Consistency is what drives a franchise. When audiences walk into a movie that belongs to a certain franchise, they have expectations. When people walk into a James Bond movie, they expect a spy thriller with a suave protagonist, white-knuckle action scenes and a sexy female co-star. Now, the James Bond film series has been active for close to 60 years, and it has, for the most part, dealt with a standard formula that involves international espionage. Some films have modernized for the times (take “Casino Royale” for example), but all in all, consistency is key.
For over 10 years now, the Marvel Cinematic Universe has maintained a strong consistency. This is not accidental, as every installment in the franchise is essential to push the overarching narrative along. There are no unneeded organs in the MCU, as everything is part of one huge machine. All of this has been the work of Kevin Feige, the current president of Marvel Studios. His work has elevated the MCU toward a level that no other superhero franchise has ever achieved. We live in an age where an “Ant-Man” movie has the potential to make more money than a “Justice League” movie. That trend is likely to continue with “Avengers: Endgame.” However, the MCU formula may be more damaging to the franchise than one would think.
The MCU formula is far from complex. Take a Marvel superhero, make him fight a poorly developed and forgettable villain and later insert a mid-credits scene that teases the next film in the franchise, with a couple PG-13 jokes tossed in to lighten the mood. Some films try to shake up the formula by experimenting with different genres, such as the “Captain America” movies, which have become more like spy thrillers, as well as the “Guardians of the Galaxy” movies being humorous, heavily character-driven space operas. Despite these exceptions, the formula is usually kept the same.
The biggest problem facing the MCU is with stakes. Take characters like Spider-Man and Doctor Strange. Both these characters die in “Avengers: Infinity War,” yet audiences know these deaths are meaningless. How? Well, “Spider-Man: Far From Home” is due to release in a few months, and the trailer clearly shows Tom Holland (“Avengers: Infinity War”) swinging around. “Doctor Strange 2” is in development with Benedict Cumberbatch (“Mowgli: Legend of the Jungle”) set to star, and the list goes on and on with every dusted character in “Infinity War.” Fake deaths are the worst aspect of the MCU formula. Sure, it is completely nonsensical to kill off popular characters for the sake of losing money, but why play up the drama when we all know they are going to come back anyway?
This drawback can be remedied by the mindset that the journey is better than the end result but when a movie is the culmination of 10 years’ worth of movies, the end result has got to be solid, and fake deaths are not the way to go. Maybe “Avengers: Endgame” will break this trope, but the MCU has got to learn how to deliver real death if it wants to move forward.
Image from Warner Bros. Pictures via YouTube
