James Gunn has been making headlines for his frank and insider remark to Rolling Stone about what went wrong with the MCU. To the surprise of no one, the issue is Disney forced Marvel to crank out too much stuff. “That wasn’t fair. It wasn’t right. And it killed them.”
That’s a problem that Gunn is hoping to avoid with his DCU, and he’s been keeping the governor on the burgeoning cinematic universe by not moving anything forward unless the script is solid. However, Gunn is smacking into another major problem plaguing Marvel: hype. All eyes are on Superman right now, and while Gunn has been doing his best to downplay the franchise expectations of the film, it has a lot riding on its shoulders. Superman has to be huge, especially when it’s the flagship title for a studio whose finances are a dumpster fire.
Over on the Marvel side, the problem isn’t money as much as apathy. Every single film or Disney+ series has to be “the one that turns things around,” and they’re all crumpling under the weight. Sure, Deadpool & Wolverine made a bajillion dollars, but did it really save the franchise, or was it a fun little one-off that paid homage to the Fox films and Blade? Look at the movies that came after it: Brave New World didn’t light the box office on fire, and neither did Thunderbolts* despite being a critical darling.
Already, the expectations are enormous for Fantastic Four: First Steps, and it doesn’t help when you have stars like Paul Walter Hauser saying it’s on par with Black Panther, a literal cultural phenomenon.
“I believe that this will go down in history as one of the ones that started a new tide of successful storytelling for the company,” Hauser told Variety back in May. “Sort of in the same way that Guardians of the Galaxy and Black Panther hit. They both hit in a certain way. I believe we are about to hit.”
Why in the world would you write a check that big? Did we learn nothing from hyping The Falcon & The Winter Soldier as the next best thing since Captain America: The Winter Soldier? I realize this goes against the fundamentals of movie marketing, but maybe, the old adage “under promise and over deliver” might not be a bad idea here.
Or you can compare freaking Ironheart to Breaking Bad, which literally just happened.
“She kind of breaks bad in the show,” Ironheart executive producer Sev Ohanian told SFX Magazine. “And we go to some uncomfortable places for audiences that I think will be really fun to explore, almost in the vein of Walter White from Breaking Bad or Tony Soprano.”
Don’t get me wrong, I’m very curious to see what Ironheart does, but holding it up to The Sopranos? Why would you do that?! What is going on over there? Jesus.
