Folks have been predicting the end since the first Iron Man. My money’s on Kevin Feige, who has made very few missteps, and seen unprecedented success.
Kevin Feige will go down in history for what he's accomplished. It's unprecedented...maybe not since Walt Disney himself.
I'm not trying to be a naysayer - I just see cause for concern. Every popular genre hits it's peak. I really do enjoy these movies immensely but I do want to see them continue to push the envelope as to what a super hero movie can be, a la Winter Soldier. Fingers are crossed definitely.
Sadly, I fear the MCU might want to try for some 'non-funny' forms of entertainment... just to prove that they can. That's when they lose me.....
How long did cowboy movies last? Blade and similar directions of the franchise would be a good opportunity for that; really lean into the occult side of Marvel.
Full stop -- go and watch the Marvel TV shows, which are very much part of their Phase IV line-up. Marvel Phase Four What they did with WandaVision and Falcon & The Winter Soldier was amazing for TV, and in fact they actually could've been pretty decent theatrical films (albeit a lot shorter). The budget on these shows was astronomical: reportedly close to $20 million dollars per episode, which set a new record for the genre. They clearly have very ambitious goals for the Marvel empire in terms of crossovers between what used to be TV-only and cinema-only stories and characters. I continue to be impressed with the dialogue and sharply-defined personalities in these stories, and what would otherwise be kind of a hum-drum show gets into some pretty surprising, action-packed, and unexpected directions. I still say that WandaVision would've been better if Dr. Strange had popped up at the end to fix and/or explain everything, but Kevin Feige says they opted not to do that since Wanda will be a character in the upcoming Dr. Strange movie, and they felt it was a better idea to let her solve her situation on her own.
Dr Strange appearing at the end of Wandavision would have been a bit deus ex machina. You don’t just bring in a character you haven’t seen earlier in the film/series at the end to resolve problems. That’s just writing 101. I can’t even recall if they shared any screen time in the two films they appeared in together, so there isn’t even a real reason for him to show up to begin with. Even if the incident is magic based, a sorcerer supreme’s primary concern is the fabric of the universe and reality itself, not a localized event that would eventually resolve on its own.
It was really close to happening, and there is a bigger story remnant from that aspect of the plot: How Benedict Cumberbatch's Dr. Strange Almost Appeared in 'WandaVision' New Rockstars' Erik Voss has theorized that these commercials were originally messages from Strange that also got warped by the Hex into these period-appropriate commercial messages.
Yeah, I'm kinda thinking, Disney/Fox will be a BIG let-down in the X-Men area. And it's SO said, because X-Men/Wolverine were some of my favorite comics, back in the day! Fox started off in a good way, with both of those franchises, in my opinion, but seemed to me that movie execs that KNEW NOTHING (or very little) about comics/stories from the books, stuck what they thought we, as comics fans wanted to see in them, & were WAY off-base with what TRUE comic fans wanted! Because there were/are SO MANY good/great storylines from the pages of the comics, they should've just picked a few of those & done right by them, instead of putting out what they "thought everybody wanted"! And if they were smart(er), to stick to a mindset of "less is more"! Instead of tryin' to cram SO MUCH in each 'n' every movie! But I could be wrong & REALLY hope I am, but the progression of past comics-based movies, doesn't instill me with lots of confidence with what they will do, with them. Because, if ya ask me, X-Men the Animated Series, was about as good as it got to being "faithful" to the source material. It wasn't perfect, but was FAR superior, in my mind, to most of the live action movies. I just can't keep from comparing the movies to the books tho, because back in the day I was a MASSIVE comic book collector/"fan boy"!!! (and I constantly beat myself up, for getting rid of my comics collection!)
I have three words for the next phase of Marvel "best of luck" , and I say that with sincerity as a fan. Only time will tell. I am not bashing or trying to paint a negative light, just saying those films and stories are some big shoes to fill, and I'd say it the same if Marvel were still owned by their prior Corp. In short, what came before will be a tough act to follow regardless, as well as getting and keeping viewers involved with positive intensity for a dozen years. That dozen year run was more than impressive, that run didn't leave much to any wiggle room (for the feat it became) for bad stories/movies. If it did happened, a couple of less than ultra stellar movies, liked but not hated, depending on perspective of the fan base, and that fan base had grown throughout that run, the characters/actors were and became such a strong attraction that if even one or two movies were thought of as not ultra stellar, the fans did not abandon. Again, I don't think that was, or will be an easy feat, let alone to repeat. That level of success as well as not losing any fans along the way was... well..incredible in many ways. Cheers
Oh, I don’t know. There’s 60 years of classic Marvel stories they can pull from, and I’m really only up on the ones from the 70s-80s. If they only stuck to adapting those they have enough greatness to last for decades.
Yeah, I'm with Isaac on this one...while I'll say they are going to run into a CASTING issue down the line (how do you replace a Chris Evans?) there is a near endless pile of stories waiting in the wings.
While there are always more stories, the MCU had a fairly unbroken string of hits for over a decade. I think it's a fair guess that the next decade of Marvel films might not enjoy quite the same level of success, but I certainly hope so! Plus, you have the dilemma of: 1) Do you build a superhero team from a set of origin stories leading to a big team up film (this time: a possible Young Avengers)? 2) Do you build up a Big Bad enemy for these heroes to end up facing in some giant galaxy spanning struggle between good and evil (this time: Kang the Conqueror, a time-traveling universe-destroyer with ties to the Fantastic Four, an association with the events of Endgame by his very nature, who is apparently also tied to the previously mentioned Young Avengers, and set to make his MCU debut in the next Ant-Man film)? The first phases did that already. As Leonard Nimoy once said about revitalizing Star Trek, it's lightning in a bottle. Can Kevin Feige et al capture it again?
Plus, a separate thought. This next run? I think, without any proof, it's going to get weird. We've got witches now, thanks to Wandavision. Vampires are coming, because we know Morbius and Blade are coming. We've got a hint of the multiverse, thanks to the Doctor Strange film title as well as rumors about the next Spider-Man film. There's been the suggestion that Shang-Chi will introduce Marvel's first Kaiju, of sorts. And of course, if Kang the Conqueror is the true new threat, we're going to get time travel. A lot more time travel. The Eternals are very old and tied to the enormous and ancient Celestials, both Jack Kirby creations. There's a lot in there I'm not sure if the casuals are ready for. Again, I hope so! Only time will tell.
I think they did a damned good job of replacing Captain America with The Falcon, and there is already a lot of excitement for Captain America 4. As far as losing Chris Evans goes it’s not nearly the concern any more that it was 2 months ago. The new Cap, White Vision, and a newly empowered Scarlet Witch… a future Avengers installment is already looking to be a really cool change up.
I agree on The Falcon...maybe I should have been clearer...somewhere down the line they will have to recast Steve Rogers. Chris Evans is to Captain America what Hugh Jackman is to Wolverine...you will be hard pressed to make people forget and accept a new version.
Evans was the perfect Steve Rogers, but I’ve always thought Jackman was a crap Wolverine. They can do better.
Yeah, but the thing is a decade or so down the road you can do whatever you want for a new audience. Wait until you see what Kevin F. does withthe X-men and FF! I predict some spectacular stuff coming over the next 5 years, and the Marvel Studio Universe will become even more diverse and genre stretching!
