Having just
stumbled out of Iron Man 3 into a damp, brisk and un-spring-like
evening I can’t help but wonder at the financial behemoth Marvel
has become at the big screen.
Kevin Feige is the
producer and alchemist of success that seems to have turned a back
catalogue as immense as it is rich with box office potential into a
steamroller of seat filling blockbusters.
The end of the ‘90’s
was a time when the superhero movie seemed moribund, DC’s long run
as the source of comic book movie success had crumbled to an
ignominious end with Christopher Reeve’s Superman franchise and the
90’s run of Batman films both finishing on face-achingly sour
notes. As DC’s cinematic star waned, Marvel came to the fore. One
of the lesser known of Marvel’s hero’s, Blade, became an unlikely
success on film in ‘98, but the first big hit of Marvel’s
re-invention as a film house rather over comic specialist was
‘X-men’, spearheaded by Hugh Jackman’s charismatic fan
favourite, Wolverine. X-men has long been one of the most popular
comics in the Marvel stable, with the animated adventures running
almost as many plot threads and generations of mutant hero’s as the
paper pages. In a Marvel multi-verse, the X-men canon is perhaps the
biggest and most richly developed universe, with a giant cast of
characters engaged in epic story arcs. As such it always stood poised
to be successfully turned into a film franchise with endless
potential.
X-men 1’, then, with
so much financial expectation hanging off it was perhaps not a time
to take risks, but in what has been a trademark of Marvel’s film
development strategy, risk was the route they took. In a strong
rd chapter ending the first trilogy arc,
and an even ropier first solo outing for the Wolverine, X-men is
pushing out film number 5 next year in ‘Days Of Future Past’
(rumour has it the giant Sentinel robots, evil stars of the animated
series, are due to appear) and Jackman is running solo again in a
much anticipated ‘The Wolverine’ this summer.
With such a broad array
of characters to choose from, not every Marvel comic conversion would
be a gem in cinematic quality or fiscal success. ‘Daredevil’ was
only memorable for Colin Farrell’s ludicrous, gurning
over-performance as the murderous Bullseye, and the risible spin-off
it spawned in ‘Electra’ only proved that alongside the equally
woeful ‘Catwoman’, Marvel are yet to successfully find the
formula to a female led hero movie. Here-in lies the power of the
re-boot, however. Daredevil reboots have been in discussion for
several years, the failed Fantastic Four franchise is already set to
be relaunched with a new look team and X-men was re-invigorated with
the ‘First Class’ arc to both critical and box office acclaim.
Spiderman too has been
saved by the re-boot. Tobey Maguire’s mono-expression, varnished
wooden performances stacked alongside some drab plots left the
franchise burned out after the Raimi’s 3rd film in a
trilogy that started average and on a sharp decline, but the arrival
of the infinitely more engaging Andrew Garfield and the equally
watchable, but slightly less convincing as a teenager, Emma Stone
delivered new success with The Amazing Spiderman in 2012, with sequel
set for 2014.
Risk taking has been
key to Marvel’s success as they snowballed through the 00’s. The
biggest risk of all being a project so huge and so fraught with
danger, Feige and co. may as well have started to build the pyramid
of Giza upside down. The Avengers project was an inspired piece of
high-investment cinema planning. Putting together a superhero team
movie depended upon the success of the stand alone films that
launched each member of the team into the film going public’s eye.
Each film was challenged with communicating a rich back story,
building rapport with both the character and cast and weaving
together plots that would culminate in the Avengers showdown.
Each stepping stone
could have brought the project to a halt had it failed, and Marvel
proved they have the stones for the high stakes gambles. Left-field
directors were brought in, Kenneth Brannagh doing Thor, Joe Johnston
on Captain America, Jon Favreau on Iron Man and Joss Whedon on
Avengers it’s self. Success built upon success however, Downey Jr’s
scene stealing turns as Tony Stark made Iron Man an instant success,
Captain America, despite fears its jingo-istic tone might be too much
for a modern audience, delivered hard core dollars at cinemas, and
even the most obtuse and difficult screen translation, Thor, did
well. The only struggler remained The Hulk. After Ang Lee’s
unfortunate efforts, full of retro split screen action and the
ridiculous ‘flying’ Hulk, Edward Norton’s troubled production
delivered a better film but a disengaged star. Indie movie darling
Mark Ruffalo raised eyebrows as a choice for the Avengers
blockbuster, but proved a perfect fit, and in a film dominated by
Downey Jr’s pithy one liners, his is the one that steals the show
in the climactic last battle. It was Norton’s Hulk movie, however,
that first sent electric thrills through Marvel fans by mooting the
Avengers film with a Stark cameo and casual mention of ‘We’re
putting a team together’ in the final scenes.
The Avenger’s project
built film cross-over like no other series before. Samuel L Jackson’s
Nick Fury and Clark Gregg’s charmingly bureaucratic Agent Coulson
(“His first name is Agent”) pop up across the web of films,
building the tension and excitement to the final Avengers release
with in-references to SHIELD and the
The Iron Man and Pals
affair that many feared was present to an extent, with Downey Jr’s
screen presence dominating many scenes, but the delicate balancing
act of giving each character sufficient time and development was
beautifully handled. Thor might feel aggrieved that his role in the
final battle was perhaps not befitting that of an actual demi-god,
and perhaps Captain America wouldn’t thank Agent Coulson much for
the costumer revisions that looked a little ridiculous, but to find
fault like that would be like criticising Raiders of the Lost Ark for
Dr Jones’ floppy hat. The only post-release voice of dissent was
from Jeremy Renner, who cited Hawkeye’s slightly more marginalised
role as a disappointment.
So now a set of ‘next
chapters’ fall into line. Some words previously I mentioned that
this diatribe was begat of viewing the first of those next chapters,
the excellent Iron Man 3. Seeing an anxiety ridden Tony Stark
stripped of his suit and facing his most dangerous enemy to date
allows for a more paired down film following the enormity of
Avengers, all until a glorious climactic sequence that literally
explodes with action. End scenes to the film drop strong hints that
this is Downey Jr’s swan song as a solo Iron Man, with Avengers 2
rumoured to be his last outing in the tin suit. Quite how they might
fill the boots of a role owned so completely by an actor I have no
idea.
Thor and Captain
America sequels are imminent, with new hero’s added to the film
roster rumoured to include Ant-man in his own film, and an array of
new heroes reported to be joining the Avengers line up, the most
popular seeming to be Wasp, as female company for Black Widow. The
size of the universe at hand allows for endless excitement as fans
debate on what story arcs might be tapped, what hero’s may cameo in
which other films, what villains will usher forth to be vanquished
and so on. What seems guaranteed is that since Disney acquired the
Marvel film rights for what seems a paltry $4 billion in 2009, on
current form they should see endless return on that investment.
