Anghus Houvouras looks forward to ‘Phase Two’ of the Marvel Cinematic Universe…
After a massively successful year, Marvel Studios rolled out details on their next slate of projects on Saturday, including much anticipated sequels to Iron Man, Thor and Captain America, as well as a couple of lesser known new film properties: Ant-Man and Guardians of the Galaxy. And within hours of the panel ending the online reaction was decidedly cynical. No one is betting against the success of their Avengers roster sequels, but there’s a lot of questions being raised about the viability of Guardians of the Galaxy. This kind of speculation seems kind of insane considering the kind of year Marvel has had at the box office.
At this point, anyone betting against Marvel isn’t paying attention to the cold hard light of day shining right into their eye sockets.
They already won the bet. They laid out a strategy six years ago – one that was pretty much met with skepticism, cynicism, and outright contempt. Because it was new and different and there were no comparisons. Entertainment writers are usually searching for parallels or historical precedence. The Marvel strategy had none. The box office tally for some of their first releases didn’t exactly set the world on fire: Iron Man and Iron Man 2 were bonafide hits. Thor performed better than many thought. Captain America: The First Avenger wasn’t exactly a massive worldwide success but a respectable effort. The Incredible Hulk was a financial disappointment. Three wins, one loss and a tie.
Not many saw The Avengers coming, but some did. And their expectations for it to be huge weren’t based on the box office of Iron Man, Thor and Captain America but a strong belief that fans had been waiting for a super hero team up movie since they first picked up a comic book or saw their favorite superheroes on TV. In truth, the only people who saw The Avengers coming were the die hard fans. Did anyone really see a worldwide gross 2.5 times better than Iron Man? Three times better than Thor, or four times better than Captain America?
So now Marvel lays out Phase Two and once again the skeptics begin to criticize the one property they don’t understand: Guardians of the Galaxy. Perhaps because the comic books have always been well respected but never found a strong following. The featured characters aren’t household names – Starlord, Rocket Raccoon, Drax… these aren’t the characters that have the pop culture resonance of Iron Man, Thor, Captain America and The Hulk.
To be fair, people spent a lot of time referring to Iron Man, Thor, and Captain America as ‘second tier’ characters when their films were in development. Thor didn’t have the recognition factor of Superman. Captain America wasn’t the well defined phenomenon that is Spider-Man. At the time those seemed like fair arguments. But now that Avengers is at 1.5 billion dollars worldwide, shouldn’t the Marvel strategy seem more valid? With characters like Ant Man and the roster of the Guardians of the Galaxy, Marvel is again turning to second tier characters and building towards a second event film that you might as well call “Avengers in Space“.
Marvel’s strategy isn’t about a single film. It’s about putting pieces together for what I’m now calling The Super Sized-Blockbuster. Every year we get two regular sized Marvel blockbusters. Every three or four years they combine the properties to create the pop culture perfect storm. Does anyone think The Avengers 2 isn’t going to improve on the original’s box office? Is anyone willing to make that bet?
You could make the argument that now that we’ve had The Avengers and successfully teamed up Earth’s Mightiest Heroes that the thrill is gone. Pragmatic realists could also tell you that at some point this bubble will burst. We’re not there yet. And yes, over saturation is certainly a risk. Especially considering Warner Bros.’ efforts to mine their own stable of comic characters with mixed results, and the Marvel characters that were signed over to other studios and lack the kind of quality control the in-house properties have received. These are all legitimate concerns.
But now, basking in the afterglow of Avengers, isn’t exactly the time to be betting against Marvel. Guardians of the Galaxy has all kinds of potential. A big, action packed space opera that is extremely accessible to kids, even if they don’t know who any of these characters are. At best, it will achieve Iron Man level success. At the worst, it will end up with Captain America sized numbers. And if it ends up in the Marvel ‘sweet spot’ ($400 – 600 million) it will be enough to warrant its existence. Especially considering that it’s not just a film but a building block towards Avengers 2, a franchise which has already generated enough revenue theatrically to cover the budgets for their next five movies.
I’m kind of glad they’re introducing new elements to the strategy. If the Marvel films are going to be nothing more than sequels. There has to be some new blood introduced or the bubble will burst sooner rather than later. Bring on the Guardians of the Galaxy. Bring on an Edgar Wright-helmed Ant-Man. Bring on Doctor Strange, Iron Fist and Big Hero 6. The only way to preserve the Marvel Cinematic Universe is to expand.
Anghus Houvouras
Originally published July 16, 2012. Updated April 10, 2018.
