. But after the first Iron Man, Terrence Howard left the franchise, playing James Rhodes, the future superhero Warrior. He was replaced by Don Cheadle. And then the studio fired Edward Norton, who played Bruce Banner in The Incredible Hulk. In the following films, this role went to Mark Ruffalo.

But it happened at the very start. Later, this rarely happened. Either the replacements concerned episodic characters, or the characters were made up so that only the most attentive fans could notice the difference.

In addition, one actor could not play different roles in the films of the MCU, which also created a sense of realism. The audience did not have to get used to the fact that a familiar artist is no longer a hero, but a villain. There were inconsistencies, but they concerned only minor minor characters, whom most simply do not remember.

This allowed viewers to see old acquaintances even in minor characters. If Jon Favreau flashes on the screen, then everyone knows that this is Happy - Tony Stark's assistant. If Jamie Alexander appears, it's Lady Sif, Thor's ally.

The audience did not have to get used to the fact that a familiar artist is no longer a hero, but a villain

That is why the "Avengers" were perceived by the audience very easily. If they did not come out within the framework of the cinematic universe, director Joss Whedon would have to somehow represent and reveal on the screen a dozen heroes at once and explain how their world works. But MCU fans already knew all this in advance. Therefore, it is enough just to bring the characters together, show a familiar villain and arrange an action game for two hours. The backstory from solo films made it possible not to waste time on introductory data.

Changed approach in time to avoid failure

After the resounding success of "The Avengers" in the MCU began a slight decline. Of course, the sequels to Iron Man, Thor and The First Avenger have garnered excellent box office and even critics praise.

Marvel faced expected self-replay problem

But Marvel faced the expected self-replay problem. Although new stories developed the world, they continued approximately the same atmosphere and told similar stories. In ordinary cinema, this is called the curse of the sequels. In the MCU, this can be roughly referred to as the curse of the second phase.

And here we can distinguish two main events that most strongly influenced the development of the world of "Avengers". First, the studio lost two excellent directors at once. After the movie "Avengers: Age of Ultron" Joss Whedon left. And Edgar Wright did not start filming "Ant-Man", remaining only a screenwriter. Both left the project, saying that the studio was trying to control the process too much and literally every joke had to be coordinated. That is why films have become monotonous.

Secondly, Guardians of the Galaxy became a real hit at the same time. This picture is strikingly different from all the others, since the director James Gunn was given complete creative freedom.

Perhaps the Marvel Cinematic Universe could continue to exist, releasing the same type of proven films: for sure, the patience of the fans would have been enough for several more years. But the experience with the "Guardians of the Galaxy" showed that the approach can be changed, while the author's projects do not violate the integrity of the universe, but only add brightness to it.

Made a variety of movies in a shared MCU

The third phase was marked by significantly more freedom for directors and unexpected twists and turns. In comics, heroes often collided with each other. But within the MCU, everything seemed predictable: the good always win, and the bad lose.

Everything seemed predictable within the MCU

However, the very first film of the third phase, Captain America: Civil War, directed by the Russo brothers, turned the idea of superheroes on the screen. Most of the time they fought among themselves, and the ending turned out to be very ambiguous. In fact, the villain has achieved his goal.

And then Kevin Feige and the Marvel leadership allowed the authors to more and more embody their ideas on the screen and preserve the author's style. Moreover, directors with their own vision of the process began to appear more often in the MCU.

So, New Zealander Taika Waititi, who was known only from the low-budget comedy "Real Ghouls", made the film "Thor: Ragnarok". Moreover, his handwriting in the picture is noticeable very clearly: a lot of funny moments, improvisations and just hooligan actions of the heroes. It is unlikely that anyone else would dare to show how the god of thunder himself is frightened when he is cut.

The mystical "Doctor Strange" was directed by the master of horror Scott Derrickson. "Black Panther" was entrusted to shoot Ryan Kugler - the author of "Station" Fruitvale "and" Creed ", which added national flavor to the picture. And Captain Marvel was directed by a little-known indie pair of directors Anna Boden and Ryan Fleck.

The handwriting of each of the authors cannot be confused with the others, and the second part of "Guardians of the Galaxy" again rests exclusively on the style of James Gunn. That is why Marvel had to return him as the director of the future third part, even after the scandal and dismissal.

Among negative people, there is a perception that all Marvel films are similar to each other. But if a person can confuse the spy thriller Captain America: Another War with the action comedy in Guardians of the Galaxy, then he simply did not watch these pictures.

Combined film and television

And yet another uniquely bold Marvel move is the unification of movies and TV shows. After the first part of "The Avengers", the story of Phil Coulson and his team continued in the series "Agents of SHIELD". The life of Peggy Carter - the first love of Captain America - was told in the TV series "Agent Carter".

The life of Peggy Carter - the first love of Captain America - was told in the TV series "Agent Carter"

The connection to popular films immediately caught the attention of viewers. And hereinafter "Agents of SHIELD." well expanded the plots of the MCU. For example, the prerequisites for the collapse of the SHIELD organization. in Another War, it becomes much clearer if you know the events of the series.

And exactly after accusations of the monotony of plots and atmosphere, the company, together with the streaming service Netflix, launched the Daredevil series and several other projects, which later merged into their Defenders crossover. They are radically different from everything that has been shown in the MCU before. These are adult and dark stories of heroes, most of whom don't even wear a costume.

Adult and dark stories of heroes, most of whom don't even wear a costume

Later, other projects appeared on different sites, each of which was designed for its own audience. It seems that they are not directly related to the events of the main films, but still they do not contradict the main world and complement it.

Made the film the highlight of the year

For the second year in a row, MCU global crossovers have become one of the most significant events of the year. The point is that in the films "War of Infinity" and "Endgame" Marvel sums up a decade of history. All previous films were preparing for the global confrontation between heroes and Thanos. And in common films, they all have to unite to defeat the villain.

All previous paintings were preparing for the global confrontation between heroes and Thanos

This means that all fans of "Iron Man", "Doctor Strange", "Thor", "Guardians of the Galaxy", the new "Spider-Man", which the company has already been able to redeem, and all other heroes are watching the films.

In addition, until the premiere, the authors keep all the details of the plot in the strictest confidence, forcing the audience to guess what will happen. It is even difficult to compare such films with anything, since there was simply no such thing in the history of cinema: dozens of characters gather on the screen in the most unexpected combinations. In some scenes of Infinity War, you can even feel the different directorial style of the authors of solo stories about the heroes.

Of course, everyone knows in advance that some of the heroes who died in the previous part will return in the “Final”. But how this will happen, what will happen to other favorite characters, and, most importantly, how the cinematic universe will develop further, is unknown. That is why millions of viewers buy tickets for the premiere in advance in order to be the first to know about the fate of their favorite characters.

How other studios fail to copy the cinematic universe

The success of Marvel, of course, set the main trend in the development of mainstream cinema for years. But no company has yet managed to create such a global Cinematic Universe. The thing is that each of them misses some important points.

The closest example is DC Extended Universe. Warner Bros. there is an equally popular comic book world with the familiar Batman, Superman and other heroes. But after a successful start with Man of Steel, Zack Snyder and MCU leader Jeff Jones were in too much of a hurry.

In Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, viewers were introduced to three new characters at once. In the "Justice League" with three more. At the same time, solo stories by that time were removed only about Superman and Wonder Woman. And therefore, the authors failed to reveal the heroes (which the "Avengers" avoided due to the backstories).

At the same time, The CW was developing its own cinematic universe with the same characters. The Arrow universe has its own Flash, Superman, Suicide Squad, which have nothing to do with the characters in the films. In addition, DC has now launched its own streaming service, which airs comic-book series, and there are again new Cyborg, Batman and other heroes.

All this does not allow you to feel the integrity of the world. Each time the viewer has to re-acquaint himself with the character and get confused in his background.

Fox, which owns the X-Men franchise, seems to have followed in the footsteps of Marvel, especially since their first successful films came out earlier. But here the authors forgot about the inconsistencies in the cast. Hugh Jackman continued to play Wolverine, and in the meantime, most of the other actors changed, and Ryan Reynolds did two versions of Deadpool, each with its own backstory.

Fox, the owner of the X-Men franchise, has forgotten about the inconsistencies in the cast

But the trend for the creation of the cinema universes touched not only comics. The movie "The Mummy" was supposed to start a "dark universe" that would unite Dr. Jekyll, Frankenstein's monster, the Invisible Man and other classic heroes. But the failure of the first film called into question the development of the story.

But the "universe of monsters" is developing successfully. So far, there are only separate films for Godzilla and Kong: Skull Island. But in both pictures the organization "Monarch" appears, linking the plots. After the second part of "Godzilla" the authors plan to push the heroes against each other. The problem here is that there are not so many giant monsters that viewers know and only a few crossovers can be created from this. It is unlikely that this world will be able to exist for too long.

Why the Marvel Cinematic Universe is a phenomenon, not entertainment for geeks

First of all, because the studio did what no one dared to do before. Under the leadership of Kevin Feige, the authors of films and TV series have built a huge world inhabited by dozens of heroes.

Marvel is keen on trends. As soon as the popularity began to fall, the studio immediately changed direction and again hooked the audience with new genres and stories. At the same time, TV shows have expanded their audience through different styles and platforms.

In addition, many Marvel projects can be viewed separately from others. "Guardians of the Galaxy" will appeal even to those who have not heard about the rest of the cinematic universe. The series "Agent Carter" will interest fans of spy films in retro style. "Jessica Jones" will delight fans of noir detectives, and "The Punisher" - fans of classic action films. These are independent plots. But if you look at them all together, the perception changes dramatically.

And most importantly, Marvel is not afraid to deviate from the rules and surprise the viewer. This can apply to both unexpected plot twists and genre experiments. Even after 20 films, fans don't know what to expect next. There is enough drama, social themes, comedy and, of course, action. And therefore, almost every new project of the Marvel studio again gathers a lot of viewers.