by Ben Mapp
In 2012, the world of superhero movies changed forever.
In a way the Marvel Cinematic Universe is a deeply-rooted red pine, grown from a single unsuspecting seed which was planted way back in 2008 after the end credits of Jon Favreau’s Iron Man. Nick Fury suddenly emerged from the shadows of Tony Stark’s high-tech apartment with a vague proposition for the millionaire, playboy philanthropist in a scene which would influence every instalment of the saga to come.
In 2012, the world of superhero movies changed forever.
In a way the Marvel Cinematic Universe is a deeply-rooted red pine, grown from a single unsuspecting seed which was planted way back in 2008 after the end credits of Jon Favreau’s Iron Man. Nick Fury suddenly emerged from the shadows of Tony Stark’s high-tech apartment with a vague proposition for the millionaire, playboy philanthropist in a scene which would influence every instalment of the saga to come.
From that point onwards the President of Marvel Studios, a comic enthusiast by the name of Kevin Feige, envisioned for a way to connect every superhero adaptation he would then produce into one perfectly-shared continuity. The Incredible Hulk followed shortly after Iron Man and featured a cameo from Robert Downey Jr, reprising his role as Tony Stark (who elaborated on Fury’s proposition in the ongoing narrative). This movie was then followed by Iron Man 2 which would introduce Black Widow into the fold and develop on the basic idea of S.H.I.E.L.D. as an organisation, wherein Fury would explain exactly what it was he was working towards as a dominant figure in the world of superheroes.
By the time Thor had arrived in cinemas in 2011 it was becoming clear to just about everyone that Mr Feige was positioning all of the major players exactly where they needed to be, and then when the time was right – all he had to do was cast a director, one who had proven time and time again that they were a natural at supervising and balancing an ensemble cast, brought together in unusual circumstances.
Joss Whedon came down from the heavens to fulfil this role, armed with the experience of iconic 90’s TV show Buffy the Vampire Slayer as well as cult sensation Firefly, and the rest – as they say – is history.
It was no surprise to anyone that The Avengers (or Avengers Assemble here in the UK) would go on to gross $1.51 billion worldwide once it finally came, but what is surprising is just how much it transformed the superhero movie genre from then on as a whole and not just for Marvel, but apparently for everyone.
In the past the honour of establishing the laws of superheroes on film had been regulated by DC, not Marvel, as it was DC which had first successfully adapted a comic book hero way back in 1978, with Richard Donner’s iconic Superman. Long after making everyone believe that a man could fly, DC had held onto this honour even by the time of Iron Man’s release, which just so happened to coincide with the emergence of their dark superhero sequel – The Dark Knight.
By the time Thor had arrived in cinemas in 2011 it was becoming clear to just about everyone that Mr Feige was positioning all of the major players exactly where they needed to be, and then when the time was right – all he had to do was cast a director, one who had proven time and time again that they were a natural at supervising and balancing an ensemble cast, brought together in unusual circumstances.
Joss Whedon came down from the heavens to fulfil this role, armed with the experience of iconic 90’s TV show Buffy the Vampire Slayer as well as cult sensation Firefly, and the rest – as they say – is history.
It was no surprise to anyone that The Avengers (or Avengers Assemble here in the UK) would go on to gross $1.51 billion worldwide once it finally came, but what is surprising is just how much it transformed the superhero movie genre from then on as a whole and not just for Marvel, but apparently for everyone.
In the past the honour of establishing the laws of superheroes on film had been regulated by DC, not Marvel, as it was DC which had first successfully adapted a comic book hero way back in 1978, with Richard Donner’s iconic Superman. Long after making everyone believe that a man could fly, DC had held onto this honour even by the time of Iron Man’s release, which just so happened to coincide with the emergence of their dark superhero sequel – The Dark Knight.
At the time, anyone would have been forgiven had they assumed that the established movie studios of the genre (such as FOX, SONY and Marvel themselves) wouldn’t follow the matured and brooding example set in Christopher Nolan’s intelligent crime caper – and yet, despite the fact that The Dark Knight was and is still classed as ‘one of the greatest superhero movies of all time’ – it would take only five years for the dark and mature tones of the film to be discarded almost entirely in the fallout.
Marvel opted to retain the tone of Iron Man, despite the success of The Dark Knight, thereby choosing to keep a clear distinction between their own licensed heroes and DC’s. Marvel would stick to the light-hearted action adventure style, whereas DC was completely focused on delivering authentic and more realistic superhero movies.
With the success of The Avengers in 2012 things changed in a big way. Marvel had successfully pioneered an interconnected movie universe made up of both standalone films and crossovers, which followed a flexible and easy-to-follow chronology, just like a TV series. It had never been done before in this genre and illustrated to every other interested studio that the time had come to move away from the standalone franchises and focus on what comics had been doing since their conception all of those years ago – tying the heroes together into one big dysfunctional, super-powered family.
2012 also saw the release of The Dark Knight Rises, which closed up Nolan’s Batman trilogy and opened a way for DC to reinvent their superhero franchises. By this point, production of Man of Steel was already well in full-swing but, like Iron Man, the film would contain seeds of a further universe to be later expanded on in the form of – for example – empty Kryptonian stasis pods, ‘Wayne Enterprises’ logos scattered throughout as well as Lex-Corp’s very brief appearance in the background during the battle for Metropolis. DC had seen that superhero team-up movies were now the expectation from movie-goers and their in-development Man of Steel sequel began incorporating more elements from the DC comic books. The result has evolved into the upcoming Batman vs. Superman (which will also feature Wonder Woman and Lex Luthor).
Marvel opted to retain the tone of Iron Man, despite the success of The Dark Knight, thereby choosing to keep a clear distinction between their own licensed heroes and DC’s. Marvel would stick to the light-hearted action adventure style, whereas DC was completely focused on delivering authentic and more realistic superhero movies.
With the success of The Avengers in 2012 things changed in a big way. Marvel had successfully pioneered an interconnected movie universe made up of both standalone films and crossovers, which followed a flexible and easy-to-follow chronology, just like a TV series. It had never been done before in this genre and illustrated to every other interested studio that the time had come to move away from the standalone franchises and focus on what comics had been doing since their conception all of those years ago – tying the heroes together into one big dysfunctional, super-powered family.
2012 also saw the release of The Dark Knight Rises, which closed up Nolan’s Batman trilogy and opened a way for DC to reinvent their superhero franchises. By this point, production of Man of Steel was already well in full-swing but, like Iron Man, the film would contain seeds of a further universe to be later expanded on in the form of – for example – empty Kryptonian stasis pods, ‘Wayne Enterprises’ logos scattered throughout as well as Lex-Corp’s very brief appearance in the background during the battle for Metropolis. DC had seen that superhero team-up movies were now the expectation from movie-goers and their in-development Man of Steel sequel began incorporating more elements from the DC comic books. The result has evolved into the upcoming Batman vs. Superman (which will also feature Wonder Woman and Lex Luthor).
Meanwhile, Marvel continues on with ‘phase two’ of their cinematic universe (comprised of Iron Man 3, Thor: The Dark World, Captain America: The Winter Soldier and Guardians of the Galaxy) which will culminate in next year’s The Avengers: Age of Ultron. As pioneers of this new method of delivering superhero movies, combining quality with quantity, Marvel certainly has a huge head start on DC. Marvel Studios also has the advantage of expanding their franchise into smaller projects, such as Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. on ABC and their live-action adaptation of The Defenders, which will be exclusively online. But DC isn’t the only rival in this battle for genre supremacy.
Spider-Man, whilst traditionally a Marvel superhero, is actually owned by Sony Pictures Entertainment. This means that due to stringent licensing rights, the character Spider-Man can only appear in the Marvel Cinematic Universe if Sony and Marvel Studios reach a compromise over it. But this is unlikely to happen since Sony has only just rebooted the series with The Amazing Spider-Man (which was also released in 2012, although somewhat overshadowed by the releases of both The Avengers and The Dark Knight Rises), and will be releasing the first sequel next month. Since development on this sequel first began, it has been revealed that Sony intends to expand on Spidey’s own universe by introducing The Sinister Six on film as well as the popular comic antagonist Venom (who is rumoured to also have his own movie coming out), both of which will likely affect the events of The Amazing Spider-Man 3.
But Marvel Studios and DC are aware that another major player lurks in the shadows of this genre in the form of 20th Century Fox. It was this studio which single-handedly brought about the resurgence of the genre in the year 2000, with the release of Bryan Singer’s X-Men. This film saw a team of superheroes working together on-screen for perhaps the first time, despite not being perhaps as ambitious as Kevin Feige’s vision for the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Again, since 20th Century Fox owns the licensing rights to the X-Men film series, it is highly unlikely that unless Marvel Studios reaches out for a compromise with them – they are not likely to produce crossover movies together. 20th Century Fox has already prepared for this however and has already pushed for a sequel to their upcoming comic adaptation X-Men: Days of Future Past with X-Men: Apocalypse.
Spider-Man, whilst traditionally a Marvel superhero, is actually owned by Sony Pictures Entertainment. This means that due to stringent licensing rights, the character Spider-Man can only appear in the Marvel Cinematic Universe if Sony and Marvel Studios reach a compromise over it. But this is unlikely to happen since Sony has only just rebooted the series with The Amazing Spider-Man (which was also released in 2012, although somewhat overshadowed by the releases of both The Avengers and The Dark Knight Rises), and will be releasing the first sequel next month. Since development on this sequel first began, it has been revealed that Sony intends to expand on Spidey’s own universe by introducing The Sinister Six on film as well as the popular comic antagonist Venom (who is rumoured to also have his own movie coming out), both of which will likely affect the events of The Amazing Spider-Man 3.
But Marvel Studios and DC are aware that another major player lurks in the shadows of this genre in the form of 20th Century Fox. It was this studio which single-handedly brought about the resurgence of the genre in the year 2000, with the release of Bryan Singer’s X-Men. This film saw a team of superheroes working together on-screen for perhaps the first time, despite not being perhaps as ambitious as Kevin Feige’s vision for the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Again, since 20th Century Fox owns the licensing rights to the X-Men film series, it is highly unlikely that unless Marvel Studios reaches out for a compromise with them – they are not likely to produce crossover movies together. 20th Century Fox has already prepared for this however and has already pushed for a sequel to their upcoming comic adaptation X-Men: Days of Future Past with X-Men: Apocalypse.
However, despite the slim chances of seeing the X-Men joins forces with Spidey or Spidey help out the Avengers, or have all of them slip into another universe altogether and choose a side between either Batman or Superman (at least in the cinema anyway) – what is exciting about all of this is that more money is being pumped into superhero franchises than ever before. Not singular one-off movies or trilogies, but actual continuous and growing film franchises which may continue for years to come. It’s difficult not to view each new instalment of each of these franchises as new episodes of a cinematic TV show as opposed to just being sequels. Thanks to Marvel Studios and ultimately the surprising amount of enthusiasm from DC, Sony and 20th Century Fox to follow their prime example – we now live in a golden age of superhero movies where film studios are completely unafraid to use a comic book as a basis for a high-budget motion picture.
And it’s all down to success of The Avengers.
And it’s all down to success of The Avengers.
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