On Dec 27, 1996, Marvel fired one-third of its employees as its cash inflow could not even equate its cash outflow. The company was $610 million in debt. Marvel was then just a comics publisher that would license its intellectual property to various movie studios. Movies like Blade, X-Men, and Spider-Man were relative successes but Marvel saw a meager percentage of profits. After the financial turmoil, when Marvel landed in the hands of two Toy Biz executives - Isaac Perlmutter and Avi Arad - it needed quick cash as it was fresh out of bankruptcy. So, they auctioned the cinematic rights of their characters to Hollywood. But there was a problem. The Hollywood executives didn't see the value and Marvel was forced into unfavorable deals. In 2003, Marvel was getting ready to sell Captain America to Warner Brothers and Thor to Sony Pictures. This was when David Maisel who calls himself a cross between Iron Man and Peter Pan stepped in. He is a multimillionaire who doesn't have an assistant, lawyer, or an agent. He met Perlmutter and Arad with an audacious plan; make the movies yourself. This would not only give Marvel 100% of the profits but it would also allow the characters to cross over stories just like they do in the comics. Moreover, it would create the potential for endless sequels. And on May 2, 2008, Iron Man hit the big screen and the rest was history.
In total, Marvel movies, (Iron Man to
Captain Marvel) have grossed over $18 billion. Now, that is more than the GDP
of Zimbabwe and almost 10 times larger than that of Bhutan. In July 2018,
Disney's shareholders, who had acquired Marvel after the release of its first two
movies, approved the acquisition of 21st Century's film and television studios. Fox previously owned the rights to X-Men, Fantastic Four, and Deadpool. Apparently, Marvel had become wealthy enough to buy the very studio to which it had to sell its characters in a desperate attempt to survive in the market.
Today, it’s hard to imagine the landscape of
Hollywood without MCU. It has set a standard and now everyone wants to mimic
the success of Marvel by adopting the shared universe trend. So, how did
Marvel, a small self-producing company in 2008, become richer than a country? I mean, really, what is so unique about Marvel?
On a side note, if you are thinking David Maisel,
Perlmutter and Arad created Marvel as we know it today, I would disagree. What Perlmutter and Arad did was financially stabilize Marvel, and what Maisel did was propose an idea of a shared
universe. So, in my opinion, what made Marvel what it is today is its writers.
Of course, there are other elements that contribute to the success of a movie,
but since this is a blog about writing and as my blog title makes my intention
behind writing this post clear, let’s talk about Marvel’s storytelling style.
Humor: Humour is in the DNA of MCU. In fact, it has the
first mover advantage in blending humor with a superhero movie; Kevin
Feige has made it clear that humor is essential to their movie brand. And why
does Marvel’s humor tactic work out? It is obvious, right? People love those
who make them laugh.
It is Marvel’s habit to throw
in a little humor when tension mounts up to its peak as it very well knows that characters with a sense of humor are better liked than characters who are always grim. And, it has proved to be a
great tool. Implementing humor in a story serves a purpose greater than just
making people laugh. It makes the characters real and multi-dimensional.
CHARACTERS: One of the elements in Marvel’s money-minting
formula is introducing and building great characters over a period of time.
Marvel exercises a great deal of patience in building their characters.
Exploring the different dimensions of the characters allows the viewers to
connect with them on an intimate level. And, humans are curious beings. They
always want to know things such as what bothers someone, what do they fear,
what can they do about it, why do they do what they do, etc. Prior to MCU’s
emergence, superhero movies were directionless. Stories lasted no longer than
three or five movies. And, by the time people connected intimately with the
characters, the series would get rebooted.
PATIENCE: Marvel had invested 4 years in developing their
characters before releasing 'The Avengers'. Moviegoers flocked to the cinemas
in thousands in hopes of their questions being answered. Questions the first five movies had sown in their mind: what happens when Thor strikes
the strongest metal on the Earth with Mjolnir, can Hulk lift Mjolnir, what
is it like to see Iron Man fight an Asgardian, and so on. In essence, they
wanted to see how each character compared to one another in terms of their
superpowers. And, the patience to develop the characters through five movies
before teaming them up translated into a movie never seen before.
STORY, NOT STAR POWER: Usually studios rely on star power to attract
funding. But, Marvel did not have the luxury to do so, apparently. No one
realized then that Marvel would go on to disprove the notion that if a
bad movie has a lot of star power people will still see it. And, who could have
guessed then that the Marvel brand itself would become its own genre-defining hook?
Marvel gained their viewers’ trust by
providing them with a great story. A trust that let them produce a movie led by
an actor best known for his supporting role in a sitcom, a wrestler, and an
actor who played an entirely CGI character in her previous successful movie. Yet,
it did not stop them from having a record-breaking audience. In fact, viewers
did not even mind the fact that they had relegated their A-List stars to providing
voice for a raccoon - who was the product of illegal genetic and cybernetics
experiment on lower life forms - and a humanoid plant. And, the benefit Marvel reaped
from delivering quality content doesn’t end there. It has enabled them to
assign their massive blockbuster movies to little known directors, and turn
B-list and C-List actors into A-List stars.
If star power were to outweigh a great
story then all the Loki fans would have saved Tom Hiddleston-led gothic
horror 'Crimson Peak' from its fate. Just because fans love an actor in a
particular role, it doesn't necessarily mean that they'll turn up to see them
in another. Quality content always gets the spotlight.
CHARACTER DEVELOPMENT, NOT CHARACTER
POPULARITY: If you think you just have to bring
popular characters together for a franchise to be successful, please consider 'Batman v Superman'. (I don’t have any bias against DC. I am just an author
who is fond of great stories. The reason I mention about DC in this post is to
substantiate my point. Trust me, were DCEU the one to do what MCU did, the
title of this blog would have been WHAT WRITERS CAN LEARN FROM DCEU) Biggest
mistake DCEU made was that they tried to do in the first half of BvS what Marvel did in years - universe building. MCU had let their characters develop
through five movies before bringing them together to fight Loki. Yes, Batman had
been on screen many many times before, but, Ben Affleck’s version of him
hadn’t. In effect, viewers were unfamiliar with him and had to rely on their
knowledge from comics or, for most, Christopher Nolan’s version. To the
viewers, if you create a real character, then whatever happens as a result of
those characters interacting is bound to be more interesting than something
that has just been constructed.
When BvS trailer was released, it was a
dream-come-true moment for me. But, DCEU’s poor execution ruined it for me. In
fact, I wasn’t thrilled when Wonder Woman did a superhero landing in BvS as I
hadn’t previously seen her perform on the big screen. I did not know who she was or
where she came from. And, seeing her shield, I couldn't help but wonder whether or not it was made out of vibranium. However, the case would have been
totally different had Warner Bros showed the patience to release BvS after 'Wonder Woman'.
IMPORTANCE OF CHARACTER DEVELOPMENT: So how important is building characters patiently?
It is so important that it enabled a once-bankrupt studio to turn B-list,
C-list and D-list characters more profitable and more well-loved than three of the
single most iconic fictional characters of the 20th century. It only took 'Captain America: Civil War' just three weeks to make more money domestically
than what 'Batman v Superman' made in its entire 12-week domestic run. The same
happened with the 'Justice League'. 'Avengers: Infinity War' made more money in its
first-weekend domestic run than what 'Justice League' made in its entire 17-week
domestic run. And yes, I agree that box office collection doesn’t necessarily
always account for a good movie, but the sheer enormity of it tells us
something: a larger audience prefers to rewatch MCU movies over DCEU
movies.
It’s not that DC doesn’t have great
characters. It’s just that the studio is not patient enough to let the characters evolve. They are trying to take every short cut to beat Marvel. And, if you think Superman and Batman are
boring characters, that’s because you, just like the majority, are only
familiar with the film version of these characters. Going through the comics will open your
eyes to the injustice done to the members of the Justice League. Trust me, Superman is much more
than just an emotionless invincible figure whose only motivation is to save
people and hang out with Lois Lane. And, Batman wouldn’t beat up a man and
arrest him in front of his daughter, unless he is based solely on the comic 'The
Dark Knight Returns'
This is how DCEU appears to be writing
their script: It would be cool if this happens, and let's have this happen
and that would be cool too. And, in the end, they will have a pile of cool
stuffs but it won’t have any resonance because it's not based on any kind of
reality or at least, any kind of consistency.
Character development cannot be
stressed enough. If you develop fully dimensional characters, and you put
something in front of them, in a way they will begin to write the plot. You
will have a clear-cut idea about how they are gonna react to different
situations. Spending quality time developing dimensional characters are well
received as opposed to characters born out of impulse. And when you are an
impulsive writer, your work creates the feeling of artifice or I-have-seen-it-all-before
mentality among the audience. Characters that serve the plot are less
interesting than characters that motivate the plot. If you have done a good job
in developing your character then your audience must be able to distinguish the
characters from one another by just reading their dialogues.
CHARACTER ARC: It is one of the literary tools used to make a
character more relatable. Marvel uses this tool very effectively. For instance,
take the case of genius, billionaire, playboy, philanthropist Tony Stark. First
few minutes of 'Iron Man' established him as a character who is unfazed by his
nickname - The merchant of death. He genuinely did not care about the fact that
he has enabled thousands of deaths by inventing and building weapons. But, when
he was abducted by terrorists and witnessed the dire consequences of his
actions first-hand, he wakes up to the reality and uses his influence as a CEO
to make amends like shutting down weapons manufacturing division of Stark
Industries. And, it was the realization that he has more to offer this world
than just making things that blow up led him to finally create a suit that was not for
sale. He starts to become more responsible and caring about the world. And, in 'Civil War' when he realizes he is partially responsible for a boy’s death, his
guilt consumes him forcing him to sign the Sokovia Accords. And, this drastic
change in his character where he goes from an egotistical playboy to a more
humble man who cares deeply about doing the right thing does not feel forced, nor did the audience question it because it is so in line with the events that
have happened in his life which Marvel built very carefully and patiently.
CONSISTENCY: MCU never compromises consistency. When a
character says a line or takes a decision, it would be consistent with what Marvel has built up in the prior movies. Let me prove this by taking Steve Rogers’ story
as an example. In 'Captain America: The First Avenger', there is a scene in which
he stands up to a bully even though he knows he can’t beat him physically. And,
he says, “I can do this all day.” At the very end of the 'Civil War' when he gets into a fight with Iron Man, broken and battered he says,
“I can do this all day.” These two scenes bring the three films full circle by
giving a poetic beauty to the trilogy’s end. One of the first lines he delivers
in the trilogy is also one of the last. But, there is something much more Marvel
achieved by doing so. They indirectly conveyed to the audience that the
character you fell in love with in the first movie of the trilogy is consistent
with the character in the third. That being said MCU did not deprive him a
character arc. He starts as a man willing to take orders from the government.
But, upon witnessing the collapse of shield and other forms of government he
ended up losing faith in the establishment he once fought so hard to protect. And
it is his character arc that made him say, “No, but it is run by people with
agendas. And, agendas change,” when Rhodey said “This is the United Nations
we are talking about. It’s not the World Security Council, it’s not
S.H.I.E.L.D., it’s not Hydra.” He started questioning the government which,
ultimately, resulted in him being framed as a criminal.
Marvel strikes a balance between
consistency and character arc, enabling them to create compelling characters.
One of the reasons why viewers keep coming back to see yet another sequel.
CLIFFHANGER: This
is one of the most powerful literary tools to keep the audience coming back for
more. Even though Marvel ends their movies on a happy note, they deliver post-credit scenes, which pave the way for their upcoming sequels. Most
importantly, it ensures that the viewers’ mind is occupied with Marvel characters even
after they have left the theatre. And, if you have watched all of Marvel movies till Infinity war, I don't have to explain this concept any further. You
know how compelling it is to watch the 'Endgame'.
………………………………….
“The
magic of a story is when the characters come to life and defy our expectation”
-H.S. CROW
…………………………………
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