It’s safe to say that Marvel won Comic Con this year. Which is not surprising, considering it was bound to be either Marvel or DC, the two biggest names in comic books and comic book movies. But what is surprising is just how badly Marvel won it and how badly they needed it.
Marvel movies have been on the decline since the pandemic. And that really has nothing to do with the pandemic or the fact that audiences never quite returned to theaters in the same way as before, for any movies out there, not just Marvel. What it does have to do with is lack of quality. Lack of connectivity. Somehow Marvel forgot about the importance of connecting their movies together and telling one big story with a clear plan. And on top of that, the individual movies have been lacking in quality themselves, just as stand alone films. Many of them have been pretty terrible, (here’s looking at you Eternals and The Marvels.)
The truth is, the last time Marvel movies were at their usual level of excellence was at the end of the Infinity Saga. Avengers Infinity War and Avengers Endgame. Yes, there have been some good movies since then (Shang-Chi and Spiderman No Way Home,) but if we’re being honest, no movies have quite reached the height of excellence of those last two Avengers movies. Among other things, there are two reasons for that. The Russo Brothers and Robert Downey Jr. And all of them are back! Let me explain…
The Russo Brothers are absolutely terrific directors. At least when it comes to Marvel. Their spy vs spy Ryan Gosling – Chris Evans movie the Gray Man wasn’t very good, and I can’t imagine Cherry was much better. But when it comes to Marvel movies, they can do no wrong. They literally went four for four, making Captain America Winter Soldier, Captain America Civil War, Avengers Infinity War, and Avengers Endgame. All truly great movies. All on the short list of Marvels very best films.
Then there’s Downey Jr. We miss him. The Marvel movies miss him. He was the face of Marvel since it’s very start. And he was absolute perfect casting for the role of Tony Stark – Iron Man. Downey practically is Tony Stark in terms of persona. Sure, he’s not a tech expert, but his sense of humor and arrogance fit the part seamlessly. His casting as Iron Man is probably the best fit in all of superhero movie casting history, beating out Hugh Jackman in his role of Wolverine.
Well, at Comic Con this year it was announced that both Downey and the Russo Brothers are back. In fact, the trio of these guys will be making two movies together. Two Avengers movies. Avengers Doomsday and Avengers Secret Wars. Downey will be playing Doctor Doom. And here’s where things get a little bit murky… Tony Stark is not Doctor Doom. Doctor Doom, in the comics and lore, is a man named Victor Von Doom. He is from a country called Latvaria. So what gives?
Most likely the movie is going to tell a story where a variant of Tony Starks, (Stark is dead in the MCU, after the events of Avengers Endgame,) somehow meets Victor Von Doom, is corrupted by him, and ends up switching bodies with him. Something like that. There is a comic book run where something like this happens. And then if they end up switching back, eventually, we can be left with another version of Tony Stark in the MCU again.
The story itself, about switching bodies (and who knows if this is even how they are going to go,) sounds pretty lame, but if there’s anyone who can pull it off, it’s the Russo Brothers and Downey Jr. After all, the Russo Brothers found a way to make time travel cool with Avengers Endgame. There is definitely reason to have confidence in these guys. And so it is time to get excited about Marvel again. Especially after seeing the recent film Deadpool and Wolverine and observing how well they used cameos as well as how much they showed restraint to not just bring in everyone they could (apparently Brie Larson among others actually filmed footage for the movie, that ended up being cut.) The strategy of only releasing one movie this year (Deadpool and Wolverine,) was a genius move to get fans craving more. Unfortunately it looks like next year they are releasing a whole bunch again. Let’s hope quality and connectivity remain high priorities as we move forward and hope for the best.