This week was a tough one. It was hard to find articles on the MCU that I didn’t feel were too opinionated or too irrelevant to the topic I wanted to get at. In my opinion, all of these articles definitely show ways in which the MCU has changed the game.
This interview with the writers of Avengers: Endgame from CNN with the writers (Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeely) described what helped make Endgame the success that it is without too much embellishment in between. This movie is a culmination of over a decade of piecing together 22 movies. And they let Markus and McFeely do the talking, which gives me an insight to how they put the movie together. They reported honestly, letting the words of the writers set the tone for the article.
This list from ScreenRant shows 10 Marvel heroes that had their own shows or movies before the MCU came along, and is my second news source. A few off the list include Captain America (had a TV show, then some TV movies that weren’t well received), Doctor Strange (had a TV movie in 1978 that had low ratings and bad reviews), and even Daredevil. Charlie Cox may not have gotten a movie, but his performance as Matt Murdock in the Netflix TV series was leagues above Ben Affleck’s in the 2003 Daredevil movie, which is known for being terrible.
I know ScreenRant is a reliable source; they’ve been a source I use often when trying to find my nerd news, and the list describes the movies only as they were received from the audience. It also shows how much Disney and the MCU have changed at least how the world sees Marvel movies.
I found another source that I couldn’t be sure if I could call it a “news” source. It’s an article on CinemaBlend that describes a Vanity Fair interview in which the writers of Endgame described the challenges that Thor: Ragnarok created for Endgame’s Thor. The way Thor was reworked in Ragnarok to take advantage of Chris Hemsworth’s funny side changed the way he had to be perceived in Endgame. Thor: Ragnarok is one of, if not the funniest movie in the MCU. But that’s also my opinion, and while most people would agree, it’s something that the author doesn’t really keep out of the tone of his article, which I feel gives him some bias. CinemaBlend has a much smaller audience than ScreenRant and an obviously considerable smaller one than CNN. But I figured I should mention it anyway.
I got my two opinionated articles from the New York Times. They both got me a little heated, but that’s because I’m an insane fan of the MCU, so I had to remind myself to keep my bias aside.
The first one I disagree with pretty strongly. The writer, Mark Bowden is 68 years old, so I’m not surprised that we have pretty different opinions. But boy, does he oversimplify some of the greatest movies of all time, and it shows all over in his words and tone. He describes Avengers: Infinity War as “the best argument for meaningless.” He then goes on to imply that Trump got elected because we as a society are into superhero movies:
The superhero is an alien or outcast who possesses unique powers acquired either at birth or through some accident or gift. You can imagine the avid consumers of such films electing a president who boasts “I alone” can solve the nation’s problems, and who delights in tagging his domestic and foreign opponents with villainous, comic book monikers — “Crooked Hillary,” “Rocket Man.”
That’s a stretch. But hey, to each his own I guess? The article felt like it was instigating a conversation that most people disagree with. AKA: it felt kind of troll-y. Not something I want in an opinion piece.
The second article was an easier read, and definitely gave me a lot to think about in regards to how the MCU produces their films. The author brought up a lot of good points without downplaying the successes of the movies, and brought up how, because it’s Disney and because they’re making movies for a mass audience, they’re pretty cookie-cutter. Like in Black Panther’s case, it was “less a Ryan Coogler movie made under Marvel than a Marvel movie made by Ryan Coogler.” Definitely gave me a lot to think about, but I didn’t want to send an angry email to this author.
In conclusion, I’ve been reading MCU news all week, which is how I’d prefer to spend all my time anyway (like I said, I’m an insane fan). See y’all next week!
