For more than a decade, the Marvel Cinematic Universe has governed Hollywood. That isn't expected to alter anytime soon, but it appears that the edifice is beginning to reveal cracks. It has had a mediocre (if you are being fair) year so far after being a no-show in 2020.
For me, at least, it's no longer a guarantee that you'll receive your money's worth if you go to a nearby theatre or log in to your Disney+ Hotstar account to watch an MCU film or show.
Earlier, even the worst MCU products - The Incredible Hulk and Thor: Dark World come to mind had moments of fun despite messy plotting and dreadfully dull villains.
However, most of the MCU's releases this year were a headache to get through, which is not something one generally says about this brand. Marvel Studios, the business behind the MCU, ventured into television in 2021, with mixed to disastrous success.
First, let's talk about that.
For its films, Marvel Studios maintains a set formula. It goes something like this: the hero gains powers, faces personal or familial challenges, overcomes them, and it all culminates in a CGI and special effects-driven maelstrom of a battle at the conclusion - typical superhero fare. There are notable exceptions, such as Black Panther, Thor: Ragnarok, and, most recently, Eternals. Even still, the normal MCU cliches are very much present, such as smart one-liners that often seem out of place.
But, maybe for good reason, the studio has no formula for its television shows. The writers are the ones who define the medium (as opposed to directors in movies). I'm not normally a fan of studio intervention, but in the case of Marvel's TV shows, more oversight from Kevin Feige would have rescued them.
WandaVision and Loki were the most intriguing of the bunch, and they got off to a great start. Both of them had some intriguing suggestions. However, they squandered all of that buildup by delivering dreadful (in the case of WandaVision) and disappointing (in the case of Loki) denouement.
The Falcon and the Winter Soldier began with a fantastic, sleek action scene that could have easily been lifted from a Mission: Impossible film. After then, everything went downhill. Hawkeye was a dud from the start and continues to be so. Perhaps the character was uninteresting from the start. However, Hailee Steinfeld is excellent as Kate Bishop.
I'm leaving What If... out of this discussion because, as far as we know, the various timelines it proposes will have no bearing on the regular MCU timeline. Marvel Studios' foray into television has been underwhelming thus far.
Let's go to the movies now.
The Scarlett Johansson-led film Black Widow was supposed to be out in the summer of 2020, but the Covid-19 pandemic derailed those preparations. It was more grounded than the majority of MCU flicks, yet it was still entrenched in everything that makes MCU, well, MCU. Natasha Romanoff, who we're informed is simply a regular person, did not appear to be injured despite falling from many stories, being flung against a wall, falling out of a car, and so on. To make matters worse, the plot was, to put it mildly, conventional superhero stuff.
The Eternals, oh, the Eternals. The only MCU picture to receive a "rotten" Rotten Tomatoes rating, this Chloe Zhao-directed film promises a unique experience unlike anything else we'd seen before. It does, after all, have a leisurely tempo, natural-lit cinematography, and plenty of dialogue. And the theory was intriguing: a tribe of immortals had been quietly living on Earth for millennia, living double lives.
The final MCU film of the year, Spider-Man: No Way Home, may just rekindle that lost goodwill. The film contains all of the necessary elements. The advent of the multiverse, with many characters crossing over from other MCU films and even earlier Spider-Man movie series, gives it a massive, Avengers-like scale. It also carries an air of finality, similar to Endgame, because Marvel and Sony's pact to share the character expires with this film.
And there's a lot of proof, but no official promos, that Tobey Maguire and Andrew Garfield will reprise their roles as Spider-Man. Green Goblin, Doctor Otto Octavius, Electro, Sandman, and Lizard will be played by Willem Dafoe, Alfred Molina, Jamie Foxx, Thomas Haden Church, and Rhys Ifans, respectively. Doctor Strange, played by Benedict Cumberbatch, takes over as Peter Parker's mentor from Tony Stark.
You must be logged in to post a comment.