A MARVELous Story
Looking back on blockbuster film franchise, one of the first one that comes to our mind because of it's fame, honour, plots and suspense are the movies of the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU).
A creation that made the record hit at the box office at each of its release and kept the viewers wondering and eager and hungry after each of the post credits scene. Each and every trailer release reached zillions of views within hours. Marvel, as the word suggests, has created and gifted the entertainment field wide prospects, inspirations and enjoyment beyond bounces. A mixture of pure science, comedy, supernatural powers and fiction and of course the virtues of love, faith, sacrifice and determination, marvel is the perfect adventurous package for the thrill of the audience. Here on this article we take u through a mesmerizing journey of the marvellous movies of the MCU
The marvel universe was founded in 1939 by pulp magazine publisher Martin Goodman.
Some of the creators of the famous characters of the marvel comics (previously named as Timely comics) are Stan Lee, Jack Kirby, Steve Ditko.
Stan Lee Jack Kirby Steve Ditko
The Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) is a media franchise and shared universe centered on a series of superhero films, independently produced by Marvel studios, and based on characters that appear in the American comic books published by Marvel comics. The franchise includes comic books, short films, television series, and digital series. The shared universe, much like the original Marvel universe in comic books, was established by crossing over common plot elements, settings, cast, and characters.
Stan Lee went on to work for the company that would later , in later years, become Marvel Comics. Marvel began in 1939 in the publishing company, Timely Comics, by the early 1950s, Marvel became known as Atlas Comics. As Atlas Comics the company created Human Torch, Sub-mariner, and Captain America. The Marvel branding began in 1961. The same year the company launched the Fantastic Four comics, and other unknown superhero titles. The first ever Marvel superhero, Human Torch, one the the more popular superheroes, led up to the making of Fantastic Four. After the making of Fantastic Four, Stan Lee, the main creator of Marvel, went on to create the more popular superheroes we all love like Spiderman, X-men, Hulk, and Thor.
Do you know the man behind the success of the MCU ?
Kevin Feige
Kevin Feige is an American film producer who has been the president of marvel studios since 2007. He has produced some blockbuster films. The films he has produced have a combined worldwide box office gross of over a whooping $26.8 billion!!!
He is a member of the Producers Guild of America. He received many awards for his works. In 2019, he was nominated for the Academic award for best picture for producing Black Panther the first superhero film ever to receive a Best Picture nomination, as well as the first film in the MCU to win an Academy Award, marking it the first time Feige was nominated for an Academy Award
Without him the marvel cinematic universe would not be so successful. His immense knowledge of marvel characters is what made him so successful. He was a marvel fan and a marvel film producer.
He believed that to make a good marvel film first you have to be marvel fan.
Many studios have tried to copy MCU by trying to create their own cinematic universe, but in vain.
Some examples are :
1. Sony’s Spiderman Universe:
The Sony Pictures Universe of Marvel Characters (SPUMC) is a franchise made to create a universe created by Marvel characters related to Spiderman.
2. Paramount’s Power Rangers, Transformers and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Universe:
Paramount wanted a crossover between Power Rangers, G.I Joe, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and Transformers but failed when their Power Rangers movie failed to earn decently at the box office.
3. Universal’s Dark Universe and Monster verse:
Universal's Dark universal was an attempt to make a crossover between classic monsters like Frankenstein's monster, The Mummy, The Invisible man, Dracula, Werewolf and Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde.
Monster verse is Universal's attempt to make a massive crossover between Godzilla and Kong.
4. Warner Bros DC Extended Universe:
When Marvel successfully created a cinematic universe it was expected that their major rival DC would do the same. But their attempt failed when Justice League under performed at the box office
New Line Cinema’s The Conjuring universe is the only successful attempt of a cinematic Universe apart from MCU.
But for the marvel the journey was not so smooth. In 1997 Marvel went bankrupt so they had to sell their famous character film rights. They sold Spiderman rights to Sony, X Men, Fantastic four, daredevil rights to 20th Century Fox, Hulk and Namor rights to Universal and Blade and Ghost Rider rights to New Line Cinema. This gave rise to many non MCU films which were based on the characters of the marvel comics.
Let's have a look at some of them.
1. DEADPOOL
Ryan Reynolds was a big fan of Deadpool and he played the role of Deadpool in the film. The film was one of the most faithful adaptations of a comic book series in the history of superhero movies. The hilarious and raunchy film was a surprise smash hit. No matter of the age group you belong to you will find the film to be absolutely hilarious action packed. You will never find a dull moment in the film.
2. X-MEN
X-men is an American superhero film series based on the fictional superhero team of the same name. each film out grossed its predecessor. Hugh Jackman is the film's fantastic lead and the way that it manages to serve the character was very impressive. I must say x-men movies are some of the best movies I have seen. you must see them all. Here is a list of all the movies.
· X-men
· X2
· X-Men The Last Stand
· X-Men Origins: Wolverine
· X-Men First Class
· The Wolverine
· X-Men : Days of the future Past
· X-Men Apocalypse
· Logan
· Dark Phoenix
3. BLADE
When you look at the history of Marvel's dominance in the world of superhero films, the movie that almost never gets as much credit as it deserves for helping to lead to a whole new generation of superhero movies is 1998's Blade. It proved that a superhero did not have to be as famous as Superman or Batman to still appeal to a mass audience.
4. SPIDERMAN
When the very first Spider-Man movie came out in the early 2000s, the world was in a very different place than it is now. Yup, YouTube didn't even existed at that time and smartphones weren't rotting the brains. Based on the Marvel comics character, Spider-Man follows Peter Parker (Tobey Maguire), a shy, intelligent high-school student, as he is bitten by a radioactive spider and granted extraordinary abilities.
The sequel to Sam Raimi's masterpiece Spider-Man from 2002 in my opinion is the best spider man movie of all time and is definitely spider man at his best on the big screen. To anyone who hasn't seen this movie before trust me when I say that you yourself will feel more like a hero than you ever have before
5. HULK
Since the very beginning of the comics of Hulk, it was inspired by Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. Having two minds of men together on a body yet the same person, it’s interesting. This film left me satisfied, it shows how was the hulk on the comics. Including his other powers other than strength, I do recommend this for Marvel fans.
Let’s see some fun/unknown facts about these non MCU movies.
The first ever live action marvel movie was based on one of the least known characters named Howard the Duck in 1986.
Kevin Feige was the one who suggested that Wolverine's hair would stick out from the side to give the look fit perfectly like its comic version.
Jake Gyllenhaal who played Mysterio in Spiderman Far From Home was supposed to play Peter Parker in Spiderman 2 as Tobey Maguire was unwell but the production got delayed and Tobey became well when the production started.
Wesley Snipes who played Blade was supposed to Black Panther in 1992 but that film was scrapped.
Sam Raimi's Spider-Man was supposed to cast Leonardo DiCaprio as Peter Parker but Leo refused and recommended his friend Tobey Maguire and the rest is history.
In 2009, 20th Century Fox suggested a crossover film between X Men, Fantastic Four, Daredevil and Silver Surfer and even got writers to form the script but it didn’t materialize.
Good news was Marvel studios got all their characters rights back from other studios except Spiderman from Sony. The reason was Sony and Disney are in a deal where Disney had distribution and television rights of Spiderman and Sony can share their characters with Disney while creating their own Spider Verse.
In the next post we will continue with this article and discuss about all the MCU movies
And at the end we will have a small quiz for the readers... Till then bye. Thank you for reading.
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