Ben Child 

Marvel studio at Comic-Con to map future of comic-book superhero films

After Guardians of the Galaxy, Ant-Man and more of Captain America and the Avengers, a new Hulk movie is rumoured as well as big-screen debuts for Black Panther and Captain Marvel, writes Ben Child
  
  

Guardians of the Galaxy
Supremely entertaining superhero space opera … Guardians of the Galaxy. Photograph: Moviestore/Rex Photograph: Moviestore/Rex

We're expecting some major announcements when Marvel take to Hall H at Comic-Con, especially as the Disney-owned studio recently revealed its basic timeline for a dozen new films between now and 2019.

Beyond Guardians of the Galaxy in a week's time, The Avengers: Age of Ultron and Ant-Man in 2015 and Captain America 3 the year after, only Marvel bigwigs really know what those movies will be. However, we can guess that Doctor Strange will be in there somewhere, and there will doubtless be third outings for Thor and the Avengers. There have been rumours of a new Hulk solo movie, as well as big-screen debuts for Black Panther and Captain Marvel.

If you look at the studio's entire roster of films since Iron Man six years ago, there have only really been a handful of duds. Last year's Thor: The Dark World lacked the emotional depth of the Kenneth Branagh-directed first instalment, while 2008's The Incredible Hulk failed to do Bruce Banner's moody alter ego justice on the big screen. Iron Man 2 and Captain America were middling efforts, but the studio has bounced back strongly with last year's remarkable Iron Man 3, 2012's The Avengers, Captain America: The Winter Soldier and the upcoming Guardians of the Galaxy.

Where should Marvel be travelling next to give it the best chance of maintaining that level? Here are a few suggestions to keep the fires burning.

Keep Captain America front and centre

This year's The Winter Soldier worked so well because it placed Steve Rogers at the heart of the 21st-century Marvel universe, in contrast with his far lonelier wartime-era debut. Here was a Captain America battling to save SHIELD from nefarious forces with plenty of help from Scarlett Johansson's excellent Black Widow and Anthony Mackie's flawless Falcon. Despite Chris Evans's impressively understated, gently human turn as the superhero, he remains one of the least charismatic figures in the Marvel universe. But, as part of a relatively low-powered team placed at the centre of a scenario cut through with intrigue, Captain America thrived. More of the same would be extremely welcome.

Find something more exciting for Thor to do

Branagh's Thor flourished for two reasons: Chris Hemsworth's ability to deliver genuine pathos as an errant, arrogant princeling who somehow finds his inner hero after being brought to his knees, and Tom Hiddleston's electrifyingly evil yet unusually multi-faceted turn as Loki. Sequel Thor: The Dark World introduced a new threat last year – Christopher Eccleston's malevolent "dark elf" Malekith. Yet newly heroic Thor turned out to be not nearly so interesting as cast-from-the-heavens, coming-to-age Thor, and the film-makers were forced to shoot extra Hiddleston scenes to inject a semblance of verve into proceedings. The last-ditch fiddling just about saved the movie, but Eccleston spent most of the media tour complaining politely about all the Malekith scenes that had been removed to allow more Loki time.

The solution seems simple, either give Hiddleston his own film in which Hemsworth turns up as the antagonist, or find something more interesting for Thor to do – an adventure that helps his character develop rather than stagnate. Alternately, Marvel might want to follow the example of its comic book counterpart and jump the shark into some completely new territory. Making Thor a woman would certainly kill off the boredom factor in one fell stroke, especially as Hemsworth is under contract for several more movies and would presumably have to play the part in drag.

Solve the solo Hulk movie problem

Guardians of the Galaxy director James Gunn this week shot down speculation that Mark Ruffalo's Hulk might join his own motley crew of cosmic weirdos for a future Marvel space-opera outing, much to the chagrin of fanboys and girls everywhere. The Planet Hulk and subsequent World War Hulk storylines have also been unceremoniously torpedoed as the basis for future Hulk outings by studio supremo Kevin Feige. Yet there is clearly huge demand to see the not-so-jolly green giant placed front and centre in his own film once again. Sure, the ensemble-based The Avengers was the Hulk's best big screen outing so far, but Ruffalo's quiet charisma as Banner also played its part in that. He more than deserves his own stage.

Keep calm and slow down a little

Feige reckons Marvel will soon be producing two comic-book sequels and a new spin-off each year, a huge achievement and an incredibly exciting prospect. But there remains a nagging suspicion – even for a fan like myself – that some of these movies are being rushed into production before they are ready. Guardians of the Galaxy, which I have seen, is a supremely entertaining superhero space opera that cleverly uses comic sleight of hand to distract from all the cosmic craziness going on, much as The Avengers did before it. Gunn's film should get excellent reviews, but the movie might have benefited from an extra three months or so in production: relationships between major characters, especially early on, are hamfistedly established, and the movie's villains are straight out of a comic book in the old school, not-so-complimentary sense.

Marvel and Feige have transformed the landscape of superhero movies to the extent that rival studios are now furiously developing their own filmic universes in which multiple characters are able to share adventures, just as they do in the comics. The Disney-owned studio did it first, and my guess is their films will remain the gold standard for some time to come. We await the announcement of the next phase with bated breath.

 

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