Marvel is in a really tough spot right now. Most of the new Marvel movies are not as engaging as the older movies. But there was a time when everyone was mad for Marvel movies, and I was one of the proud Marvel fans. This madness started with the first Avengers movie. It was probably 2013; I turned on the TV, and the final act of the Avengers was about to start. After I watched the whole sequence, I was probably shaking from excitement. I was a teenager then, and that was the greatest thing I had witnessed in my life. After that, I started to follow marvel movies religiously.
Back then, I think what Marvel did really well was they had really well-defined characters and satisfying stories to tell, and all these stories were part of the bigger narrative and were building up to it. That’s why they felt like episodes of a long, big TV show, and we were always excited to see what’s next. Now, they don’t have actually good stories on board, but they are making movies and series anyway. The movies they are making now are disconnected, and they don’t amount to anything. So, there’s not much incentive to go and watch Marvel movies or series. And, I don’t believe in Superhero fatigue. There always will be an appetite for a good superhero movie. Good is the keyword here. Not Ok, not average; it has to be good. It is because the market is saturated. The same underwhelming decent movies won’t work.
Marvel had the extravagant action set pieces, sure, but also good character work. Especially 2 characters concluded their respective arcs in a really satisfying manner in Endgame. They are Tony Stark and Captain America, although Tony was more fleshed out and complex between the two.
Tony and Cap are polar opposites, not just their nature but also how they are portrayed by Marvel. I am not going to discuss how their ideals clash with each other. That has been talked about a thousand times before. I want to talk about the way they are portrayed.
The conflict between these two characters picked up heat in Civil War. It is the only movie I love as much as I hate. I love it because it is one of the best superhero movies ever made and I hate it because they made Tony absolutely miserable. If you notice carefully, all of Tony’s dialogues are meant to show him as desperate and petty. He basically becomes a government lapdog. And he loses every confrontation, whether it be physical or verbal. He even loses to the Falcon, again both physically and verbally. What pisses me off is that the reason behind Tony’s behavior is well-explained in the movie, so I can’t blame it on shitty writing. His behavior is not out of the blue; it’s justified, except for the final act outburst, which seemed like a leap. Anyway, I am drifting off.
Let’s discuss how Captain America is portrayed. I actually find Cap scary, much scarier than the generic Marvel villains like Ronan or Ronin or whatever. It is because of his single-mindedness. He basically has infinite faith in his decisions. You rarely see him vulnerable. You never see him anxious. He never double-thinks his decisions. Once he makes up his mind about something, there is no chance you’d be able to change his mind. It is scary how determined he is. An evil version of him would make for a terrifying villain.
This is also the reason why he is so respected among the fans. You only see the professional side of him, always. You never see him being lazy, laid-back, snacking on something, or losing his shit. I mean, we all want to be like him: not have any anxiety or second thoughts, always infinitely confident. He is like a person you see online. You always see him at his best. Except his best moments are not being curated; he is like that, always. So, we look up to him. He is like a role model to the fans.
That’s why people respect him more than they love him. There is feeling that everything is going to be okay when he shows up.
On the flip side, there is Tony, who has been vulnerable from his first movie. We do see him tortured and broken in the movie, sure, but apart from that, he is deeply flawed too. Some call him a narcissist, but he is not actually a narcissist. He pretends to be one. He doesn’t want to become attached to anyone, so he behaves like an asshole all the time. He says he doesn’t care about others’ lives, but he always puts his life on the line to save them. Also, he has drinking problems and relationship problems just like normal human beings. When he lets his guard down after the first Avengers movie, he mostly acts towards keeping his friends and the world safe. Not all of his steps have positive outcomes, though; again, just like us.
He is not a God or a perfect human being. He is a troubled millionaire genius who hides behind a wall of sarcasm to show people that he doesn’t care, but deep down he does.
We know all his bad habits, his insecurities, his flaws; he feels like a friend or a family member. So, we feel close to him. This is why fans love him more than they respect him.
Marvel propelled its cinematic universe on the back of these two characters. They never paid much attention to any other character in the original Avengers team as much as they did to these two. Thor was at his peak during Infinity War. Even I liked his Endgame portrayal. My favorite scene in Infinity War is when he opens up to Rocket on their way to Knowhere about his destiny. That scene elevated Thor so much. Then they made Love and Thunder.
They gave Black Widow some depth in Endgame and then immediately killed her off.
Hulk and Clint got some attention in The Avengers and in Age of Ultron, but after that, they have been sidelined by the studio to make room for new characters.
They desperately need new, well-realized characters to propel the new phase of Marvel into motion. The sad thing is they are ignoring or ruining pre-established good characters for the new characters when the new characters and stories are shallow and inconsequential, respectively.
They have successfully concluded the Infinity Saga. Perhaps a reboot would serve them better at this point. Cleaning the slate and starting over would give them the opportunity to include mutants, go with darker storylines from the comics, and explore unpopular characters, provided they take calculated, good decisions.
Thank you!
