Marvel Powerhouse

Marvel is the company that took Superheroes from cool movies that were rebooted every couple of years to a multi billion dollar franchise that is steam rolling all the competition. Marvel movies are iconic and every time a new one opens it pulls in crazy amounts of money. With all of Marvel's success they have re-written the rules of Hollywood but has this power changed movies for the better?

Marvel has set the gold standard for a cinematic universe. Right from the beginning of their franchises Marvel's universe was fantastic. In Iron Man I they bring in Nick Fury to talk about S.H.I.E.L.D. and the Avengers Initiative and instantly comic book fans, superhero lovers, and plenty others were excited beyond belief. Iron Man the movie was a huge hit and fans new there would be sequels but now they also new there would be a whole bunch more superhero movies that would eventually lead into a movie featuring all of them! It was unheard of movie idea, the only thing close to this idea would be the few crossovers from the superhero cartoon shows. Marvel captured their audience with the first movie. The influence Marvel has had over movies is incredible. Before an after credit scene was a rare occurrence. Now it's become so prevalent that I waited through the credits of Star Wars VII to see if they added one, spoiler they did not. I was also shocked when Age of Ultron did not have an after credit scene, it broke the trend but at this point after credit scenes are not really needed.

It used to be that the after credit scene would set up or hint at the next movie. Iron Man has Nick Fury come and talk about the Avengers, Hulk has Tony come and talk about the Avengers, Iron Man 2 has agent Coulson at the Mjolnir crater, Thor has the Doctor go and meet with Fury, Captain America has Steve meet Fury, and finally the Avengers just had a gag scene referencing a conversation previously in the movie. Each movie and scene hinted and shed some light on the movies to come. Each after credit scenes lead up to the Avengers movie, the ultimate culmination in the movie universe that everything was building towards. Now though Marvel has its movies planned out for the next 3 years, you can Google the movies coming out and in what order. Making the after credit scenes largely unneeded.

The after credit scenes used to be what would hint at the next movie but now Marvel is using the movie's themselves to try and set up sequels. Age of Ultron is the one that jumps to my mind with the most potential set ups for new movies. The movie tries to set up Thor Ragnorak, Captain America Civil War, and the Black Panther. Of these set ups Black Panther and Civil War were worked nicely into the movie without totally hijacking the story. There are some references to Africa, large amounts of vibranium found there, and seems to be setting up the Black Panther villain Claw. Throughout the movie we see Captain America and Iron Man argue, fight, and disagree on some large issues. This seems to be trying to set up the Civil War movie. Both of these references did a good job of working in organically into the story without taking it over. The scenes setting up Thor Ragnorak were awkward and forced. None of them seemed to fit correctly into the movie's story and it seemed to pull Thor out of most of the movie. The scenes were trying to set up a movie that we all already know is coming out and, for those who know what Ragnorak means, we can probably guess some of the plot. But Marvel insisted that these scenes be in the movie. It made Age of Ultron into a commercial for movies to come rather than the culmination of Phase II like how Avengers was every a movie in itself with everything building up to it. I have to wonder if Marvel will continue this trend of building in scenes for future movies at the expense of the movie being watched. Also will other studios follow suit? Will all movies just be hints at future movies to come?

More posts about Marvel to come! I hope you guys enjoyed this one! Let me know what you think in the comments.