The Marvel Universe

So I saw Captain America: The Winter Soldier in a pre-release given exclusively to people in the military and their families. I swear, I will do a review of Captain America, most likely today. But there was something that I noticed from the movie that every time I have tried to do a Captain America review, I always get stuck on this one ambiance of the movie that I think is just simply brilliant and Marvel has just nailed right out of the park.

Everybody knows the scene that broke all conventions of superheroes when Tony Stark said at the end of Iron Man the words, "I am Iron Man".

There had never been a super hero movie where the secret identity of a super hero had ever been revealed so publicly. The entire Marvel world knows that Tony Stark is Iron Man.

But that's old news right? That happened in the first Iron movie and since there's been several other movies including God's gift to humanity, THE AVENGERS!

The Avengers of course is a ground breaking movie because its one of the first wildly successful movies that took superheroes from different movies and brought them into a collaboration just as they did in the comics. There had always been movies of superhero origins and these superheroes fighting villains in their own line of comic books. Batman fighting the Joker, Superman and Zod, Spiderman and the Green Goblin, X-Men and Magneto. And the great thing about the Avengers is that all the superheroes involved had their own villains to face prior to the Avengers. Thor versus Loki, Iron Man versus Iron Monger (Obadiah Stane, Jeff Bridge's character in Iron Man 1), and Captain America versus Red Skull. These films were all great standalone films (with the exception of Iron Man 2) and brought such depth to the characters. Depth that would help them in this ground breaking collaboration.

But again, that's old news. We know and have known for a while that these people exist in the same universe, have interacted with each other and in some way have had their actions affect the others.

Enter Captain America: The Winter Soldier. I'll try not to go too in depth with the story or give away any spoilers because I know more than half the world has not seen it yet but there is an important element of the movie that is the main reason for me writing a post about the Marvel universe instead of a review of the actual movie.

There's a part in the movie where Steve Rogers goes to the Smithsonian in Washington DC and goes around the exhibit that has been created all about him. The Smithsonian, a real and globally acclaimed museum, has an exhibit on Captain America. Now you may think, what's so great about that? Think about it. The universe that Marvel has created is now a universe where Captain America is a huge part of history. World War II: There's the attack on Pearl Harbor, D-Day and Captain Freaking America.

I won't say its as big of a change in history as they did in Watchmen, but its still a huge change in history nonetheless. The Marvel universe is a world where people like Captain America exist. Genetically modified soldiers. And its not like its a secret military experiment. There's an entire exhibit on it in the Smithsonian! Not only that, but this is a universe where a guy can get frozen in Ice for half a century and come back and be a superhero that everybody knows! Again, this is a world where secret identities don't really exist (maybe with the exception of Bruce Banner) Tony Stark already revealed that he is Iron Man. Everybody knows that Steve Rogers is Captain America. Furthermore, they're known beyond their individual cities. For example, Bruce Wayne is a big name in Gotham. But Tony Stark is known world wide. He threatened a terrorist. The closest thing the Dark Knight trilogy did to make Batman a global phenomena was having the President of the United States acknowledge that the world will not forget Gotham when Bane takes it over.

What's more, is that the Avengers are a cultural symbol. People walk around with Captain America T-shirts, same as you and I can buy but in this world, Captain America exists. The Avengers are apart of the American way of life and its crazy when you think how hard that is to make in a movie. It takes multiple movies, and really good writing. Marvel has created a world and a culture, not just a city.

Also if that isn't cool enough. Think about this. SHIELD is a quintessential element of the international community. Remember those faces on the screens in the Avengers who Nick Fury was talking to, they're international leaders of the different branches of SHIELD throughout the world. But they're not a secret organization at least not secret enough that the US government doesn't know about them. They answer to the US government, they have legislative hearings about them. And after Captain America, nothing is ever the same. That's all I'll say, but the Marvel universe is just a little bit different after the events of the Winter Soldier.

And what's more is that they're creating more than a world, they're creating a universe.

We've seen from the Thor movies that there is different dimensions and different world beyond Earth and live in collaboration with the different kinds of superheroes. Again going to Captain America: The Winter Soldier, there is no mention of aliens, other worlds, but at the same time, you realize, this movie exists in the same universe that Guardians of the Galaxy exist in.

Watch the trailer if you need some context

This is a universe where Thor is the God of Thunder of Asgard, the same universe with Frost Giants, Dark Elves, and the Teseract. Remember, this is a world where New York City was demolished by aliens. That's the reason all the phase two movies have taken place in other places, Hollywood (Iron Man 3), Europe (Thor 2), Washington DC (The Winter Soldier), because New York has been wrecked by aliens. This is that kind of world. So not only do Superheroes exist out in the open, not only are they apart of American culture, not only has this universe created a governmental organization working to control all of this stuff, but oh yeah, there's world out there that people have not discovered.

So what does that mean for the future of Marvel's movie universe? I don't think we're anywhere near the end of it but the question I have to ask is, when, if ever, does it end? I mean these people are not going to want to do Superhero movies for the rest of their lives. Robert Downey Jr. is already talking about stepping down as Iron Man, a role he's been doing since 2008. Chris Evans is talking about stepping out soon. Even Joss Whedon has to say to himself eventually, its time to stop. It happened with Christopher Nolan and its gotta happen with Marvel Superheroes. So what does the future look like for the Avengers?

Well Marvel is really in uncharted territory. All the other Superhero franchises are solo features. Batman has the Dark Knight trilogy. Spider-man has his own films, old and new. X-men have been going for a while but what makes the Marvel films different is that they have a franchise nobody has ever seen the likes of which before. They have individual films that are great on their own but at the same time they're all building towards a larger goal called the Avengers. But we've already got that cross-over nobody thought was possible. So where does Marve/Disney go from there?

Well first off, they continue to do the right thing. Make great stories for these characters on their own. They can't come together if they are not solid by themselves. Captain America: The Winter Soldier is my favorite of the phase 2 Avenger films. These movies just keep getting better and better.

They also need to expand out. I was wary when I heard that they were making Guardians of the Galaxy and pulling the Avengers more into the cosmos the way that the comic books did, but now that I think about it, that's the only place they can go.

Once again going to the Winter Soldier, it is very clear that normal bad guys with guns are no match for Captain America, who some have considered "the weakest" of the Avengers. They're running out of earthly things to throw at the Avengers to stop them because they don't seem human themselves. So the stakes needs to keep on being raised and the threats need to be more and more deadly. And that's where Thanos and space technology come in.

But what happens when they reach Avengers 3 and we're done with all the movie scheduled at this time? Do the Avengers just beat the bad guys and continue fighting on? Does Disney keep pushing out movie after movie until the series is dead? Or does everyone die? Its hard to tell because we're not there yet.

Like I said before, Marvel has had the most success with their movies and they are the farthest on this trail that has never been treaded before. Maybe they'll have someone else take up the Iron Man mantle when Robert Downey Jr. decides to call it quits. While most people would say they wouldn't be up for that, I would be intrigued to see that. Because again, its unknown territory. We've never had another person actually pick the mantle of a superhero and continue the series. They alluded to it in The Dark Knight Rises that Joseph Gordon Levitt's character took up the mantle as Batman after Bruce Wayne but it was never actualized.

In conclusion, I'm just excited. I don't think Marvel/ Disney can do wrong right now and I say as long as the movies are good, make sense, and keep me interested, keep them going as long as you can.

I am just in love with the universe that Marvel has created and its fun because its something that has never been done before. I think we all saw the Avengers and were so shocked by the awesomeness of that movie at face value that we didn't really comprehend the real implications of this movie and what it means for superhero films for the future. Marvel is setting the standards and its going to be hard for anybody to try and push them from their throne. They've got a pretty good handle on it.

So that's my rant on the Marvel Universe. I hope it made at least a little bit of sense and I hope I got everything I wanted to say. What do you think? Am I just blowing this out of proportion? What do you think the future of the Marvel movies is? What would you like to see happen? Comment and let me know below.

I'll leave you with this. I've been talking about the Winter Soldier a lot and I've been trying not to give too much away. I just thought it was an eye opener to the awesome universe Marvel has created. That review will be coming in the next hours or maybe tomorrow. Its going to be a big review so its taking some time. In the mean time, I'll leave you with the trailer. Enjoy!