The MCU is FAILING, but here's how to FIX IT

dear Kevin feige you run the most successful franchise in the entire world Kudos on that seriously you have accomplished more than most producers have in their entire lifetime and you've changed Blockbuster Cinema forever but I have to say I'm starting to see the cracks I've been noticing the cracks and this is coming from the guy who likes Ant-Man 3 and Black Widow I don't hate the majority of your projects but I'd be lying if I said I wasn't disappointed with different facets of them and the overarching plan for your Universe the fabric of what you've created is mutating into something that is completely soulless and has none of the pizzazz of what you're basing your films off of you have 60 years of comic books to look back on 60 years of beautiful imagery and engaging pieces of character story that as of right now you seem to have been completely ignoring I mean you sure love cameos but what are those cameos mean if I see John Krasinski as Mr Fantastic am I supposed to be excited because I know who Mr Fantastic is is it because you allowed the internet to Lobby something into existence or is it just because I'm supposed to be a big fan of the office I mean that's what my mom thinks but you know in creating a truly impressive Cinematic Universe something I in no way want to take away from you there is still the loss of something more important so I want to express where I think we can go from here and get us back on track you have some of the greatest fictional characters of the last century at your fingertips and at first that was something you wielded with the weight of the Infinity Stones you treated these characters with care and gave them their time to shine now everything has fallen to the Wayside for this Chronicle of the Multiverse which I have to tell you again is not that interesting I honestly think the Multiverse could have been the mcu's Saving Grace kind of in saying to think that in hindsight the premise would have allowed them to finally shed the shackles of the shared Universe for good no more single story a whole universe of disconnected interpretations and similarly it presented an opportunity to move away from the rigid house style they had fallen into over the infinity Saga the Multiverse means all these stories don't have to feel like one big thing anymore they could have given your filmmaker's license to cut loose and play with narrative and form in ways their filmmakers hadn't since the very beginning but Kev you just didn't he started setting up another overarching narrative and used the concept of the Multiverse AS Palette swap Cameo machine movies like everything everywhere all at once upstaged you in a year where you had a film called Multiverse of Madness debut a month after and that movie also proved that the concept of the Multiverse has potential to be really interesting if approached with intelligence and unrestrained Imagination the issue is you've almost exclusively used the Multiverse as an in-universe excuse to indulge in cheap fan service and retcon aspects of your continuity probably the dullest most utilitarian way to employ that concept I can imagine you have a Sci-Fi concept with so much potential to explore big interesting ideas of determinism and fatalism and yet none of these stories are perhaps Loki have really delved into that at all they pay lip service to these ideas but they ultimately feel like an afterthought which is truthfully what a lot of the big heady issues you tackle in your films tend to feel like remember Falcon in the Winter Soldier I sure don't but you know what I do remember about that series is how it had no interest in truthfully tackling the real world issues it's set up like the military industrial complex civil Liberties and fighting against an establishment that has basically stepped on the everyday people for far too long you had the perfect opportunity to take a stance and say something with your art but instead you sat on a fence and then used people as weird mouthpieces to really say nothing and the same is true with your approach to the Multiverse they feel like an afterthought this character with this coat of paint this character in this setting doing this it's pretty basic the idea that there can be a lot of Spider-Man is not what's going to keep people coming back you have to make a good story a character focused story that uses the Multiverse in a way to really boost that story in into the spider-verse for example we aren't drawn into the film because Spider-Man Noir or spider ham shows up we care about miles's story his relationship with his parents and how he's feeling lost the loss of his uncle there are a real human issues at play here the Multiverse allows us to see the way miles is feeling he feels he has a responsibility to fill the shoes of the last Spider-Man the hero of New York City and he's just a kid this is a lot of weight to put on his shoulders the Multiverse allows us to feel all that weight in a visual way it's a tool to explore something deeper it's not a plot device a mechanic a way to say oh well we'll just correct this and this no no it should be an emotional tool something visual to explore something deeper and speaking of the visuals Kevin what are we doing in that department look at this Jack Kirby drawing it's filled with color in depth in an amazing amount of detail they had limited amount of colors the printer could use back then and still this is an amazing work of art of a different world now let's look at oh I don't know 411 Thunder hell even Thor Ragnarok sorry Thor Spider-Man no way home and some of Ant-Man and the WASP Quantum media your latest Endeavor again a film I enjoyed and will defend just not necessarily in the visual department and that's just phase four I mean we could go back to phase three so we'll just we'll just keep it there these Fantastical worlds yes New York is a Fantastical World they look boring they're shot like a sitcom the color palette is all washed out it's green screen to [ __ ] without a care for blocking camera movement framing practical sets it's done as cheaply and time efficiently as possible and I think we can all agree the final products are suffering as a result and that's simply not enough coming from the biggest movie studio in the world grossing billions of dollars that can actually afford to do these things and make practical sets and take their time and look none of this is anything new there are plenty of fantastic videos out there talking about Marvel's gross looking movies but essentially the MCU learned all the wrong lessons from Captain America the Winter Soldier you guys adopted the house style of the russos and it's not doing you any favors yes that was an amazing movie hell it's my favorite MCU movie and it was beloved but muted colors and concrete visuals aren't a one-size-fits-all sort of thing sure it fit the grounded political thriller Vibes of Winter Soldier mainly because it's a film that deals in the morally gray it's grounded set closer to reality but it then went on to Define much of what you wanted the universe to look like and really cemented itself upon absolutely intended as the house style in Civil War like I said just because it's more efficient to shoot something flatter doesn't mean it's a one-size-fits-all scenario it's the machine of it all all these movies have the exact same production in post-production Pipeline with no room for creativity to suit the tone characters and environment the stories are taking place in those things matter it should matter and for God's sake I'm you're making a Multiverse movie or you're telling stories in the Multiverse I feel like they matter even more so when every movie is the Winter Soldier or Civil War you lose all originality and creative identities for your other projects when they all look act feel and sound the same the monotony drowns everything out these are the biggest movies in the world telling epic stories that should be popping filled to the brim with color and interesting cinematography but they're not I'd argue Infinity war and end game two films I love were only as successful as they were because they were this culmination of events and people were invested not necessarily that they had a distinct Identity or Vision behind them look I love the Battle of wakanda but good God man it's just a desolate field it's the most boring place you could have set a climactic battle and I'm not saying all the rules so projects have bad set pieces but like I don't know dude an airport as the setting for your battle in Civil War like you could have created an environment that actually played into something thematically and it's just it's just a concrete slab and the characters themselves look like concrete I could go on and on what Marvel learned from the russos was that getting low-level television directors to helm their films allows the machine to exercise more control over the finished product not that the russos were robbed of agency in the creative process but that I think they're very efficient Company Men they'll let second unit take care of a lot of things and work within the template Marvel's established I also just think the russos shoot everything as boring and unimaginative as possible they don't really have too much of a style and it's because they're television directors who then went on to work for the biggest television series of all time in the MCU and never had a chance to figure out who they are as filmmakers and storytellers Kevin you're not making grounded spy Thrillers every outing you are creating wildly bombastic Tales of masked Marvels in colorful costumes you're a comic book expert and lover you know the power these visuals have when they're allowed to explode off the page the thing that should be grounding us is not the color palette it's the characters I mean look back at Sam raimi's Spider-Man trilogy the camera is alive it moves around it captures the perfect energy that we as the audience are looking for in swinging through the high rises of New York City now not every director is rainy but everyone has the potential to be this creative look at Christopher Nolan's Dark Knight trilogy Matthew Vaughn's Kingsman movies or Hell Matthew Vaughn's X-Men first Class these movies all use the colors and kineticism that you would hope a comic book movie would use and even something that's a bit more grounded and gritty like Logan has a color palette has an identity that goes beyond comic book movie this is how you make a splash this is how you create art that lives on you have amazing people behind the camera especially in the cinematography Department God bless Bill Pope and all the things he's shooting for you but you don't use them at all back in Phase One and even parts of phase two you used to hire filmmakers to make individual projects while they slipped in hints towards a broader Story I mean you had Kenneth Brana you had Joe Johnston you had John Favreau and Shane black I mean these are some of the biggest names in filmmaking and it showed in their products then the Russo Brothers success with cap 2 showed a different path you slowly stopped hiring filmmakers James Gunn and Ryan coogler excluded to do that and instead hired filmmakers to make projects that first and foremost serve the overarching story The Avenger movies track this pretty well all four are made by filmmakers from the world of Television but for all of Joss whedon's faults and dear God there are many the first two are made by a showrunner the last two are made by episode directors what once used to be the seemingly different worlds colliding has become a uniformity of boring it was genuinely novel to see pulpy Captain America from World War II theatrical Shakespearean Thor and snarky [ __ ] Iron Man share the screen this is something the first Avengers movie understood and took advantage of But as time has gone on the shared Universe has lost a lot of its initial appeal because the world's being crossed all feel the same all the Marvel characters share a universe in the comics too but their individual books rarely feel as similar to one another as the MCU solo films have started to the mcu's greatest strength used to be that it wasn't one franchise but a series of smaller franchises that occasionally crossed over this helped prevent burnout because even though there were several Marvel projects a year it didn't feel like it there weren't three MCU movies out there was one Iron Man movie a Thor movie a Hulk movie or whatever now the MCU is unmistakably one big franchise and burnout is starting to set in for some people they feel like the MCU and nothing more the issue Kevin is your approach was making a cinematic version of a television show and that's all well and good but film isn't television nor should it be treated as such implementing a house style and neutering creativity sure makes things feel consistent across the board but it's also boring and devoid of Personality film is such a direct extension of the artist who makes it because it is one thing it's not a series of episodes episodes or whatnot and that's how it should be that's part of the Beauty and the difference between the two mediums both are equally as incredible forms of Storytelling but you have to utilize the format for what it is Marvel should just be the studio and these films should be all of the franchises Marvel has under the studio Banner that's not to say they can't be interconnected but the connectivity should be the Avengers films phase two is truthfully in my opinion the best phase because it was the only time they allowed creatives to just tell their own stories sure Iron Man 3 takes into account the events of Avengers but it's not a film that is solely Reliant upon the Avengers to function it still works in isolation and as a third Iron Man film it's perfect same goes for cap2 and Thor 2 whatever you may think of that in fact I don't even think you need to watch Avengers in order to enjoy cap 2 and Thor to as direct follow-ups to their predecessors and actually I know we gave Age of Ultron a lot of [ __ ] at the time for just being this thing that felt like it wasn't built up to it just sort of happened within the confines of the film but in hindsight I actually think that works better that sort of plays into this idea of these team-up movies being a family reunion and then also having the setup for future projects in a film like The Avengers because it just it makes sense I've come to really enjoy the fact that Age of Ultron just kind of starts with the heroes already reunited on a mission in progress because like yeah sometimes [ __ ] happens that requires Fury to assemble the Avengers we don't need to see every step of the way to get there they're on a mission and that's that in fact Age of Ultron functions beautifully as a sequel to Avengers because it doesn't really require you to watch the previous Phase 2 films in order to enjoy it as a sequel to the first Avengers movie which I get is probably why why some people were frustrated with it as a movie and the whedonisms truly are unbearable in that film I mean my God like I'm not going to sit here and say age Voltron is perfect like [ __ ] there are serious issues with that movie but you gotta respect the dedication to maintaining the voice of the artist in charge of their respective franchise within the franchise and it's consistent with their films I don't know I feel like while yeah it's nice to have a series where every movie and television show across different franchises is essential viewing but I also like being able to pick and choose the ones I'm invested or interested in and still not feel like I'm missing out when we get to those event films and when every film feels like an event film The dopamine is depleted it's non-existent let Avengers movies feel like Avengers movies and the rest fashion and identity of their own something that could have added to all of this is definitely the sheer volume of MCU projects that have been made we've had years where four of these movies have been released and that's insane and that doesn't even take into account like the three or five television shows we've gotten in the same year that are essential viewing for the films especially it turns them from works of art into just product it makes it become more like fast food than an art form it's strange because it's almost like every film has become an issue of Marvel team up where we're expecting to see some big crossover between characters tackle the problem together the speculation and excitement seems to be coming out of who's going to guest star in the next MCU movie or TV show what's the big who's that Pokemon revealed going to be this time the cameoification of tentpole entertainment is why filmmakers like Martin Scorsese call Marvel movies theme park movies because they're constructed like a theme park ride with nothing but the dopamine Rush as the main goal what the MCU is slowly learning now at least hopefully is that you can't keep sustaining that Rush eventually especially because of the monotony audiences are going to come down from the high and catch on guest appearances and team-up films aren't fun if there isn't a pre-established baseline for each character why is it fun to see Spider-Man interact with Doctor Strange if we don't really have a status quo for either of them I hate to be this guy but it's also not how these characters became popular in the comics sure like four guys in the 60s were making these things but they were able to make each character each comic each issue and book feel unique a Spider-Man story felt nothing like a fantastic four story they were both superhero Adventures but one was about a teenager who had to deal with his love life and paying rent while the other was about a family traveling through space and time to make new discoveries those franchises couldn't be any more different and yet that's the beauty of Marvel Comics they existed in the same world and Spider-Man is the Human Torch his best friend so Kevin I've been nagging for a bit but maybe there's a way to get us back on track here as I previously mentioned the concept of the Multiverse is only really interesting to a point the thing that is fun about the Multiverse is what it allows you to do within the potential stories you don't need a Kang going across the Multiverse destroying it that is interesting and it can be done in an Avengers movie but right now we need to care about that why should we care if another universe is destroyed if we don't know anyone there within the world of comics there are stories called elseworlds you might recognize that title as that's what DC Studios is now calling something like Joker 2 more Joker and Matt Reeves is the Batman series it basically is a way for the comic creators to craft stories outside of the Canon and with drastically new imaginings for example you don't have to tell a story about billionaire playboy philanthropist Bruce Wayne going out into a modern day Gotham to punch a clown you can instead set it in the Victorian era and have a Batman who's trying to solve the Jack the Ripper case or a Batman who looks crazy muscular and becomes a vampire this is where the Multiverse gets interesting so how can this be applied to the MCU well Kevin we're gonna have to stop always doing the overarching narrative I'm not saying you have to get rid of it completely but let's focus on the solo outings functioning as well solo outings does this sound like blasphemy well it shouldn't because that's what Marvel was when it started and it's how the comics work for a recent example I'll talk about the comic event Devil's Reign now this event was being built up through the last 30 issues of Daredevil and when it finally initiated it took over the main Daredevil comic now these events affected all the new york-based superheroes and Sue storm and Mr Fantastic were put into a prison which they had to fight out of with the help of Moon Knight and Spider-Man was beaten to a pulp by a Taskmaster now these are all huge things to happen to these characters but if you went in red Spider-Man or Moon Knight at this time you wouldn't see this story they had their own things going on Spider-Man wasn't even Peter Parker the stories were allowed to have their time to breathe and exist and they didn't have to tie into the devil's Reign story all the time so why did I bring this up I hear many of you furiously typing in the comments well this event story is what the MCU has become but their problem is that every movie is a tie-in issue you can solve the bigger setups for The Avengers movies happen within the movies not titled Avengers but the whole movie shouldn't be set up it can come at the end like a post-credits scene or whatever like it used to the other issue you've been recently having with these solo movies is that they really have every other character popping up maybe you can do this with Nick Fury sometimes but it makes it all feel less special when we see them together in an Avengers movie sure sometimes the characters can make a little appearance but by and large we need a Spider-Man movie to be a Spider-Man movie not a Spider-Man and Doctor Strange movie so it all feels more special when they do meet here's where I think your team-ups have worked in the past and how I think they need to be approached going forward let's bring it back to Age of Ultron the fact that they just let Whedon do his own weird little thing for the second Avengers movie is kinda wild there's plenty of setup for future films but it rarely feels like it Thor scene notwithstanding the conversation at the farm feels perfectly a part of the movie and not like a setup for future films same with the twins and vision is doing a lot of leg work for you Mr feige but making it bend around whedon's Vision rather than the other way around and this is also the perfect way to do setup you are already in a film where all the characters from your different franchises are interacting I think a lot of people forget that when the first Avengers was coming out people didn't think it was going to work the different tones of each character felt so drastic that the idea of them being able to Pal around and fight aliens seemed improbable but it did work and it gave us a good place to check in on this universe and see how each person has changed where you can see how all these Adventures have changed our favorite do-gooders and then we get to see them tackle an entirely new threat together having been changed by the events of their solo movies and if you hire a filmmaker for a job let them cook man all of these solo comic runs that tie into the event comic style have their own unique identity their own art style and writing style Matt fraction and David ajah Hawkeye feels like fraction and Aja Hawkeye even though that Hawkeye will be used in something else later down the road the events should be used to sell your other solo runs so you see that word it's got money signs associated with it you should be listening to this Avengers whatever the [ __ ] should get you hyped to watch more Doctor Strange or Ant-Man it's the ultimate collab and you're able to pick and choose the heroes you Vibe with and then go check out their own [ __ ] that's what event Comics are for and that's what event MCU movies should be for that's how the films can emulate the comics in a good way and that's what Marvel is lacking right now the crazy thing is Marvel might have already started to realize that this issue is happening the market is oversaturated with MCU content right now and you could argue there's a demand so you can't blame Marvel for filling it and yeah I mean that's true in part but their escalation of projects have helped drive that demand so you can't say they aren't at least in part responsible for it but with movies like The Batman coming out people are starting to see again that these movies can be so much more than just Cameo machines that make a soulless Corporation billions of dollars there's not superhero fatigue people are just tired of this same mediocre slop being fed to them time and time again if every MCU film had the craft Artistry and individuality that saved the Batman had I don't think we'd be saying superhero films are dying we'd be celebrating and clamoring for more of them right now there's nothing really differentiating Ant-Man from Thor or Doctor Strange from Spider-Man we need to put the art back into these films we need to be able to give these amazing characters the adaptations they deserve and I think you know that you're the guy who slipped Hugh Jackman X-Men Comics under his door on the set of the first X-Men movie you love these characters just as much as all of us and all we want to do is show that love properly on the screen I know you'll do what's right hope to hear from you soon Griffin foreign [Music]

Channel: FilmSpeak

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Id: _sltJWj7B2A

Length: 26min 31sec (1591 seconds)

Published: Tue Mar 07 2023