Over the last 15 years comic book films have gone from, at best, average films, to regular box office hits and, for the most part, quite good films. For someone who loves everything to do with comic books, especially the films, this is a fantastic period of cinema to be experiencing. Yet, despite almost guaranteed financial success, a quality film is not a certainty; for every Endgame, Logan or The Dark Knight, you get a Fant4stic, Suicide Squad or Justice League. If you were to rank the four big studios involved in the comic book movie market based on quality and financial success it would be fair to say that Disney (with the MCU) takes top spot, while the next three, Fox (X-Men, The Fantastic Four), Warner Bros (DC), and Sony (Spider-Man), seem to swap places in the ranking depending on their latest release (although Fox, having sold their properties to Disney, are now out of the race). However, despite this, it wouldn’t be outrageous to suggest that the likes of Logan and the Deadpool films from Fox, the Spider-Verse film from Sony, or Nolan’s Dark Knight trilogy are better films than the majority of the MCU. I believe that there is one thing that these ‘better’ comic book films have in common; they do something different.
Ok so let me clarify something; I prefer the majority of MCU films to all other comic book films because I’m an absolute Marvel fanboy. If you know me then you knew this already. I also don’t think that it would be fair to say that none of the MCU films do something ‘different’. I’d actually put a good amount of them in this category; Iron Man, both Guardians of the Galaxy films, The Winter Soldier, Civil War, Black Panther, Doctor Strange, Infinity War and Endgame. I believe all of these films set themselves apart from the basic comic book films (some more than others) because they, quite simply, are not your basic comic book film. The biggest downfalls for the MCU films are recurring issues mainly to do with narrative structure, the writing, or a boring villain (although this topic would be better saved for a separate discussion). My biggest issue, my biggest worry, with Disney’s MCU is its future. I’m worried that the MCU will lose its creativity, its originality and, eventually, its quality. Let me explain where this worry comes from first of all. As much as I adore the MCU films I can’t ignore their faults and, I have to be honest, a good amount of them are very similar. Many of them reuse the same themes, the same superhero tropes and the same kind of plot points and narrative structure. What keeps the MCU from falling victim to ‘superhero fatigue’ is the fact that every now and then a Ryan Coogler or a James Gunn comes along and does something refreshing with the characters they’re given. However, with the (now quite old) news that Scott Derrickson has ‘left’ as director of the second Doctor Strange film, I’m slightly more worried about this film’s, and, more generally, the MCU’s, future. It was previously described as the MCU’s ‘first horror film’ by Derrickson, a statement that was undermined constantly by Kevin Fiege who insisted that the film would still be a 12a in rating. This ‘Doctor Strange 2 is not a horror film’ saga played out until Scott Derrickson left the project. This screams creative differences and, to me, shows that Marvel and Disney are not massively willing to take risks. Disney’s latest Star Wars instalment, The Rise of Skywalker, made me even more certain of this. Rian Johnson’s The Last Jedi, although incredibly polarising, took risks; it took beloved characters, a beloved universe, and did something different with it that, in my opinion, made for the best Star Wars film since the original trilogy. But because many die-hard fans of the franchise complained heavily about the film, Disney backtracked massively and made The Rise of Skywalker a two hour long piece of fan service that went back on everything that Rian Johnson did in The Last Jedi (I know Star Wars isn’t necessarily comic book and this is a bit of a tangent but it will make sense …. although there are many very popular Star Wars comic runs done by Marvel, no Tom focus). Don’t get me wrong, Sam Raimi (who is tipped to take over Doctor Strange 2) could come along and blow me away with an awesomely bizarre and creatively rich film, but I’m very worried that Marvel and Disney are starting to play safe. I’m worried that they’re going to start prioritising a decent box office number over interesting and good films. I’d rather watch a crazy Doctor Strange sequel that some think is amazing, and some think is poor, than watch another Ant-Man and the Wasp or, god forbid, something more akin to Venom.
The biggest competitor to Marvel films is its comic counterpart, DC. Although separate studios produce various Marvel properties, when comparing against DC one usually puts all the Marvel films in the same category and, if it was a race, Marvel are definitely winning. Although Nolan’s Dark knight trilogy stands leagues above most other comic book movies, DC have failed to deliver anything as good in over a decade. It seemed to me that DC got too caught up in trying to be the opposite of Marvel’s colourful, team-up focused franchise, and rushed into making their own dark and gritty version. Man of Steel was fine. Green Lantern wasn’t great. Batman vs Superman was rushed and messy and Justice League was a car crash. And the less said about Suicide Squad the better. DC couldn’t touch Marvel; in trying to catch up they shot themselves in the foot with rushed projects and a huge amount of studio interference. Yet, even with this history, I’m more excited about the next stage of DC than I am Marvel. And that is because of DC’s recent change in approach; they simply started again. Instead of rushing out more average to crap films, they had a look at their slate, reordered and rearranged, got rid of Zak Snyder and realised that they didn’t need to make an interconnected series of films that would lead to the Justice League fighting a CGI villain. Instead, they gave filmmakers the freedom to do something creative with their properties; something different. Wonder Woman was a breath of fresh air when it came out and I’m incredibly excited for the sequel. Aquaman, although far from perfect, definitely had its own style and I love to see that. Shazam was fun and interesting to watch and didn’t rely on its shared universe. And then you have Joker. I have a variety of opinions on Joker; I don’t think its brilliant. I think the amount of general award buzz it got was largely unwarranted bar a few categories. However, I think that it is amazing for the comic book genre. I think it proves exactly what DC stands for and what Marvel won’t gamble on; comic book films don’t need to be safe, family friendly blockbusters to be successful or good. I’ve also heard that Birds of Prey is pretty decent, and I am beyond excited for Matt Reeves’ Batman. I just love that DC are willing to take these risks, to give filmmakers creative freedom on their projects and put aside massive financial gain (although they still get that) and prioritise making a great film. I mean they’re even redoing Suicide Squad with James Gunn as writer and director, clearly, they’re trying to do this right.
What I want is for Marvel and Disney to realise that they are in the best position to take these risks. It’s almost a guarantee that anything they make, even if it isn’t that good, will make millions. They are in the privileged position of being able to afford to take risks. I don’t want 20 more safe, 6 out of 10 Marvel films over the next 20 years. I want to see something different. Something creatively special. I’m very excited for The Eternals, Shang-Chi and Blade. A fourth Thor helmed again by Taika Waititi promises something different while a Sam Raimi Doctor Strange is a very interesting idea. The most exciting thing Marvel are doing right now are the upcoming projects coming to Disney+. A number of very interesting TV shows, including a potentially bonkers Scarlett Witch and Vision show, plus a number of characters I never thought I’d see in live action (Moonknight, She Hulk).
Maybe I’m overreacting. I don’t really think Marvel are going to mess this up, they’re way too clever to do that. The films won’t start to be crap and I think it will be a long time before we get superhero fatigue with the MCU. But I want it to be amazing. I want them to step up the quality even more, rather than a series of ‘fine’ films. I want to see a bonkers Doctor Strange film, a crazy cosmic adventure with Thor and the Guardians, a dark and gritty (maybe even R-rated) Blade film; just don’t play it safe. Take a risk. Do something different.
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