The information got here, as such information so typically does, at that annual summit of studio hype and mental property promotion, San Diego Comic-Con. Robert Downey Jr. — newly minted Oscar-winner, a star emancipated from green-screen responsibility — will be returning to the franchise that revived his career, the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Not, thoughts you, to the function of Tony Stark, the mogul-turned-superhero he performed for a few decade, beginning with the primary MCU installment, Iron Man. No, Downey might be getting into the armor of a special character: arguably probably the most iconic Marvel supervillain of all of them, Doctor Doom.
The followers there in Hall H naturally went wild. How may they not? It was like a reside model of one of many cameo appearances we’ve come to anticipate in an precise Marvel film: From the studio that introduced you John Krasinski as Mr. Fantastic and Chris Evans as a special superhero he performed for a special studio comes… Robert Downey Jr. as Tony Stark as Victor Von Doom. Or one thing like that.
At the danger of sounding like a complete get together pooper, isn’t there truly one thing sort of… determined about all this? Luring Downey again with a boatload of cash ($100 million, if estimates are to be believed), coaxing fellow Marvel alums the Russo brothers to direct one other two Avengers motion pictures — these are the strikes of a studio in retreat. Beneath the roar of applause, you can hear the panic of executives satisfied that the one approach to climb to the summit of Hollywood once more is to maneuver backward, to transparently pressure for the victories of the previous.
Not so way back, it felt like Marvel may solely look ahead — to the subsequent crossover, to the subsequent summer time, to the enjoyable you’ll have later for those who hold tuning in. The most damning case you can make in opposition to motion pictures like Iron Man 2 was that they operated like glorified previews for different motion pictures: a cinema of coming sights, all the time teasing what’s on the distant horizon. Of course, that paid off massive time with Avengers: Infinity War and Avengers: Endgame, the one-two punch fruits of each MCU blockbuster that got here earlier than, rewarding the patronage of the trustworthy with an all-purpose climax that smashed collectively each toy Marvel had dropped into the sandbox over the prior decade.
But how do you retain audiences invested in a narrative that reached such a pure endpoint it was known as Endgame? The Marvel motion pictures launched within the wake of that box-office phenomenon have lacked the sense of ahead momentum that outlined the primary three “phases” of the MCU. If the mosaic plotting of the franchise has all the time been a triumph of branding greater than anything, current entries have didn’t create the impression of a bigger story price monitoring. It doesn’t assist that the collection has misplaced its most interesting anchors of character: Iron Man and Captain America. And the characters launched since, like Shang-Chi and the Eternals, haven’t precisely stuffed these huge boots.
Since 2019, it’s been amount over high quality for Marvel. Little greater than a month ever passes and not using a film or a Disney+ collection hitting the market. That oversaturation could have glad stockholders (and saved the roles of executives who solely should keep away from dangers), nevertheless it hasn’t essentially grown and even completely held onto the viewers. Rushed via manufacturing — and typically into theaters with unfinished results — the flicks themselves have gotten worse. And that’s been mirrored within the delicate turnout for cruddy blockbusters like Eternals, Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania, and The Marvels. As Deadpool tells Wolverine in final month’s please-let-this-work team-up, “You’re joining at a little bit of a low point.”
Marvel is, after all, nonetheless churning out loads of hits — Deadpool & Wolverine being the newest instance. But the studio’s grasp on the creativeness (and wallets) of the moviegoing public has undeniably slackened. So it’s no large shock to see Kevin Feige and firm trying to yesterday. In that respect, the Multiverse has proved a helpful gimmick. If you’re hemorrhaging well-liked characters and failing to exchange them with well-liked new ones, why not go digging round in film historical past for some ringers? It’s principally paid off up to now. Spider-Man: No Way Home, with its trio of web-swingers, almost equaled the success of Endgame. And the current Doctor Strange and Deadpool sequels have each drawn audiences to theaters in massive numbers with the promise of seeing acquainted faces from different universes.
As for bringing again Downey, that can nearly actually get butts in seats, too. There’s no cause to conclude that it will possibly’t work creatively as properly. Any comedian reader will inform you that turning the great man into the unhealthy man is a reliably entertaining twist on components. And given how a lot Tony Stark looms over this whole franchise, there’s so much the filmmakers can do to toy with the associations of the viewers and the characters alike — assuming, after all, that Downey’s Doctor Doom is a model of Stark and never an entire totally different character. That can be odd.
Still, Downey’s return betrays uncertainty about methods to proceed. It says that everybody in cost is sweating the way forward for the MCU and banking closely on its previous. The general impression is that Marvel is in its ouroboros period, devouring its personal tail to maintain from ravenous. That doesn’t seem to be the soundest technique for long-term success. Avengers: Secret Wars, coming in 2027, will doubtless play like one large contract negotiation, arranging for appearances by each recognizable actor who’s ever slipped on the costume of a Marvel superhero. But then what? Once the cameo provide is exhausted, how do you retain individuals hooked?
For this large, ongoing, ungainly franchise to outlive, it’s going to should do greater than merely retrace its personal steps and organize periodic hits of spot-the-reference dopamine. Feige must make individuals bear in mind why they fell in love with Marvel within the first place — with new characters price following, with new tales price telling, with new motion pictures price lining up across the block for. Otherwise, eventually, it actually might be doomsday for the Avengers.
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For extra of A.A. Dowd’s writing, go to his Authory page.