I love comic books and I love movies therefore I love comic book movies. The explosion of comic book films sense the turn of the century has given me hours of geeky glee and a few nerdy rage fits too. Overall I would say the genre is becoming consistently good and part of that is Marvel's ever expanding universe. When Iron Man opened the gates in 2008 no one could have expected what has happened. The success of the first Iron Man caught Disney's attention and pocket book. Eight films have been released as of today with four more scheduled for release in the next two years. That is a total of twelve films in eight years. Some would ask what burden could there be unless you are one of the lucky ones with a much thicker wallet? I will concur that for the most part the films have been good, and we are seeing properties getting made that no one would have ever expected (or asked for) like Ant-Man and Guardians of the Galaxy. But indulge with me for a moment when I point out of few negatives that will impact more then Disney/Marvel films, but all future comic book movies.
Don't get me wrong I liked the Iron Man sequels but they don't stack up to the original, especially Iron Man 2. It suffered from the weight of trying to set up the expanded universe unlike any other of the pantheons films. Giving major roles to characters that are there to say, "Look at us we are bringing all of these world together." Black Widow kind of fit but I feel Nick Fury and Agent Caulson's appearances were not needed. Black Widow could have done there jobs. Tony Stark's status quot doesn't really change. Yeah he has a new power source that isn't killing him slowly but he is still the same person he was at the end of the film as was at the beginning. The only thing that really changes is War Machine is now present in the Iron Man world. So why is this so bad? It's only one in eight films. Indeed it is just one film and it seems Marvel/Disney has learned how to balance and individual heroes story with the universe as a whole. I Think it is just a matter of time before another suffers from trying to connect with overall continuity. I am hopeful that Fox, Sony, and WB can make it work with their expanded universes but it won't be easy.
This brings me to my next concern with the expanded universe. Shoehorning characters. Squeezing characters that don't fit in the overall universe's tone. I use this picture of Captain Marvel/Shazam but I could have used any number of other characters: Wonder Woman, Dr. Strange, Dr. Fate just to name a few. I know we are getting Wonder Woman. That's okay I want a Wonder Woman movie, she needs to be in the Justice League movie (if that ever happens) for it to truly be the Justice League. I worry about the cost to her origin and therefor her identity with the current direction of the DC film universe. I worry that if they don't include at least some ancient mythology/magic she won't really be Wonder Woman. The notion that she is a possible descendent of the empty Kryptonian pod from Man of Steel is bothersome. Is she really going to be more like Supergirl then Wonder Woman? I don't know but that might happen. Marvel has done a great job balancing the mysticism of Thor into the Marvel Cinematic Universe hopefully DC can do the same for Wonder Woman. Also if Marvel does make a Doctor Strange movie how will they explain his magic? The higher science can only work for so long before it feels like a cop out. It works for Thor but I don't think that will fly for all of Doctor Strange's magic. Doctor Strange won't be Doctor Strange without magic likewise for Captain Marvel.
My next concern is shoehorning movies. I understand that there is a ton of money being made by Disney with the Marvel Cinematic Universe and I understand that Warner Bros., Fox, and Sony want in on that action. I also know that it is possible to saturate the market. That could happen if we have all four studios pushing comic book movies out two or three timrd a year. Could you imagine 12 super hero movies in a single year. If all goes well for WB, Fox, and Sony it could happen. This is where shoehorning movies comes in. WB has the characters to do it Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, Green Lantern, the list goes on and on. Fox to a lesser extent and Sony even less so. Fox has made it known they want to crossover X-Men and the Fantastic Four. I don't think people are really clamoring for that crossover.
Don't get me wrong I would go and watch it but I would rather see more X-Men characters get introduced and treated properly in X-Men films, X-Men spinoff teams like X-Force or New Mutants, or even more stand alone character movies. The Fantastic Four need to find their own footing before I would want them to crossover and why would they crossover? To fight Galactus? None of either teams villains seem to have a lot of crossover appeal. I'm not a guru of either team but this seems like overkill when each team has so much to offer on its own.
Sony wants to expand its Spider-Man universe by making Venom and Sinister Six movies. I'm on board for a Venom movie but Sinister Six not so much. I do want to see the wall-crawler battle the six but I don't want to cheer for the Six. Maybe a villain centered movie could be cool and new for one or two films but at the end of the day these are bad guys. I don't want to cheer for Doc Ock, Green Goblin, or The Vulture to actually kill, maim, or hurt innocent people. Venom could be a good anti-hero type or even a hero if they eventually put Flash Thompson in the Venom role. But who else is there? Black Cat could work but no one wants to see a Prowler movie.
Disney is making Ant-Man but that's eleven movies into the universe. I'm not sure Sony has that many movies to make. Yes Spider-Man has that many stories to tell for sure but will we get that many before Andrew Garfield wants to hang up the tights and Sony wants to reboot? I doubt it.
The other problem with shoehorning characters and movies is that movies that should, would, or could get made won't. I know no one is jumping up and down for Blue Beetle but other heroes will never see the light of day because they won't or don't fit into the main universe's storyline. In the Disney/Marvel camp Daredevil, The Punisher, and Luke Cage will be relegated to Netflix because they aren't child friendly enough. Any number of X-Men will never get a quality treatment because they aren't a big enough name to get past the Wolverines, Storms, and Magnetos. Captain Marvel will end up being PG-13 if he ends up getting a movie because they will want him to fit in with the Man of Steel Universe. Why can't we see some more family friendly superhero romps? I don't need all my heroes to be in the same world. Captain Marvel could be a really fun family film. Why not use existing character to make new family films instead of hoping kids buy into something that is starting from scratch? Teen Titans anyone. A Blue Beetle and Booster Gold movie could be a great buddy comedy. Once WB/DC decides what human Green Lantern they want to use we will probably never see a different one, the same goes for the Flash. What about a JSA period piece during WWII.
That is the biggest burden of all is cutting off other outlets. The way things sit right now the good is outweighing the bad. With all the money being made none of the studios would part ways with any of their characters. Oh how I wish WB would let someone else make movies out of some of their characters. The awesomeness that could be a Incredibles crossover with some Marvel characters. Sadly most of these things will never come to fruition. But for now I will grab my pop corn bucket and get in line to see Captain America 2.
Thanks for reading. What do you think? What comic movies do you want to see get made? Have a suggestion for a topic let me know.
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