By Ryan Pendleton and Caleb Feliz
From 2008 all the way to 2019 currently, Marvel Studios and Walt Disney Pictures since 2012 have pumped out critically-acclaimed, money-making superhero blockbusters starring iconic characters like Iron Man, Captain America, Thor and the Hulk. There have been a couple of flops, but they have been relatively successful. For over 10 years, Marvel Studios have been on a roll with their Marvel Cinematic Universe. They have reintroduced characters such as Black Panther, Doctor Strange, the Guardians of the Galaxy and Captain Marvel; in 2016, they even managed to bring back Spider-Man for an appearance in Captain America: Civil War.
With massive success, of course media outlets and the news have reported nearly thousands of articles and stories about the multitude of Marvel movies. 20th Century Fox and Sony Pictures, have produced a slew of superhero movies as well, with properties of the X-Men, the Fantastic Four and Spider-Man, but they weren’t as successful as the Disney-Marvel films. Media coverage constantly observes these Marvel movies, but what about the competition DC comics? Well… one could say they were late to the race and now they’re in second place.
The DC Universe movies haven’t been well appreciated and critically-acclaimed unlike their Marvel counterpart. Starting in 2013, Man of Steel started their DC shared universe, but it didn’t do as well like any other Marvel at the time. Then in 2016, Batman v. Superman: Dawn of Justice continued the shared universe and it didn’t achieve that much success. Also in that same year, one of Marvel’s biggest money-makers released, Captain America: Civil War, which made 1.153 billion dollars worldwide. Batman v. Superman, at the box office, only made 873 million dollars worldwide. Rotten Tomatoes and other critics have harshly criticized and judged the DCEU films while typically praising the Marvel movies.
The mainstream media has a habit of comparing the success of a DCEU film to another past successful DC film. The success of Marvel movies have been compared to that of DCEU movies as well. But they never compare the success of a DCEU film to a Marvel film on a level of competence. Recently, Aquaman (2018) has made a billion dollars worldwide; an example of success that easily competes with Marvel.
On another note, it appears Marvel movies are displaying a pattern with their presence in the cinemas. Their abundance of productions have pushed their way into modern culture as a prominent component. The household names that Marvel has made are what many anticipate the most with each coming year, especially at the climax of the MCU’s story arc. Marvel clearly has a monopoly of popularity by cranking out as much content as possible and pushing the Marvel experience in nearly every aspect of today’s culture. Even when the more mediocre productions of Marvel ilk fill in space, like the adaptive mesh in a nano-composite material, it keeps together even the quality content of the MCU by interconnecting it in a lucrative, but simplistically engaging plot throughout the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
The least exciting productions of Marvel are essential to the overall plot, hence making them compelling to watch.
That would be the intriguing relation between Marvel and modern media. But with the upcoming film, Avenger’s: Endgame, could the Marvel Universe’s potential finale change the demographic of the cinema’s sweetheart?