By Owen Stevens
The Marvel Cinematic Universe has created a new system in Hollywood where the only new films are reboots or already part of extensive series. After the MCU’s success with a series of unrelated, yet intertwining films, several other franchises have now begun to follow in their footsteps. The result is an endless succession of mediocre films that are too similar and lack artistic freedoms.
Blockbusters from earlier decades were often composed of original ideas that were fueled more directly from the director’s own imaginations. In fact, the idea of The Terminator came to director James Cameron in a nightmare. Of course studios still had a heavy influence on movies, but this power was less often taken advantage of, or would only be employed to alter certain aspects of a film pitch. Now, the refusal from the large studios to produce almost anything that hasn’t experienced significant success in the past, has transformed the way Hollywood functions. Reboots, new installments to old series, or stories within large extended universes, are the only films that get past risk-averse studio executives. Even movies within the MCU have very little influence from the director, as the plot and set pieces for the movie are already planned out before they are hired.
Marvel movies might have unique plots and characters, but they are all within the same genre. However, calling them all superhero movies is much too general of a classification. Their similarities go much further than that. In fact, they can all be much more accurately narrowed down to being called action-science fiction films. In fact, the superhero genre could be extended to much broader settings and plots then the MCU’s formula allows. For example, we have yet to see a Marvel film set in a time period earlier than the 1900’s. Beyond the time period and setting, we still haven’t received a superhero western, mystery, or thriller either. In the end, the Marvel movies are repetitive and dull. Hollywood itself has also decided upon a similar course for the time being.
