In a world where Marvel dominates the movies, one piece of news caused fan-girls and boys to go crazy…
(If you didn’t read that in the trailer dude voice I’m very disappointed)
A rumour coming from Marvel studio hinting we might have an Iron Man vs Captain America film with the Civil War vein on our hands was met with a strong reaction. Some rare folks who enjoyed the Civil War storyline when in comic form, were in favour of the same storyline potentially being brought to the screen, while others felt this was an addition the Universe really didn’t need.
I, like a lot of the general public, was only introduced to the idea of the Avengers after the massive hit of Iron Man generated the cash cow cogs turning in Marvel’s head. Iron Man was an explosion of personality, a literal comic-to-film morph which – I’m told – captured Tony Stark’s snark impeccably in the form of King Robert Downey Jr.
Captain America followed, a film of which I’m happy to say I worked on in Manchester. There was a real buzz about bringing the patriotic superhero to the silver screen and I understood why when I was on set. It definitely brought a Hollywood dazzle to the normally miserable October. Everyone was getting involved and the people of Manchester (which doubled up for Boston in a few scenes) all wanted a piece.
Now we are being threatened – and I say that as my opinion – with a “dark, gritty” storyline pitting Captain America against Iron Man on opposite sides. Two of the standout superheroes of the Marvel Empire will be at loggerheads as Iron Man takes the side of “The Man” and Captain America continues to support freedom and civil liberties. Their friendship begins to unfold around them and Tony Stark’s personality is turned up to 11 as a Grade-A Dick. Maybe it’s to generate their world more in reality. Maybe it’s to address current issues in the world. Maybe it’s simply to borrow an angle from the Superman vs Batman reboot/sequel/franchise/whatever the hell that’s meant to be.
From what I can gather so far, though, it’ll be for bucks but if Tony Stark is painted as the aggressor I can’t imagine that’ll go down well. Both the Marvel and general audience do not really want to see Iron Man as the villain.
We don’t want to witness a prolonged or damaging domestic with our favourite heroes. Tony battles his own demons, sure, but he’s meant to be the funny, sarcastic, playboy millionaire everyone enjoys and not a villain. Bosses shouldn’t risk our vision of him being soured by any stretch of a storyline. Captain America is there to be the good soldier and while he’s still the people’s champion would it really be wise to pit him against a friend?
They learnt from each other in Avengers, and while I’m not sure how their friendship will evolve in Avengers 2, I know I’m not alone in hoping that there is still a connection between them which can capture our hearts as well as our imaginations, carrying us along in mirth and excitement as they apply their very different styles and work together to defeat a common enemy.
No matter how much you can argue that it’s for character development or more interesting ‘twists’, arguments between friends do not equal enjoyment nor escapism. The world we live in is getting desperate. Having studied Film theory on the periods of history where superhero stories rose in popularity, it always stems from social unrest. And everyone knows there’s a hell of a lot of that lately.
People want to believe in the fantasy of superheroes coming to the rescue the world because we can’t see a way to rescue the world ourselves. People will not exit the theatre feeling uplifted like they should do after a Marvel movie, bopping to the post-hidden-credits scene’s music with the mood of the movie still bubbling in their veins. At least, that is after every Marvel movie bar Captain America 2 and Iron Man 2. Leaving Cap’n on a moody, TV-series cliff-hanger doesn’t appeal much to my cinema-going appetite.
Mind you the bosses won’t take any notice of me, writing articles under a pen name “shootingdaggers” and generally expressing distaste on their long term goals. I don’t think I’m on my own but then again a lot of people lap the dark and moody stuff up. They want things to be real and angsty, just like a computer game.
But Marvel didn’t introduce itself as a computer game, they introduced themselves as an entertainment juggernaught miles ahead of their comic competitors in everything from storyline to execution to character. And to lose that sense of ‘epic’, to lose the entertainment that has kids hanging on Hawkeye’s every word or buying Iron Man masks like it’s their life purpose, I believe would be losing the fantasy of it all.
I hope they go with less Eastenders-on-steroids and more Marvel Comic Book Universe we have come to know and love. It’s what they’re good at.
What about other Marvel fans, though? Anyone think this is a GOOD idea? Answers on a postcard please.
shootingdaggers 