(this article was written in the moments following the conclusion of marvel’s panel on July 27th)
Despite my ongoing grievances with the creative process and their (what feels like) constantly diminishing creative output, i am a fan of the marvel franchise at heart. I can still smell the heat radiating off a busted old projector filling my house on a saturday morning in 2008 as i was introduced to Jon favreau and robert downey jr.’s iron man. To call it a formative experience would be potentially underselling it.
The icing on the cake was the eventual love I garnered for san diego comic con. as my passion for comic book movies grew and my access to internet became abundant, I realized a world existed where days long parties were thrown filled with people just like me — All on the coast of beautiful sunny california. I was enamored. In the years since, i’ve made a bit of a ritual out of the event, despite me not even getting close to entertaining the idea of attending. I carve out just enough time to sit at an available information deliverer and refresh continuously, devouring any piece of information i saw no matter how miniscule.
Once again, regardless of my wavering and potentially even flimsy (might even call it nonexistent) continued support of the franchise, I always stick around to marvel at whatever news comes my way when July arrives.
So here we are, in July, sun setting, and Kevin feige is on stage in Hall H unveiling the next year of marvel films. It seems simple enough. In fact, for the first hour or so it seemed like they’d made a strategic choice to hone in and get people on board with specifically the next 3 movies. It makes sense. Thing’s haven’t been so hot for them, and they probably just want to get past the next year without drowning into history.
As the time past and they stuck to their word, I had resigned to accept a more calm iteration of the event, and found a little bit of peace in the face of a more focused future. Fans who made the effort to get into hall h and bear witness were treated to new footage for all 3 of next years films, and the rest of us just took what we could get. Honestly completely understandable. Almost reasonable. Too reasonable…
The Russo Bros Are Back!
Oh brother.
Contrary to my immediate and involuntary repulsion to hearing this when it hit the internet a couple weeks ago, it’s not exactly the worst thing in the world. I might fully believe with my entire heart that the Russo Brothers are the least exciting choice for the job, I’m also pretty sure they’ll do a perfectly meh job in the director’s chairs. Their movies in the mcu might be some of the least appealing in the entire franchise to look at, but they also have a sort of comforting safe style that I’m pretty confident is the exact reason they’ve been tapped once again.
But, as Kevin Feige spoke, they continued referring to a sort of vague and incongruous “avengers 5,” understandably hanging in the balance in the wake of Jonathan majors firing. It kept ringing out, and as I saw the quotes over and over I became more and more uneasy, and a devilish itch developed on the back of my neck.
Enter: Avengers – Doomsday
With feige and the russos Flanked by numerous people in costume as a cloaked doctor doom with cheap party city masks, a tone was set and my mind was racing. If Avengers 5 was a Doom focused film, and Avengers 6 remained Secret Wars (as they’d confirmed), then my dreams were finally coming true. After my borderline allergic reaction to Deadpool and wolverine, this might have been my most sincere “it’s so over, we’re so back” moment ever.
Jonathan hickman’s 2015 Secret wars is inarguably my favorite comic run story of all time, and ever since Avengers Secret Wars was given that name, I’ve been begging for it to be an adaptation of that run as opposed to the 80s run. The only hanging thread was that of Doom, who was the main character and foundation for the story of Hickman’s run. How could they do it without Doom? Well, they weren’t. Not only would we probably be getting a Secret Wars film with Doom at the center, but we’d be getting an entire precursor film to set him up. A Dream come true. What else could I possibly ask for?
It’s so over…We’re so back…It’s motherF*cking over, And Even They Know It
I can’t possibly verbalize the thoughts that ran through my head when I saw the news. It honestly wasn’t much in the way of words. Just pure emotion. Robert Downey Jr, the man who built this house playing Tony Stark/Iron Man, returning as Marvel’s best Metal Man, Doctor Doom. A nightmare of nausea, confusion, and maybe even a little bit of vindication. They’ve been desperate, and its never been more evident than now. They are unsure how much of the audience’s trust they have, and all they can do is run back to the formula: RDJ leading a Russos directed Avengers joint.
Not much else to say. A disaster of levels I’ve never imagined even possible. It’s organic proof of the horseshoe theory. So bad it’s good. So terribly horrific, I’m not sure I’ll be able to pass it up. I’ll have to see it to believe it. A bold strategy for putting butts back in seats. If it’s intentional, they have my respect.
The silver lining at the end of the tunnel where the shoe is on the other etc.
For a while now, I’ve thought that Marvel Studios’ Secret Wars was going to be a definitive end to this ongoing run as a franchise. I’m more sure of that now than I ever have been. If given the chance, I might bet a moderate amount of money on that fact.
Feige has had his fingerprints on Marvel since long before Iron Man. It’s not a stretch to assume that he sees every Marvel film up to this point as a joint continuous venture, from Blade to Now. Deadpool and Wolverine confirms as much. Having the chance to tie the bow on it all in one massive bombastic (I promise I’m using that word as intended) double feature ensemble super hero film would be an appealing opportunity probably no mortal man could pass over.
I’m not going to lie, I even find it a little attractive myself, in a couple of ways. First off, Compiling all the marvel movies up to this point as a massive franchise is kind of fun in a way I can’t quite explain. It pegs all of these films as a sort of Exercise in ambition. Additionally, they’ve been working on mutant related projects probably since the fox merger, and while killing a studio to fill out a franchise roster is hardly a fair or even comprehensible trade, the idea of having all the characters under the umbrella is undoubtedly appealing.
But mutants are tricky. While I stand by the fact that you could absolutely plug the mutants in and retcon your way through the trenches of bullshit for the sake of a good story (I’d sacrifice many things for a good story, for example my eldest son), I also know these characters are foundational to the history of the marvel universe. They hardly just pop in and out at conveniently digestible times. If they had the chance to build an entire universe on that mutant foundation, I think they’d take it, and I think they will.
I’m rather certain that’s exactly their plan. I’m guessing that the project immediately following secret wars will be a Mutant related project that sets boundaries and almost draws a timeline for their newly born universe, once and for all uniting the marvel universe in a singular way that hasn’t yet been achievable. I won’t lie and tell you that doesn’t excite me. It’s a great idea. I’m pretty smart that way sometimes. I think that’s what they should do, but considering recent developments, they’ll do the exact opposite and create an absolute monstrosity that won’t survive the next half decade.
I guess we’ll see.
