By ISABEL STANLEY
If you're a living, breathing human in America, chances are you've seen a Marvel superhero movie in the last year. You may or may not be excited by the next release, which is no doubt right around the corner. For the last decade or so, The Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) has saturated the box office and modern popular culture — we’re now eighteen films in, and merchandise in every conceivable form fills our houses and landfills. The onslaught shows no signs of stopping. The Marvel movies are tremendous money makers, so the MCU’s distribution company, Walt Disney Studios, continues to crank them out. But are these films too popular? Are they hurting the film world?
The undeniable fact of the matter is that they make money— lots of money. Of the top twenty highest-grossing films of all time, Avengers: Endgame proudly takes the #1 spot, and four other MCU entries have their respective spots on the list as well. Of course, Avengers: Endgame does not appear on many "best movies ever" lists. So the question is: are artistic integrity and creativity lost in the quest for profits? One of the biggest criticisms of the franchise is the formula that each entry seems to follow. Usually, they go like this: There’s a super-powerful, coveted item. The bad guy wants to use this item to exact his evil plans on the world, and the good guy wants to stop the bad guy from obtaining it. The movie follows the good guy in their quest to battle the bad guy, which culminates in a showdown filled to the brim with as many CGI explosions as you can imagine. Throw in a couple of cameos, plugs, a cool post-credit scene to set up the inevitable sequel, etc., etc. Switch out the names and you've basically described the plot of a dozen movies.
Yet - and it hurts to admit this - most of the Marvel movies aren't bad. Whether it's Black Panther or Ant-Man, the movies look good, feature strong actors, and will usually guarantee a good time. If you’re looking to enjoy yourself with some friends and watch something fun, the MCU’s got you covered. But the success of Marvel movies is making it very hard for different movies - that can be great in their own weird, original way - to even make it into the cinema. So even if you enjoy Marvel movies, I think it's worth making the effort to try and support the film industry as a creative outlet is to go see movies distributed by smaller companies like A24, which consistently produces inventive, niche films. You'll probably like the next Marvel movie - but there's a chance you'll love an Indie film you've never even heard of.