'Eternals' and the Marvel Problem

I was a month shy of nine years old when I went with my parents to see The Avengers on opening day, way back in 2012. Since then, I have seen every single Marvel Cinematic Universe feature on the big screen during opening weekend, and that is not a tradition I plan to abandon anytime soon. The Marvel movies have risen from a niche to the most popular film franchise in the world. It has grossed over $23.5 billion dollars in thirteen years. To put that in perspective: that is more than twice what the entire Star Wars saga has raked in over the past forty-four years. It is popular entertainment for the masses, fueled by decades of comic-book source material and grounded by relatable, charismatic protagonists. There is a winning formula that has captured the hearts of audiences worldwide…as well as the annual box office. But as we saw the release of the 26th MCU movie this past Friday, prepare for the 5th MCU Disney+ show in just a couple of weeks, and await the 27th MCU movie’s premiere next month, a problem that has existed with the Marvel Cinematic Universe for many years is only continuing to grow more apparent.

We are undergoing a radical increase in Marvel’s release schedule. Disney+ has afforded them the opportunity to distribute episodes of canonical MCU television shows to viewers on an almost weekly basis, and starting in 2023, Disney will be releasing four MCU movies a year. Most of these are sequels or spin-offs connected by established characters, and though there are usually new properties released every year, there is a convincing argument to be made that all of these projects are beginning to blend together. Now, it is not the sheer number of films and television shows that create the problem. Marvel Comics publishes dozens of comic series every month and has for sixty years, and they are still releasing new books every week. Rather, the issue lies in the very nature of the cinematic universe itself.

Marvel broke new ground when Iron Man kicked off a series of films in which the characters and plots all connected with one another to lead into one grand, interconnected story. This format makes audiences incredibly happy because their investment in each adventure pays off in the next installment. This format also makes the studio incredibly happy because they know that the same audience is going to keep paying to see the next one so long as the quality remains up to par. That is the true root of the Marvel problem. In an effort to sell this idea of a cinematic universe–a format that no other film studio has successfully managed to copy–Disney and Marvel Studios have purposefully formularized many aspects of their production process so that the style and tone of their movies are consistent throughout the franchise. While that does help to sell the idea of the interconnected universe, it also limits how creative each installment can be before it starts to break away from the formula. When there is such a wealth of Marvel projects in the pipeline, that begins to become problematic.

Now, all movies of this magnitude ever made have to balance the scales between art and product. In a franchise like this, it is a simple fact that every movie is going to have to be a piece of a larger whole –- that is not the issue. But when most of the films are constricted to being shot with the same camera, all the visual effects sequences are handled by the same teams of people, and the humor is doctored to fit the consistent MCU tone, it becomes easy to understand why some diagnose the recent Marvel movies as ‘all feeling the same.’ There are talented directors, screenwriters, cinematographers, and various others working on every project, and by no means do their artistic voices get completely lost in the storm. Alas, the simple fact is that there is so much money in play, so much oversight, and so many cooks in the kitchen that it becomes very difficult for a truly ‘different’ Marvel movie–like either of the Guardians of the Galaxy films–to slip through the cracks.

So how does the latest MCU film–Eternals–deviate from the status quo? Well, for starters, it is quite arguably the first movie since 2008’s The Incredible Hulk to receive a genuinely-mixed reaction from critics and audiences alike. Though snagging the fourth-best domestic box office opening (and second-best worldwide box office opening) of the pandemic season, the film was scorned by many for the ways in which it strayed from the aforementioned Marvel formula. Director Chloé Zhao–who recently took home the Best Director and Best Picture Academy Awards for Nomadland–anchored this very high concept space movie with relatable characters and emotional conflicts that are pretty atypical for a Marvel Studios production. While some still found Eternals to be a dull mess, cool people (such as myself) found it to be an entertaining, interesting, and unusually empathic installment for the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Though not at all a resounding leap forward for the franchise, it is an encouraging step in the right direction that shows the ways Marvel may be able to start experimenting with their movies again rather than just playing it safe.

Audiences got tired of westerns because most of those films just did the same thing for years and years, and eventually people decided they had had enough. The few modern western flicks that we remember today remain in our minds because they legitimately challenged the genre norms and made efforts to try something new with the premise. The MCU comfortably sits atop the cultural throne as the most successful movie franchise to date, and pandemic or not, each new installment continues to produce hundreds of millions of dollars while keeping fans entertained. But as satisfying as it is to see these stories collide in The Avengers or the more recent Avengers: Endgame, I would argue that the excitement of the franchise’s early days–when every film was a part of one grand experiment that was still struggling to prevail–is not matched by anything the studio is making today. Beneath charming performances, intriguing storylines, and the vast amount of director creativity that is still to be found in the midst of many franchise norms, each new installment of the MCU simply does not feel fresh. While every movie continues to be enjoyable and the Marvel machine means that we are never in for a truly bad film, I would argue that the factory element of this franchise also means it is rare we find ourselves with a legitimately great one. With so many more MCU shows and movies coming out, it is only a matter of time before the Marvel movie–which has been held up for years as the modern western–fizzles out and goes the way of dinosaurs…unless something changes. If a terrifying mega-conglomerate like Disney can find it within its heart to take some risks and start experimenting with the franchise again, then I believe the Marvel fatigue can be staved off and we can see this genre get the rebirth it is so desperately starting to need.