Legacy: One Final Look At The MCU

I always thought endings were easy. In high school, I would write the end of an essay before going back and writing everything else. I’m working on a comic book right now, and I know the last line and the last frame. What I’m having trouble with is how to get there. It’s concerning to me, then, that I have spent so much time trying to figure out a suitable ending for my 10 Days of Marvel Challenge. So many ideas rushed through my head about what I had left to say, or if anybody would even want to hear anything else from me. Do I talk about Age of Ultron? Do I summarize what I just spent the last 10 days writing about? Do I just completely ignore an ending and move on to something else?

I mean, it worked for The Sopranos.

The Guru Maximus called. We had an hour long discussion about Age of Ultron, Spartacus, Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., Arrow, Daredevil, AKA Jessica Jones, and Infinity War. He argued his points, I argued mine, and we made our ancestors proud. Or weep. One of them. My throat was sore, my mind was tired, and yet I want nothing more than to call him back and talk for six more hours about this trivial nonsense. Because it’s fun. So that’s what I’m going to do with my final post to cap off the 10 Day Marvel Challenge. Have Fun.

Even though I REALLY want to talk about this movie.

Apologies

The List

I love when people disagree with me. I love when people have opinions different from my own. It makes the world so much more fun! I can barely stand me, let alone an army of people with the exact same mindset as me. The idea behind this blog was never to convince you that Iron Man 3 was better than Guardians of the Galaxy, because there is no objective, quantifiable way to do that. This blog, and more importantly, the list, is rooted in how I personally feel about these movies. Honestly, the order of my list sometimes depends on what I have for breakfast. 

"Have I made enough eggs yet? Can I come home?!"

And look, a list is such an arbitrary way to organize these movies. Sometimes, I like Captain America: First Avenger better than Iron Man 3. Sometimes, The Avengers holds my top spot. Sometimes, The Incredible Hulk is always at the bottom.

Sorry, big guy. Make a better movie next time.

The list looked fairly different before I started writing it, and it will continue to change as I continue to grow as a person. So, I am sorry, nerd community, if you decide to be a big bitch-baby because my list is not in unison with yours. You are entitled to your wrong opinions.

Green Lantern

While generally bashing DC throughout, there has been one movie I have trashed more than all others (if you can even regard it as a movie). Yes, I am talking about Man of Steel The Dark Knight Rises Green Lantern. In case it wasn’t obvious, I hold zero love in my cold, dark heart for that movie. However, no matter how upset that film makes me, I can’t help but feel sympathetic towards my brothers in the DC camp. With Green Lantern, DC and Warner Bros. had the opportunity to create their own cinematic universe back in 2011. Green Lantern was to be their Iron Man. Had Green Lantern been the critical and box office success that the studio had dreamt, I could be sitting here talking about how amazing the Justice League movie is in comparison to Avengers: Age of Ultron. Instead, Green Lantern is what made the studio decide to take a darker tone with its movies, for better or worse. 

MAN OF STEEL IS YOUR FAULT!!!!!

I was recently reminded by Cousin Chaos (my actual cousin; his idea, not mine) that, as much as I relish knocking that film, it is still technically a movie. And you know what? That’s something! I don’t think anybody ever really sets out to make a bad movie (except Michael Bay). Sometimes, it’s just the nature of the beast. Who am I to sit here and judge? So, I am sorry, Green Lantern, that you are such a shitty movie that DC had to do a complete 180 for their future franchises. It (probably) wasn’t your fault.

One more, for good measure.
This is probably the most this movie has ever been searched.

Scarlett Johansson

I think that the only other thing I bashed more than Green Lantern is Scarlett Johansson as Black Widow. The Widow has become a really great character in the MCU, and all I hoped for was an actress to bring her to life in the same way Evans, Hemsworth, Ruffalo, and Downey have with their characters. Instead, I got Scar Jo. I, however, am not an actor. I have absolutely no idea how difficult it is to be sexy, while playing a badass, while spouting off one-liners with a cast that completely embodies the characters in a way that I could never hope to. I have a hard enough time figuring out how to get dressed in the morning. Having seen her in interviews, I don’t think that Scarlett Johansson takes this character for granted or is purposely torpedoing her performances. I think she’s trying the best she can. So, I’m sorry, Scarlett Johansson, that Marvel pulled a Snyder “style-over-substance” play clearly casted someone out of her depth.

Somehow, I think she'll get over it.

That’s really all I’ve got. Part of me thought I should apologize to the readers for putting up with this for ten days, but come on. I know you loved it.

Honorable Mentions

The Directors

Jon Favreau, Louis Leterrier, Kenneth Branagh, Joe Johnston, Shane Black, Alan Taylor, Anthony and Joe Russo, Sean Gunn, and the boss himself, Joss Whedon. There has been a lot of talk, especially with the recent departure of Edgar Wright, that Marvel just needs a meat suit with a pulse in order to project the studio’s vision on screen. Interviews with Taylor and Whedon, however, suggest that Marvel has an end game, but they as directors can take whatever path they want to get there. The truth, as usual, is probably somewhere in the middle. What I know is this: each of the ten films I watched (eleven if you count Ultron) has a unique feel and voice to it. Thor doesn’t feel like The Avengers, which both feel different from Iron Man. It is my belief that without these men at the helm, the MCU would not have been nearly as successful as it currently is. Now let’s work on getting a woman added to this line up.

You done the impossible, you crazy bastard.

Kevin Feige

It’s not necessarily a name that people would pair with Marvel, but Feige has been the man to oversee the universe since its inception. Feige plays the long game, figuring out what is going to go where, how it’s going to connect, which characters should be introduced next, what to do with Spider-Man and Daredevil now that they are back home. It all goes through this man. He’s basically Thanos. Only slightly less purple. He has an infinite number of plates to spin, and an argument can (and has) been made that he hasn’t dropped one yet. I mean, I’ve never walked out of a Marvel movie disappointed. With his contract expiring soon, it will be interesting to see how much money Marvel is willing to shell out to keep him on board. Whatever the price, Feige has proved that he is worth it.

Pretty sure he's got the mind gem under that hat.

The Future

We’re eleven movies in, with no signs of slowing down. We have another Marvel release this year, and another ten movies scheduled to be released by 2019. In addition, DC has finally decided to grow a pair (of testicles or ovaries; equality!) and get their cinematic universe off the ground. DC also has ten releases scheduled to be released by 2020. And we have 20^th Century Fox with six releases between now and 2017. And we have the Marvel Television Universe. And we have the DC Television Universe. I don’t know about you guys, but I already feel exhausted trying to keep up with everything that I want to see. I guess an argument can be made that I don’t have to watch everything (and honestly, if the civil case of Batman v. Superman: Courtroom Kerfuffle is as underwhelming as I think it will be, I can basically write-off DC), but at that point, I give up my right to be an indignant asshole. I will become the thing I hate the most: every other internet troll. I at least want to be able to speak with some authority on these subjects.

"Near, far, wherever you are!" -Supes
"Goddamn it, Clark!" -Bats

All of this to say that I hope that after Infinity War Part 2, Marvel ends the cinematic universe. If nothing else, at least give us a chance to catch our breath. Everybody’s contracts will be up with that movie, you will have finally told the story that you have been building since 2010 (Cosmic Cube reference in Iron Man 2), and I can’t imagine a movie getting much bigger than a two-part war movie. Give us a break. Give us a chance to miss you. Take some time off, come back in a couple of years and blow our minds yet again. I love these movies, these characters, and this universe, but damn, know when to walk away from the table, Marvel.

Basically, Infinity Wars is the Captain Planet movie we are all waiting for.

“It’s not about me. It’s not about you. It’s not even about us. It’s about legacy.”

As I sit here and try desperately to find the right words to sum up my little project, my eyes wander around the room in which I have spent most of this last week.

This is my room. This is where I get to sit and write and create and be that naive 12-year-old kid watching Spider-Man for the first time. It was in this room that I sat and talked to Guru Maximus on the phone for an hour about nothing that actually mattered. I’m not sure if it was the glow in the dark Mjolnir on the wall, the Age of Ultron poster staring me down, or the conversation about how many cast members of Arrow we have seen nude (more than you’d think), but something hit me. Something made me realize that doing this, writing and arguing about trivial nonsense, is exactly what I want to do for the rest of my life. It doesn’t matter if I never get paid for it or never get internet famous. This is something I am going to continue to do until I physically cannot do it anymore. And that’s the Marvel legacy. It isn’t about making the most money or the better movies or even breaking new ground. Marvel, in the same way that Jaws, Indiana Jones and Star Wars did, is inspiring a generation to laugh in the face of impossibility and become what we were truly meant to be: heroes of our own stories.

END

Well that was fun. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I’m going to go read a book. Or go outside. Maybe both! Thank you to everyone who has read even half of one of these posts, a special thank you to everybody who stuck it out through my entire writing exercise, and a super-mega-hyper-ultra-prefix thank you to my wife-to-be for always supporting me through everything I do. While my retrospective of the MCU has come to a close, I am nowhere close to being done. I still have a few ideas up my sleeve that will (hopefully) make your blood boil in a nerd-like rage. Check back in the coming weeks, folks.

I will return.

Be kind to each other.

-James

Because you can't have Marvel without a Stan Lee cameo. Good night, everybody!