Why is Marvel getting worse and worse? How did they go from creating memorable, explosive, character-driven stories to serving up forgettable and soulless movies bogged down by CGI battle scenes, confusing tie-ins, and characters we struggle to feel empathy for? Is there an exact scientific formula to phase one Marvel movies that made us fall in love with characters like Iron Man, Captain America, and Thor? And could this scientific formula save the entire MCU from collapse? In this brand new episode of Science of Story, we're studying the top three most iconic films from Marvel’s first phase to see if we can uncover a winning, repeatable formula that could actually make us fall in love with the MCU again.
Comment below and tell me: what's your favorite MCU film and why?
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✨T I M E S T A M P S✨
00:00 Why is Marvel so bad right now?
04:46 Case study: Iron Man
07:01 Case study: Captain America
09:19 Case study: Thor
12:09 What do these movies have in common?
14:32 Marvel took the "hero" out of "superhero"
16:07 How moral integrity can save the MCU
17:58 Prompts for writing stronger characters
18:30 Get excited for my upcoming superhero series!
20:06 Subscribe for new writing videos every week :)
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My name is Abbie Emmons I teach writers how to make their stories matter by harnessing the power and psychology of storytelling, transforming their ideas into a masterpiece, and creating a lifestyle that makes their author dreams come true.
Story isn’t about “what happens” - it’s about how what happens affects and transforms the characters. I believe that there is an exact science (a recipe, if you will) behind a perfect story. And if you know what ingredients you need, you can create your own perfect story with ease and confidence. That’s what we talk about every week on this channel - and if it’s something you’re into, be sure to subscribe and join this community!
Well, for one, the soul of Stan Lee no longer exists within the movies. And two, Disney needs to stop meddling in things they've got no business meddling with
Yes! I agree wholeheartedly lol
Ikr...They just do it their "dreamy" way...
W in TF does Splatoon have anything to do with Guardians of the Galaxy?@Noahbell-eo6py
Thank you for the Stan Lee comment. That one line is better than anything I've heard as to what has happened to Marvel. Bravo. Truly... Bravo!!!
Stan Lee never had anything to do with the movies and stopped working on comics regularly in the 70s.
"We connect with these characters not because they're Super Human, but because they are HUMAN." This is the perfect summary as to why people loved phases 1-3
What so-called comic book readers haven't realized was Kevin started the MCU pretty much like Stan started Marvel comics but with his hands tied (meaning access to all the original starting lineup) [phases 1-3]. But he did damn good with what he had while trying to keep to the essence of the comics as much as possible.
Love Steve Rogers : You know me. The Winter Soldier : No, I don't! Steve Rogers : Bucky. you've known me your entire life. Your name is James Buchanan Barnes... The Winter Soldier : SHUT UP! Steve Rogers : I'm not gonna fight you. You're my friend. The Winter Soldier : [Lunges at Steve and repeatedly pummels him] You're my mission! Steve Rogers : [bruised and bloodied just as the Winter Soldier is about to deliver a final blow] Then finish it. 'Cause I'm with you 'til the end of the line.
@@wutdadeal3 in what essence of the comic-books was Tony Stark a prick who calls out a terrorist to come and blow up his home and then refuses to let his girlfriend go because she doesn't want to get killed by his stupidity? Or in what comics Stark's arch nemesis was some guy named Aldrich Killian, who is mad at Stark for not meeting him on a rooftop twenty years ago? In what comics Thor was a dimwitted buffoon who cares not for Warriors Three or Sif and cares more about his hammer than them? Lol, you MCU fanboys need to take away your pink colored glasses for once and see that the MCU from before and the MCU from now are not that different. It's merely now you see the problems that were there before because your favorite characters can't act as window dressing for those problems.
@antona.8659 First off, NO BOOK, COMIC BOOK, NO NOVEL, etc... adaptation has been exact to its literature. Hell, no true story told in film has been EXACT (due to legalities and politics). So, your point has no substance or foundation. Secondly, I was referring to the structure and arrangement of said characters. The first set of characters to start Marvel comics were Spider-Man, the Fantastic Four, Namor, Hulk, Ironman, Thor, Captain America,...need I say more?
@@wutdadeal3 first of all, dipshit, if you don't believe that accuracy to the source material exists in adaptations, then don't bring up the comics as your major point. You have defeated your previous point with this nonsense. Second of all, my point has all of the substance and foundations, because your shitty argument is: A) Contradictory to your previous statement. B) Uses extreme measures to dismiss my point. Saying that no adaptation has ever been one-on-one accurate to its source material implies that there is no need for trying to stay accurate at all. Which, yet again, contradictory to your original point. And lastly, the things I mentioned are the baselines of the characters. Having your adapted characters make or not make decisions that their prototypes would or would not make isn't asking for the adaptation to be the exact copy of some comic. Tolkien's Aragorn and movie Aragorn aren't exact copies, but they share same traits and morality. That's how a good character is adapted.
"They took Hero out of superhero." Now they are selling CGI effects. As a novel reader, Character development is crucial.
They are selling weak women as strong heroes, its icky and bad biologically not believable.
Yeah the little mermaid? She's nothing but CGI which sucks as the actress is a beautiful woman
It's simple, the most popular movies had good story development, relatable characters, they weren't overly serious, and found a good balance of peril and comedy which made the whole movie work.
!!…………and now I feel like I haven’t seen the Hulk in years…..
Ironman
Darth vader was overly serious and everyone loves him
“Marvel feels like a restaurant that used to serve really good food” is such a true and hard hitting line. (And also echos how I feel about PF Changs 😌)
*insert Shawarma scene*
I didn’t know what PF changs was until this year as an adult and I got to go there. And yeah, you pay a lot and it’s not any better than Olive Garden or a pre made meal from Costco.
That is a sadly relatable statment.
The less is more line was a hard hitter too😂
@swoozie Yeah, fans said exactly the same thing about The Simpsons during it's golden era. Btw, it's funny that the MCU is now bad argument came when it started to become more diverse and inclusive. I don't think its a coincidence.
I never understood why Hollywood thinks in order to uplift female characters they have to downplay/insult male characters. Winter soldier was a perfect example in having both Steve and Natasha be badass in their own right. How could Marvel have one perfect movie but the movies afterwards have himbo male and strong independent women (ie Scott & Hope, Jane & Thor, Alexei & Natasha/Yelena)
Shang chi - whatever his sisters name was.
Because male characters don't always have to be better than female characters. Scott and Hope's dynamic works in a way that they both have their unique strengths, even if Hope is smarter and more experienced. Jane never really outshined Thor in any capacity except having mjolnir (which was cause of Thor). Alexei was basically a side character. It's annoying when you have to have a powerful male character simply cause there is a powerful female one.
No, they turned Thor into a brain dead moron. The Thor of the first movie would have looked much stronger next to Jane Foster.@@racool911
@@racool911In each of those movies, the “heroic” men were depicted as idiots. How did that slip past you? Would you have missed that a Black Widow depicted her as a moron that was constantly being belittle by a male side character? Or would you have said, “Why, in a Black Widow movie, is Black Widow being depicted so insultingly?” It’s ridiculous to deny that this “MSheU” nonsense is agenda driven. Dr. Strange was originally supposed to appear in a cameo at the end of WandaVision, but was pulled because Disney didn’t want a man upstaging Wanda in her own show even for 60 seconds. But then they all but handed the second Dr Strange movie over to Wanda and America Chavez. Dr Strange wasn’t even allowed to defeat her in his own movie. She had to defeat herself. Can’t have a man defeating a woman, you know.
It's because they are insecure about the male characters potentially being preferred over the female one's. Even when the male character is supposed to be the protagonist. Their female characters are also generally very one note. So it would be pretty easy for just about any character with any depth at all to outshine them. It's essentially because they are bad writers. They could easily prep up both the male & female characters if they were any good.
Marvel should watch this one. You want a movie to work. Get people to feel what they felt when cap stood up to Thanos with a broken shield, badly injured, yet with a spirit that mankind should always carry to face all bad things in life.
"...Cap... on your right"
Historically the lower-powered level heroes made some of the best films. Pandering towards social groups & pushing messages instead of great storytelling usually screws-up a film.
Why did a chick flick flop among men? Ummmmmmmm I don't know maybe because THEY SAY CHICK FLICKS
The real reason is they stopped focusing on storytelling and started prioritizing identity politics. Simple really.
Yep.
Is that how a they becomes a them? I'm still trying to figure it out, it's like some kind of shifting landscape. Maybe if the females appropriating previously male roles identified as men it would work better? Like remember that ghost busters remake. Now imagine them identifying as men... 😅
Those are one of the things
Identity politics? Where Literally no MCU movie in the current phase has addressed that Like actually What
@@yo-nyxie883Only a matter of time. Aunt May actress wanted Aunt May gay, and that one issue with Blade being a 4th lead in his OWN MOVIE cause they wanted 3 female leads 😂
The mcu has become more about pushing a message instead of telling a story. It's heartbreaking
And the message is this: If you don't cheer for the [insert non-white non-male non-normative] character, no matter how incredibly poorly written, you're a bad person.
put a chicken in it and make it lame and ga
This!!! This right here!!!
everything woke turns to crap
@@NoToobForYou As an Indian Muslim, I can confidently say that these new films aren't anything good. I don't care about representation, sure, it's nice to have many different cultures shown on screen but what I want is a proper story about a superhero and his origin with some reasonable motives
This isn't about the MCU specifically, but when I was a kid, my family owned all three Tobey Maguire Spider-Man movies and we would watch them all the time, but I didn't find them all that interesting. However, one time, while rewatching the first one when I was old enough to actually pay attention to what was going on outside of the fighting, I realized there was so much more to the story. The moment where Peter chooses not to stop the guy from stealing the money, only to have it result in his uncle's death, broke me. It shook me to the core and I realized these movies were so much more. Modern super hero movies just aren't like that anymore. And it's really sad to see
I agree. What good is having these characters in your story if their is no conflict going on? That's a big reason why I relate to Peter Parker and Spiderman. He's a normal guy with these amazing abilities and yet he struggles like everyone else.
I love tobey's spiderman as a kid, because he's such an endearing loser who has bad day after bad day bad luck after bad luck, his struggle was funny at first but after he got his power his bad luck didn't just disappear it's even gradually became heavier and sadder but he always keep going no matter what. Therefore "with great power comes great responsibility" became so iconic, bc his character comes to learn to carry that burden and as a viewer it felt like i grow with him.
And the robber actually wasn't the one to shoot him
Thor's 1st film felt so Shakespearean because the director was a Shakespearean-style director/actor Kenneth Branagh. In fact, the vibe of the storytelling was so comic-accurate because Stan Lee wrote Thor stories as Shakespearean dramas.
I remember people cheering in the theaters at these character moments. Fans used to connect with the characters in a way that didn't see color or sex but because of internal struggles. It's sad those times are past us.
That' because it's forced on us and takes away from the storyline when those issues are written into the dialog
Disney's next movie will star Kathleen Kennedy she secretly used all of Disney's money to unite all of the time stones from all of the realities to make everything woke and make it lame 😂
The answer you're looking for is agenda. Every movie feels like they are preaching at you. Whether it's race, sex, religion or something. The problem is that people don't go to see superhero movies for that. They want to see character lose, fall down and get up again. Might sound shocking, but that's the major problem. If you think it's about streaming, imagine a series about Tony or Steve, don't you think it'll sell?
@@patrickday4206exactly, all too woke and full of narcissistic lame characters who push their narratives outside of those movies.
If you are cheering a comic book movie...you need to grow up.
This video PERFECTLY articulates how I feel about the MCU. In the beginning, they had interesting and flawed characters trying to figure things out. Now it's mostly characters that are narcissistic.
Exactly, especially that little annoying brat that don't feel like studying and just wanted to join the glory.
Nah it's just all the gay sh*t in films today its ruining the quality
Woke! Wokeness is the root of all evil!.. lmao.. seriously all good movie have men as the main characters.. well mostly.. but its true that a man must lead as the leader of the family.. so that role shouldn't be replaced by what it called as today wokeness.. dont agree wth me? no problem its just my personal views.
@@SuperEyesandEars no bro I agree, your 100 percent correct💯💯👍
Character growth , thats what missing in the new marvel movies All these new female characters are perfect abd no one cares about a perfect chararcter People want a character they can atleast relate to and the new characters are just boring Too perfect. Example. Captain marvel hasnt struggled a day in her life , thats why she has no fans She is a poor written character with no struggles She-hulk has no real struggles The list goes on and on but the truth is the new characters are perfect and boring, Loki series shows how character growth is key to success But also emotional connections to the audience is the key
Exactly, people will always love redemption stories. This is because people always want to be reminded that there’s hope and we can change.
I think the main issue is the way these characters are being introduced, in Disney+ TV shows rather than actual movies. Also, the quality of all films are different since the pandemic. It's like they are all now missing something and I can't put my finger on it.
Its because the writers don't like what they're writing anymore. Instead of a love letter it's a dollar sign.
If the newer characters have to disparage the old characters then that is a sign that the new characters are poorly written. It kind of reminds me of how the screenwriter for the Harry Potter movies felt like he had to dumb down Ron to prop up Hermione.
New characters disparaging old characters is what Disney did to Star Wars, essentially killing it.
@@jimalexander687 true that.
@@jimalexander687 you think this is bad? read any of the modern marvel comics,and all the things like disparaging,crapping on established heroes? its cranked up to 20 and why for me,marvel comics died ten years ago
The minute Captain Marvel did that on & off the screen, I knew people would hate her character
The Ron/Hermione is such a sad thing. Apparently they were afraid that Hermione wouldn't connect with the audience with her book character and JK Rowling believed that as well. So they felt the need to take cool moments from Ron and give them to Hermione.
My favorite MCU film is the first Doctor Strange. A man so smart and talented he felt superior to those around him. He felt so invincible, he was texting while driving because he never assumed someone like him could end up in an accident. His journey is about him letting go of his pride. To admit that even with all his money, he couldn't fix his hands, to admit there was a vast universe of things he did not understand. And though he swore a vow to do no harm, he had to accept the responsibility to fight the bad guys and protect the world.
Such an underated movie. I like Multiverse Of Madness better but each to their own.
First doctor strange is Great! The same case as first antman the story, the comedy, VFX,etc 2015-2019 that's when I feel Marvel at their golden age
Loved that movie. It was solid origin movie and I could easily see him being next big 3. But then came MoM. Ruining his whole character. They took everything away that made him distinct in the sea of superheroes.
@@Vor567tez He's better as the position he had in Infinity War. The wise one but not the one to be 1 of the main 3. Spiderman, Moon Knight and Sentry should be the main three.
that movie is amazing and underrated
"narcissism disguised as self empowerment" powerful words that pretty much described the whole MCU right now. You are right. Marvel removed the word "HERO" from "SUPERHERO".
I %100 agree with everything that was said here. Take Loki series for instance, plot itself was ok and maybe over the top at times but what the final two episodes did for the show made it fantastic. They made Loki relatable and loved. I have never felt the need since phase1 to buy a MCU tshirt until I watched last two episodes of Loki. I really hope Marvel Cinematic wakes up and stops pushing agendas over great and amazing stories. The Marvels maybe would have been great if we cared for the characters, and not their gender or skin color, it felt pushed upon us without allowing us to fall in love with the character itself. With a great character development nothing else matters.
I didn’t enjoy the show much since it humiliated and changed his character too much, was too slow and wasn’t ‘Norse’ at all. He got kicked and bullied too much and barely used any of his magic and lost that unique personality he had which was the *BEST* part of him!
Season 2 ending was great
This is why Gardians of the Galaxy works. Imperfect characters that grow togetter.
Gunn is really, really good with character. So was Joss Wheedon . Not a genius, but a real gift for empathetic characters. They're both good with dialogue too. Sure, Wheedon's too quippy, but he does some good work, too. I suspect that's related to having a feel for real characters.
Guardians works because of the antidiestablishmentarianism of the characters. Also jet boots and some serious strange in the form of a high functioning racoon and a Kung foo tree.
Their imperfections are also magnified by each other, making their conflicts seem greater. How can these people work together to accomplish a goal, with Rocket being so aggressive, Star-Lord being so insecure and Mantis being so undermined? That intense conflict weaves through the themes of the story and elevates how desperate you are as a viewer to see them win.
The same could be said for Star Wars, Star Trek, and basically everything that comes from Disney these days. We define "good" as giving of the self for the betterment of others, and "evil" as the betterment of the self at the expense of others. Captain Marvel threatened to maim a man for life to steal his motorcycle because he was rude, and someone thought that was heroic? No, it's literally the same scene as from the biker bar in T2, except the terminator was an inhuman killbot, not a hero.
Yeah, but the scene was cut.
@@ThePrinceofHisOwnKingdom What about Scarlet Witch enslaving a town, with letting them go free being called a "sacrifice"? And her being let off the hook for that whole incident because she "did the right thing in the end"?
You can make stuff like this work when it happens at the beginning of the hero's journey where the character learns from their flaw and changes for the better. However she behaves exactly the same at the end of the movie. Watching Marvel movies now feels like they lost their self awareness.
Star Trek is still awesome with Disco, Lower Decks and SNW.
@@TaoScribble Well, she did become the main villain of MoM so there's that. But I didn't like WV, it's overrated.
Exactly! That's why so many books and movies now are junk because they have no real worth or meaning. There is nothing that we can take away and apply to our lives or inspire us to become who we are. That's what makes a good story, a character we can relate to that goes from struggling and selfish to self-sacrifice. Everyone needs to see this Abbie!!!
Excellent analysis! I would add that what makes superheroes so compelling is not simply their relatable flaws and character traits but their ability to overcome and become greater. Your comment about the protagonists being mistaken for antagonists is spot on because when they fail to overcome their flaws, that’s when they become villains.
Wanda!
My favorite MCU films is the Captain America trilogy, and likely always will be. I think in modern age, it is incredibly difficult and rare for someone to make a film or story in general featuring a good hearted character. Too often those characters are seen as boring and bland so we just get movies of cynical badasses instead.
Iron Man, the first movie, is my favorite. A fantastic solid movie all round
Yeah, that trilogy really was good for those of us who like to see good-hearted heroes. They are more unrealistic, but then we don't always go to the movies for realism. I like cynical badasses too, though I think even those aren't always easy to pull off and that's why the first Iron Man stands out from the rest.
Have you ever seen Superman vs The Elite? I know its completely off topic but I think, based of ths comment, its something yiu would really enjoy. You should check it out!
Kita geng.
The Cap trilogy is the best Superhero trilogy ever. Each one was on point. I remember watching First Avenger & it blew my mind & Cap kept getting better
To this day, the first Avengers is still my favorite. There's something so incredible about how each character, even Loki, has deep internal conflict, motives, and complex relationships with everyone else. There's explosions and stakes and tons of cool superhero badassery but it comes back to the internal stuff and that allows you to care about and be interested in everyone in the story.
Okay, help me. I feel like people who "like" and "don't like" a thing are misunderstanding each other. I... I just... I didn't get any of that. Like the three movies she mentioned here I would probably say are the only ones I would be okay rewatching if someone else wanted to see them, but there was nothing meaningful to me about them, and I honestly feel like I'm missing some "enjoy superhero movies" gene because the Avengers was ... hella frustrating to me. I honestly don't remember much at all about it, which is weird for me since I can usually quote entire scenes after movies, but it felt like another scavenger hunt plot, with very obvious misdirections, Loki acting all kinds of out of character, and one of the most ridiculous take-over-the-world plans I've ever seen. (Let's release 100 monsters directly over a major city in the most trigger happy country in the world. Nothing can go wrong there. 🤦🤦🤦) SOMEONE PLEASE HELP ME AND TELL ME WHAT I'M MISSING ABOUT THESE MOVIES!
@@JhadeSagravI personally agree with op, and to me the first Avengers is timeless and was the peak of the Avengers movies (I count Infinity War as it's own thing, and it was infinitely better than Endgame) But I also see where you're coming from. The first Avengers movie jumps around a fair bit, and is pretty choppy, and some aspects are way too simplistic. But if you can follow it, the character portrayals, the action, the setpieces were all fantastic. It's a cookie cutter superhero popcorn flick, and I enjoy it as such. It's also the last bit we get before going into the overly long, drawn out, Infinity Stones phase, and tbh with the exception of 2-3 films from that phase, i wouldnt rewatch hardly any of them.
Precisely!!
Agreed 💯
@@JhadeSagrav it sounds like comic book movies arent your thing. you should check out independent dramas. people suffering after a natural disaster, a person struggling with an illness or a family struggling from lack of money, etc.
Personally I would've used the word "Determination" to describe the first cap movie, cause until the very end he's determined to do the right thing, even if it goes against the rules and ultimately "kills" him in the end.... But that's just my opinion
My favourite scene in all the MCU: Scott holds his daughter Cassie, both shocked that they're seeing each other after 5 years have passed (literally and or figuratively?), chokes back his bewilderment, and says: "You're so big!" It shows that he is a Dad, and a human, before he is a hero. Everytime I watch, as a Dad myself, i get a lump in my throat. *That* is why I like these movies😊
She’s right about everything she said however there’s one more thing that she hadn’t mentioned…”Representation”. They’re so focused on pandering to people. Seems like that’s just Hollywood in general nowadays.
She didn't say anything on that because that's not a reason/excuse at all. You CAN do representation while maintaining quality. In fact, quality means a better representation too. Hollywood nowadays is just lazy. Cheap. You only spot/bothered by their "representation" because it's fake.
People call Marvel feminist now. I think Marvel hates women, their first female solo movie came out after 11 years considering they have so many movies. Even WW came out 2 years earlier. They just shilling female now.
It wasn't mentioned because it's irrelevant.
@@fynkozari9271 shilling ha ?? you're the exact reason why the movies aren't as good, keep score keeping to make all things equal, well youngin, they're not.and anessa, oh it's relevant in the product
@@naterthehater8776 0h yeah, random youtube commenter @fynkozari9271 definitely has full sway over the Empire that is Disney and the trash they pump out because they know they'll make money regardless of the quality of the product
You nail it. If we can’t see our humanity in the characters we can’t connect. The older characters struggle to be superheroes, the new narcissists want nothing but to glory in it.
You nailed it. " If we can’t see our humanity in the characters we can’t connect. " Well said
The problem isn't making the audience fall in love with the characters. We were already in love with the characters of the first phase.
For the record Falcon and the Winter Soldier, Wandavision, Loki and Moonknight had heart and character progression. That eventually devolved into the later offerings.
Not MCU related but I recently read that Leonardo Di Caprio demanded Christopher Nolan change the script of Inception because Nolan says that he was more focused on the science fiction of it all and Leonardo wanted something more character-centric. It took them two years to finally get the final script (which Nolan wrote but with those Di Caprio notes) and I think it made a HUGE difference. If you compare it to Tenet, for example, the story and FX are awesome but do you care about the character? Not really. In inception we have a backstory and we want the character to win in the end because we want there to be justice and he can see his kids again. I don't even remember what the character in Tenet wanted and why.
This is what I dislike about many Nolan’s movies they’re boring af. Interstellar? Unwatchable. It’s just Nolan circlejerking how smart he’s. Eh
@@mishynaofficial finally I find someone who thinks Interstellar is overrated and boring! Thank you!
Short version.....they did a good job of sticking to Stan Lee's amazing stories. Now we are tinkering with the fundamentals to an extent that the magic is unrecognizable.
The MC of Tenet didn't even have a *name* let alone a goal lol
@@AICW hahahaha I saw the movie twice and I didn't even notice
Something I would change about Marvel's new movies is taking the scale of the plot down. A good example is Ant-Man's trilogy. The first two films are in a sense comedy heist films with a twist of science fiction and motivations driven by the internal goals of the character's Scott Lang, and Hank Pym. However the third film is too big of a scale jump, going into the "Multiverse", from the previous films while also lacking any internal conflict and timely character development.
Not to mention Loki, No Way Home, Quantumania and MoM are all about the multiverse. We're getting "multiverse burnout" even before the whole idea is just beginning to take shape.
Changing Kang, to one of his lesser known personalities (Nathaniel Richards from 1000 years in the future would have worked well), and changing his goal to just ruling the Quantum Realm, would have been better. Plus, make him Wasp's ex, instead of Bill Murry's character, and he never intended to help Janet leave once they fixed his tech. But instead bring Hank and Hope there, and kill Hank. So when they turn on Cassie's machine and get sucked in, Scott and Cassie are extras, known only to Nathaniel/Kang through the Avengers' history (and Darren's personal experience). They could have even had Nathaniel tell Cassie her superhero name. And just leave Darren Cross as a "restored by Nathaniel" Yellowjacket with an improved battle suit fused to his body, but his defective Pym particles don't work consistently in the Quantum Realm.
The third Ant-Man movie should have focused more on Scott and Cassie's relationship. The core theme of that movie should have been about Scott trying to get back the time he missed with Cassie when he was trapped in the quantum realm. The first act of the film should have been about Cassie and Scott, act 2 should have been about them trapped in the quantum realm, and Act 3 should have focused on Kang and saving the quantum realm.
This was just wonderful! Your perspective has restored my belief that there HAS to still be people who insist on the enrichment that only a well written story can provide!
Seeing the downfall in story telling across media really inspired me to start writing. "write what you want to read" is spot on! People are hungry for good stories and more importantly, great characters. Insightful video!
Well put. If movie makers ideologically trap themselves in a corner because women, poc etc cant be flawed, you are unable to tell compelling stories, and you're making it impossible for people to relate to a diverse cast
All they need is a fat woman and they would have completed the holy trinity. Woman, Preferably a black woman, preferably a fat black woman
As a black man I agree. My two favorite super heroes are Captain America and Superman... Two white guys. It was never about wokeisms. It's about content of character.
@beechris1815 As a black man I also agree. Superman and Spider-Man are my favorites.
I don't know if that is the problem. They have bad black guys and bad women.
@@beechris1815exactly. i could care less the color of a characters skin or their gender, but when that is their entire personality, and bc of this they can’t be flawed or else it’s politically incorrect/ offensive, that’s when i have 0 interest in the “story”.
Avengers Endgame. Biggest tearjerker ever because we loved those characters, especially watching the kid being snapped and looking to Tony for help. Gah! If you look into the failed movies, they had extensive re-writing. When the earlier script is released, most of them show a heart that got changed for action. Having a CEO who was more theme park oriented (for profit only) and really didn't care for the movie hurt Disney more than the pandemic did.
Have you got any proof to these statements? How were any of the original ideas "good"?
@@p.r.8496 Doctor Strange 2 was originally featuring Nightmare and Ghost Rider in the earlier script with Wanda trying to get back her twins. But the studio want a multiverse so they had to change it, even reshoots the scenes.
Thor 2 was extensively rewritten, with even the guys who got the final draft in saying something like, "We just reorganized it into something looking like a story, but before we could do much more, they filmed it."
@@sp1c3M0nst3rthey even changed the director for doctor strange 2 as well
I think you mean Infinity War
Another thing that I feel is not being talked about more as well is that the push (by Disney and others?) to make villains more of a gray character, making them sort of anti-hero / almost protagonist (Maleficent, Loki, Descendants, etc.), it is making doing bad and evil acts into more of a "it depends" which should not be so. The "moral of the story" portion becomes optional and most of the time none-existent.
They are so focused on "Sympathetic" villains that they have forgotten something about real life, As line goes "Some people just want to watch the world burn" that was my problem with the joker movie they try to make him sympathetic when they didn't need to.
Loki did it naturally. With the talent of the actor. Then the writers tried to replicate it
Dude you can’t convince me that Maleficent and Loki weren’t great.
The biggest differences between Phase 1 and all other Phases. A List Writers and Directors. Young inexperienced directors and writers save Disney money, but are killing the MCU.
Thor staring into Abby's eyes as he extends his arm and opens his hand calling to Stormbeaker, "I like this one."
How romantic
The problem with the MCU now is that they're simply going too fast. Like, think of it as pitching a baseball. There's always a windup before the actual throw and the early phases of the MCU did this with staggered origin movies that slowly led to the 2012 Avengers movies and they followed this format until Endgame. Simple and easy to follow. It had an actual buildup and a clear goal in mind. Fast forward to the 2020s, the MCU is churning up content after content in multiple media formats that even an avid fan like myself can't keep up. There's no windup anymore, the ball's always in midair at maximum speed and you don't even know where it's going.
I completely agree. I was just thinking this.
Yes! And keep the Disney+MCU series for the other characters - don't mix up things too much. During the initial years Daredevil, Jessica Jones, Agents of Shield, Punisher, etc did good work by providing a more struggling character arcs and stories. MCU movies should be fewer, but of higher quality. The writers need to focus on stories rather than fan service and overt messaging.
If you are in the Bob Iger camp, and think that adding a executive or two is gunna make Marvel movies awesome again. I'd love to know what your smoking! 8)
Not just going too fast but also too recklessly. There is no clear direction. It's all too messy and big. It seems like nothing matters anymore.
That's like the least of It's problems
Thank you for this criticism. Very articulate on what went wrong and solutions. Great work
They forgot what's important and now think that the important part is to force representation and inclusion. Thinking that showing empowered diverse women being "perfect" all along and every male character being stupid, incompetent or just evil is not a winning recipe.
My favorite MCU film is Captain America The First Avenger. It's just so reassuring and inspiring to have a character who is trying to do the right thing despite the odds against it. A physically flawed character, not a morally flawed one. Although I will acknowledge the moral dilemmas he faced as the movies continued.
My is winter soldier but captain America has the best movie in the mcu
I still remember how awesome the 2008 Hulk movie was. They made the new hulk a loser
Actually cap 2 winter soldier was a close first to iron man1 .
@@gregoryfuller9736Cap has the best trilogy in CBM
@@HollowNoFacealso the most terrifying Hulk since Bill Bixby's version. So scary.
OMG! I've been looking for the words to describe how I feel about the current MCU in the MCU of old. This video is 20 minutes of pure gold. It doesn't bash the MCU or Disney but spells out what we are looking for in the characters and pleads with the Hollywood writers to step back and re-assess what it is that makes a memorable movie that fans can fall in love with.
The problem with all the gender swapping and/or focus on female leads is how do you explore those themes of struggle, moral fragility, and ultimately redemption without facing charges of misogyny? Showing the failings of women in REALISTIC ways that ring true to the experiences and actions of modern women would be considered anti-feminist at the very least. It's not impossible to do, but very nearly in a way that most women and liberals would find palatable. That's why we get a bunch of girl bosses and results that seem wholly unearned by female protagonists (e.g. Star Wars). Disney has been running on fumes after Endgame. Maybe they thought they could build off the relative success of the first Captain Marvel film that got shoe-horned between two of the highest-grossing films of all time. It's like putting a new spinoff show right after the biggest show you have. You hope the audience from the ratings winner sticks around. That isn't a bad strategy, but the new show has to be good with interesting and likeable characters. Captain Marvel (Brie Larson) is neither. The character is the same Mary Sue we see time and time again: boring and agenda-driven. The most likeable character of the trio in The Marvels is Kamala Khan and that's because she has slightly more personality than the other two, and she struggles with things you would expect someone of her age and background to deal with. Finally, I have to add that this problem is most evident when they gender swap or focus on modern, female protagonists. I know it's tempting for many to draw parallels to so-called race/ethnicity swapping, but it's not the same because men of all ethnicities can face struggles, and our society has no problem highlighting those struggles or personal failings. In fact, it's even easier to do when the leading man is Black. Hell, they'll even throw the critiques of the "racial purists" into the story (e.g. Falcon not wanting the shield because it felt like it belong to somebody else only to have Cap and Bucky have to convince him otherwise). Miles Morales also had the racists up in arms, but Miles isn't Black Peter Parker. He alao struggles with things a teenager with his background might deal with. The story was good. The visuals were excellent and characters were likeable. They made April O'Neil Black in the latest TMNT film and 1) that isn't necessarily contradictory to comic book canon and 2) she actually was done pretty well as a character. I think her being fat was more of a distraction than her being Black. The point I'm making above is race/ethnicity swapping/reimagining and gender swapping/reimagining are not equivalent. With the former, it comes down to if the story is good. With the latter, you are erecting a major roadblock to telling a good story. Don't believe me? Look at the image of Jesus you see in movies and pray to. Now what do you think would happen if they made Jesus female in either?
This was such a good video with such an amazing analysis!! I just stumbled upon your channel and hitting that sub button has never been easier!
I was reading a report from The Hollywood Reporter and the whole Daredevil situation, what stuck out for me the most was they said “the reason why marvel was successful because every movie mattered to the story of the infinity saga” and they go to say phase 4 failed because of so many projects where they say that you don’t necessarily need to watch them. And I 100% agree.
Have we forgotten about Guardians 3? That movie had SO much heart to it. We see the story behind Rockets life, what made him the way he was and why he was afraid to let people get close to him. We see the narcissism in the villain of the film how he strived to make a perfect society at the cost of others lives. I personally loved the growth in Nebula. She went from a cold hearted non trusting person to really throwing herself to the cause and want to help save the life of Rocket. Mantis' ability to emphathize was beautiful in this film. And Drax who was always seen as stupid and useless could speak the language of those cute little children. And in the end we could finally understand Groot. I could go on and on about so many other points but this would easily become an essay. I rarely have cried at Marvel films but this one had gotten me bawling. It was that touching. I hope Marvel continues to make movies like that down the road.
So, I think Ms. Emmons makes an excellent point about why the early MCU films were great cinema. I think her point is considerably weaker when she tries to cast the more recent films as failures on that scale. Guardians 3 is an excellent case-in-point. Another would be Shang-chi and the Legend of the 10 Rings, or the Spider-Man: Homecoming and Spider-Man: No Way Home films. (And, to be honest, I think there's a great character arc in Ms. Marvel, too; it's just shuffled out of order.)
And it was good. But it was James Gunn's swan song. It wasn't really an MCU film.
@@macmcleod1188Which isn't neccessarily a bad thing, considering the current state of the MCU.
@@Akitrom actually, those films reinforces Ms. Emmons' point; Guardians trilogy are character driven around the theme of family and Spiderman trilogy is about responsability. Most of the latest movies in the franchise lack character development and some even do character assasination. Being a strong empowered female is a trait, not character development. Of the three Marvels, only Ms. Marvel is the one with a character arc. Suri had a character arc, Riri hadn't. A lot of the remaining avengers are underdeveloped so we don't feel as invested as we were before
honestly probably the best movie they’ve put out since endgame. of course there is No way Home but that movie is just fan service
This part of Hollywood doesn’t allow showing flawed women with character arcs. “Girl, you’ve always been perfect. It’s the patriarchy that held you down.” Meanwhile, they continue to manufacture “Her-ohs” rather than flawed yet great “heroes.” They cater to a so-called fandom that then stays away in droves and double down by insulting the fans that loved the earlier work and paid good money to see and want more of it.
******* WARNING - CONTAINS SPOILERS! ******** Excellent analysis. I was saying to my (adult) son just the other day that "The Marvels" would have been SUCH a better movie if they'd just made it a "Captain Marvel" movie, and concentrated on the story of Carol's intervening years off-Earth. Clearly, she struggled with adjusting to the reality of how and when to use her superpowers (as she had no "Avengers" surrounding and advising her), made a tremendously rash decision in dealing with a problem, nearly committed genocide, and earned herself the title of "The Annihilator". Then she was compelled to spend a score or so of years trying to figure out how to undo the damage she'd done. THAT could have been a GREAT movie!
Honestly, the only character that I feel worked better than any other in the Multiverse Saga is John Walker, the U.S. Agent. Unlike most new characters, he actually goes through a character arc.
Yeah. I have always pointed out the potential the character has.
@@abraham2172Sadly, when he appears in Thunderbolts, they're probably just gonna flanderize him into a one-dimensional psychopath.
@@Wolffman109 Could be. We must wait and see.
Peter Parker as well.
@@DurgeshSingh1Yes, but Spider-Man was a returning character. U.S. Agent was a brand-new character to the MCU.
This is also why I love what they did in series like Daredevil, his struggle through the whole series and how he faces it is amazing to watch, unlike most of what they have been doing lately
I love the Netflix Daredevil and cringe at the thought of what Disney might do to the character.
I am waiting for Disney to ruin what Netflix started. If his appearance on "She-Hulk" is any indication, then we again will suffer through another intolerable disappointment.
“Narcissistic themes disguised as self empowerment”. Excellent! ❤
The way I see it, Jon Favreau is king one-eye in the land of the blind. He seems to be the only person at Disney who understands the absolute basics of storytelling, namely how to introduce a likeable hero-protagonist, EG by giving them specific flaws to overcome and concrete goals to achieve. This is not especially groundbreaking stuff, so it is all the more shocking how badly Disney dropped the ball in their attempt to replace all the fan-favourite phase one heroes with their new and diverse counterparts, because all they had to do was follow the formula Favreau left them. It seems to me a large part of the problem is ideological: the current crop of writers and producers apparently reject the notion that a hero should have weaknesses to overcome before they can save the day, so instead we get variations on the same non-story where it turns out the heroine was already perfect all along and their one obstacle was society holding them back for no good reason. It doesn't make a good story because it isn't analogous to any real-life struggles people face; in reality people are *very* rarely perfect and perfectly right in every conceivable way, and when they are, it is even rarer for the rest of the universe to align against them out of irrational traditionalism or misogyny or what have you. The new Marvel formula as exemplified by Captain Marvel is simply unrecognisable to normal people, not to mention lacking anything meaningful to convey WRT morality, so it just feels pointless and alien. Not to mention, you really only need to see that template once or twice to get it, so applying it to all the new body-snatcher characters makes it even worse.
You're 100% right. The story should not be about the hero fighting the bad guys but the inner struggles that the hero is facing and the bad guys can be there to help reinforce those struggles. Did you not see Guardians of the Galaxy 3 where Rocket has to struggle with his past and the villain of the movie is a huge piece of the past without being the whole conflict.
But ultimately it's about Hero fighting and defeating Bad guys that's the whole essence without that Superhero genre is nothing
@ashajacob8362 no kidding. Did you not read a word I said? Lol.
Guardians of the galaxy 3 was the last good Marvel movie
@Chris-gw2xg so far. We don't really know how good Deadpool 3 or The Thunderbolts or any of the other future marvel movies are gonna be. I just got done watching The Marvels and I'll describe it as average. It's right on the same line as Ant-Man, Doctor Strange and Iron Man 3 where the movie is good but not great. The movie is very impactful for the future of the mcu though.
@@Chris-gw2xg GOTG 3 was one of the last Marvel movies. smh
I think Marvel lost me when they didn’t have the third plot point for Bruce/Hulk. Imagine, right after the blip, Bruce goes to a psychologist, and he starts shouting at Hulk, blaming Hulk for killing half the universe, because the Hulk never showed up to fight Thanos. And Hulk comes out and starts shouting at Bruce, and back and forward for 30 seconds. Then you focus on the psychologist, who is frightened beyond belief, white knuckling his chair. And then after a bunch of shouting and shadow shape changes on the psychologists face, you turn the camera to Professor Hulk, the complete Bruce/Hulk fusion. “Sorry doc,” He says. He throws a card, “If you need repairs and danger pay, call the Avengers”. And as the card flips in the air, you see the word Avengers, and then just see the word Avengers against a black background and then End Game appears… Alas, that would have been too boring according to Kevin Feige, he said the therapy session was too boring to share. Maybe they should have hired me!
Hulk had the most anticlimactic ending to a story arc I've ever seen. If they'd actually shown Bruce and Hulk accepting each other, like you just did, that would have been perfect. But like Tony and Steve just making up, it happened offscreen. That's insulting.
@@dannypalin9583 They made a lot of mistakes in the end of phase 3. And there’s only been one or two gems in phase 4. The problem is Disney has widen their scope way too wide. Phase 4 had about the same amount of content as Phases 1-3 in about the same amount of time. Nobody can do that, not even Disney! It made all the content too stale!
Wow, disney should really see this video. You hit the nail on the head. May I leave comments about your video on other channels?
The reason i don't care about new superheroes is because i don't feel connected with them. All they do is comedy. Recent superhero i never thought i would love is Loki. Loved the new loki season.
I think pre-Endgame MCU has great heart. Each personal series feels like it’s on thing but also feels like they are made to be together as a whole, and I feel like that’s brilliant writing.
Yeah, I mean, that might be why the shows have better writing than the movies. Whenever there’s a tie-in I roll my eyes but for the most part the Phase Four stand-alone series’s all work even without the Marvel label at all.
I wouldn't go that far. There were a few gems like Iron-man 1 and CA: Winter Soldier, but most was mediocre like the Thor Movies.
Great insight. So many writers just don't get these simple but vital storytelling elements anymore. You're right that they never go out of style.
Agree with analysis about the central stories being powerful. Redemption, sacrifice, belonging. But the elephant in the room is masculinity. Its more interesting and relateable to see the contrast between vulnerability and masculinity. Frailty and insecurity doesn't work well with Ms. Marvel, Ant Man. Masculinity of Captain Marvel is never contrasted with Frailty or vulnerability. She is Captain Marvel ALL THE TIME. No weakness or alter ego. Shes on 10 always. In contrast Kate Bishop is vulnerable always and no masculinity. The only female characters that have masculinity and vulnerability are Black Widow, Scarlet Witch, Gamora, and they are going that direction with Shuri. These are the female lead characters EVERY MCU wants more of. They killed off Black Widow, made Scarlett Witch a villain (she was AWESOME by the way, completely believable and invoked fear like, how the hell can she lose which is what you want from all villains), and killed off Gamora and made her a freakin ravenger!! Daughter of Thanos!! With She Hulk they may be on to something if they stop making her into a horn ball and could introduce real conflict for her character like they did with Hawkeye. Their only hope for great leading female character is Shuri. Lets hope they involve her more in these MCUs and there is NO WAY im buying a ticket if MCU tries to make Shuri a sidekick to Ms. Marvel, Kate Bishop, Spider-Man, Thors daughter, She Hulk, Shang Chi, or AntMan!!!!
This is by far the best explanation on why Marvel has lost its way. Most KZheadrs sit there and laugh at Marvel and really don't explain the problem in depth like you have. Thank you. And I hope that you're new series that you are writing will be extremely successful
I love that you focused on worked in the older movies, instead of just rambling why it's so bad now ;)
I'm so glad that you mentioned Shang Chi, because its the one film I point to that gives me hope for the future. The formula isn't difficult if you care for each character in ways you've outlined. Shang-Chi also got back to forming the "connective tissue" previous phases in the MCU mastered. Unfortunately its been almost 3 years since Shang-Chi successfully debuted and the MCU has literally gone no where since. "The Marvels" will be a sobering experience for Disney execs.
how many origin stories have there been in phase 4? film wise? isn't he the only one? and he hits the same beats as the other origin stories? how strange.
Not even having record low box-offices have sobered Disney executives & those pushing ESG & DEI!
I didn't see anything great about shang chi but glad you enjoyed. The last truly great marvel film was infinity wars...imo
@@projimboMalthusianism is brain dead stupid though. The ONLY way that could make Thanos NOT regarded is if he was secretly trying to prevent Celestials from being born. But that clearly was not Thanos’ reasoning.
When Guardians of The Galaxy was announced, everyone thought it would be Marvel's first flop, since the team wasn't well known at the time. But it ended up becoming one of the most beloved teams in the whole MCU. So I do think every character has potential and deserves a chance... Well... Of course, there's some exceptions with people like El Muerto but Spot was also a D-Tier SpiderMan Villain (less than El Muerto but yeah) that turned out great and iconic in the movie, so yes: give everyone a chance, instead of rushing your heavy-hitters and announcing something like an X-Men Movie as soon as possible without any good plans for it.
Thor is by far my favorite MCU movie (well, and Guardians!). I love how Thor’s immature masculinity is crushingly humbled. It’s SO painful! I get that. But the reason the movie works (the first reason) is because he FEELS the pain. He allows himself to be broken. To be despondent. To be hopeless. It’s real. Just like what we go through in real life. The second reason the movie is so potent is because he grows. He’s reborn out of his own ashes. As his father demands, he literally becomes worthy. There’s a Yiddish term, mensch, that means to do the right thing. No matter what. Because. Ironman did it. Thor did it. Cap did it. Their bold claims to right action galvanize their “heroic” natures. It’s not their powers that are “super”. It’s their spirits This is the defining hallmark of the Infinity Saga. Staking it all on the line because it’s the right thing to do. Natasha is seeking to clean her red ledger. Hawkeye the same. Banner is trying to protect humanity from his demons, while serving in the same breath. Dr Strange does a straight up old Western stand off with Dormammu. T’Challa embodied moral conviction…..and Chadwick defined proud humility. The MCU used to work because every primary character stood up for the right damn thing, put their lives on the line for it, went to the depths of personal hell and back. We loved the MCU, because the characters and their PERSONAL VICTORIES inspired and taught us how to be
You are AMAZING. You really helped me understand the underlying reasons I loved the old MCU and find the new MCU to be lacking.
Especially She Hulk with 'that' scene where she basically lectures to and talks down at the audience (the male audience specifically) using poor Bruce Banner as a proxy for the audience
It's not just the MCU either. Star Wars follows the same pattern. Luke struggles against his disbelief, Solo grows up, etc etc etc. A very similar pathway.
Brilliant exposition and appreciation of those films. It is rare to see a KZhead video about movies where the person use intelligence, reasoning and common sense instead of trivial thoughts. Thank you. Just one observation, “. My sister and I”.
Absolutely PHENOMENAL analysis Abbie! Just came across your channel and subscribed and liked this video. I believe the people that work on the MCU films definitely NEED to see this video!
It’d be very ironic (and good I guess) if The Marvels redeems itself. I’m still bummed at how they handled Carol in her movie. Like, that’s not the character I’ve known for years in the comics
It is since they made her Captain Marvel
To be honest, Brie Larson's attitude towards the og actors / actresses of the franchise was always going to have people dislike her character regardless if they made a good story or not.
@@cahe6161I was gonna say 😂 God I miss Carol Danvers Ms. Marvel. At least we get to look forward to Rogue fucking her up.
I’m glad you’re going in with optimism. I find it funny that movie-fans who pray on certain shows and films to suck, always, funny enough say it sucked. Weird…almost like there’s a connection there or something. We just have to find it…
MCU Captain Marvel is just a terribly written character. The whole plot revolves around the idea that she is absolutely perfect, and that everyone around her is the issue and hold her back from her true potential. Which is just toxic as hell. “I’m not crazy, just everyone around me is” A character is suppose to be flawed, relatable, and with an arc. Captain Marvel has no arc. It’s just people getting blown out of the way so she can be amazing.
Marvel belongs to Disney. And when Disney makes a movie/tv series these days not the plot and characters comes first but a check box system that implements diversity and the - in their opinion - right presentation of female impowerment. This means they need to fulfill a diversity quota first, regardless of whether that diversity makes any sense in the world building. Secondly it’s not allowed to give the female characters any flaws cause that would make them look weak in the eyes of Disney and that’s something thats need to be prevented at any cost. Again they ignore the writing rule that flaws and weaknesses are very important aspects in order to make a character appealing, believable and likable. The female characters Disney creates don’t grow over the course of a story. And since they’re owerpowered and not allowed to lose the (generally male) antagonists usually appear weak from the beginning, without exuding strength and a feeling of respect at all. Combine that with generally weak developed plots filled with conveniences and plot holes and you have a modern Disney Marvel movie.
Hi Abbie. I think one of the problems with Marvel is before Disney took over they were not afraid to take risks & have passion for comic book heroes
I'm amazed that Marvel makes films that are majestic but not balanced, not about the CGI, not about the actors, but about collecting many elements to direct those elements into a sustainable balance. starting from iron man until the next phase. Marvel balanced it all out at first but they kind of ran out of ideas or got stuck in their own formula
Another crucial factor that these modern types don't seem to comprehend is that the hero MUST struggle. This was the common thread in ALL the great action movies until the last decade. ps: Iron Man restarted what I would argue was started by Toby McGuire's Spiderman.
Thank you SO MUCH for making this video. I am a Marvel reader from the mid-sixties forward and you have absolutely hit the nail on the head. REDEMPTION is what this world needs, not anger not revenge not seeking money power or anything else that vanishes into dust when we leave this life. Praise God for your integrity and willingness to stand and tell it like it is. I am so proud of you and your message!
A flawed female/diverse character in a Marvel movie? Unthinkable!
Kate Bishop?
Glad I found your channel! I have a story in my head that I want to put on paper and I’d love to learn how to do this from a writer.
Many people blame Disney for making Marvel only about money and not about good movies, but to be honest it's very common for a company to first gather the audience with good things and later only hold it by the old attachment they developed and new promises they can tell even without having to make a big effort.
Which has been happening for a long time
It's more like out of touch studio execs not understanding what made the first few phases so good in the first place The first avengers was a fun simple movie. It had all the quips and jokes that we associate with marvel, but they felt more like workplace humor and banter than anything else. The story was simple, but very tightly written and paced. The characters were simple, but were given just enough depth that made us want to know more about them in future movies. But it seems like the studios learned the wrong lessons from it. So now the movies feel like bad comedies with a constant barrage of terrible quips and jokes thrown around regardless of whether it's appropriate to the situation, and the writing and characters suffer because of this.
You made a great argument for the reason the newer MCU movies are not as good. You are very right. The movies took the time to let us connect to flawed characters on their journey to understand their powers and become better people. Now, we get flashing lights and instant expertise with extreme attitude. I definitely have to go back a look at my novel and ask those four questions. Thanks
Good video with sound logic. Its interesting to see that these new heroes all externalize their flaws and challenges. They are perfect, its the world and everyone else that holds them back. The characters share their lack of self reflection with their writers, who lash out at audiences for not enjoying the product - they feel that the audience is to blame and not their own poor writing.
The earlier films at least took in consideration the characters’ storyline into account when making them. Which in turn, made fans feel cared for.
Age of Ultron was a master piece compared to anything that's in phase 4 & 5.
I saw, "Age of Ultron was a masterpiece," and I felt my blood pressure soar, but the I read the rest of your comment, and I realized that was the most accurate thing to be said about Marvel.
@@jeaniusbeforenine Age of Ultron is a masterpiece compared to: Wandavision? Loki? No Way Home? Guardians 3? Yeah. No.
@@gannonkendrick9343WandaVision and Loki are not as good as the other two 😂
@@gannonkendrick9343 Guardians 3 : yeah.... No Way Home : it's good bcoz a nostalgia bait and Sony took control (I think) Wandavision & Loki : Relax bruv, It's far from a masterpiece Age of Ultron connected/open the path to Avenger Infinity war/Endgame Wandavision connected to Dr Strange MoM just sayin.
Every time I watch AoU it seems like a better movie, genuinely. I forget what the criticisms of it even are.
I think the best character stories we’ve had in phase 4 would be Peter Parker’s and Bucky Barnes. I really like how their characters have been handled on this side of the MCU. But 2 out of the dozens that we’ve received? Yeah, it’s a let down. I’m really hoping they start picking it up again because this was always my favourite franchise and I’d hate to see it end on a bad note
Representation will always be important. It's important that women get as much time to shine as the men do. And I most certainly think that Marvel should tackle issues like sexism, racism, and such. Remember, X-Men is isn't just a superhero story. It's a civil rights tale. Captain America fought against Nazis in World War 2. Iron Man touched on the struggles of alcoholism. Peter Parker is a broke teenager who still has to pay rent. In the Marvel Universe, sending and telling a story goes hand in hand. Just like any story. But lately, Marvel hasn't told their stories properly. Their most recent films have suffered from bad writing, poor special effects, and bad storylines. They're also pumping out too many characters in general and not fleshing them out. When creating these characters, they shouldn't just throw them into the stories and call it representation. Audiences need to be able to resonate with said characters. I personally like Ms Marvel, aka Kamala Khan. Like me, she's a big geek. And a cosplayer. But more importantly, she is a young woman just navigating through life. They definitely nailed that aspect in Ms Marvel. I definitely think Marvel can find it's footing again. It needs to set itself in the right direction first.
I think the key secret to Marvel's early success was great casting! I mean, as in absolutely stellar casting. Pulling off a Luke Sywalker, Han Solo and Princess Leia is really hard to do. But take that pressure and times it by 5, that was Marvel's Ultimate Challenge. Bit where Marvel and Disney really f*cked up is they got arrogant like really arrogant. They didn't appreciate how good Robert Downey Jr., Chris Hemsworth & Chris Evans really were as the anchors of the whole Marvel Universe. I mean seriously they made nearly 10 stand-alone movies not including the Avengers just from those three characters 😂❤ And just an addendum in Thor I felt the overarching theme was 'family'. Because for Thor and Loki this was the key to their character/s arch.
As a former manager at a movie theater, the marvel movie vibe definitely changed. I was for the back end of the MCU dynasty, the environment was, “Hey let’s get away from the world for a while and watch a marvel film”. Now it’s like the MCU is putting its worldly problems into its films. That’s not why people go to the movies, they want to get away.
It's hard to expect moral integrity from a company that is (imho) morally bankrupt; especially when moral integrity is in high demand.
wow! you have really pinpointed the real reason why marvel recent films are failing. Thank you. They really have taken the heart of the marvel superhero stories and replaced it only with equality and equity which is absurd.
Damn😢 you got me tearing up with your recounts of the 3 trailblazing marvel films.
Great video! I completely agree with your analysis of the decline in quality of recent Marvel movies compared to the Phase 1 films. Not to mention that the total neutering of male characters in movies and a extra height of perfect female characters is a HUGE reason why those movies aren't doing well. Your discussion on the vital themes of redemption, sacrifice, and compassion really hit the nail on the head regarding what made the earlier movies so engaging and emotionally resonant. The overemphasis on CGI battles and humor nowadays truly detracts from the heart of the superhero stories. Count me in as an excited fan waiting for updates on this project. I am on Patreon so my support is still coming your way ! :)
I love the falcon and the winter soldier, except for the last episode. But man, that show could have been so much more. Because damn, Sebastian did give it his best (my favorites are the deprogramming and the bar scenes). But putting his story of healing together with Sam's own story made the whole thing pretty convoluted. Should have been two separate arcs from start to finish.
Thank you for this. MCU movies have always been relatively simple and easy-watches, but most of the new ones make the old ones look like rocket science. As an MCU fangirl, it's disappointing that the male characters are more relatable than the female ones. I wanted more female characters into the franchise. But it *should've* gone without a saying that they're supposed to be well-written. Characters like Carol Danvers are really more plot points than characters. She's supposed to be strong, confident, and independent, but if those are true, she wouldn't need the cheap attachment to the Avengers' name.
Black widow and Scarlett witch are examples of well written characters, woke culture is destroying the mcu, we need woman characters but not bursting them in like crazy!.. Need them written well so we can feel for them... I real love black widow, even the evil girl is captain america and the winter soldier series was great written than c.marvel.
@@ukristohalisi9242 I'm a male, and I think my two favorite female MCU characters have to be Black Widow and Shuri. They aren't perfect and good at everything, but they're just well written characters that are caught in the middle of a compelling storyline
@@ukristohalisi9242 It's more capitalism than "woke". The worst part of these bad products is that diversity and feminist themes get badly associated, and assumed as cause, to them.
@@AnessaSellsHouses I think it was a mixture of both because we wouldn't have gotten a huge influx of 'diverse female characters' otherwise. But yes, they're tied together now. The moment I see the marketing of a show or movie focus on diversity or I see an unnecessary race swap, I'm going to reflexively assume it's crap and skip it. Unfortunately, I'm usually correct.
@@AnessaSellsHouses why would you say that Male characters being relatable are dissapointing? thats just sexist.
This was really fantastic. And you also said it in a very nice way. You’re much more tactful than I am. All of the Marvel movies that people loved also happen to have a ridiculously good looking male lead, absolutely jacked and ripped, incredibly powerful, an unapologetically heterosexual love interest who is also strong, supportive, and also worth caring about…. Now, the focus is “diversity“ and women kicking ass…. While being intensely unlikable.
They forgot that people bond with characters because they relate to them and understand them, not simply because they're strong, female, LGBT+, different race, or something else. Of course, diversity is important and it is great to have a diverse character (Black Panther, Miles Morales, etc.) as a lead, but not to the point that you sacrifice the quality of the story, the narrative, emotional weight, character development, acting, heart/soul, and the WRITING. People want quality products, NOT quantity products.
You said the quiet part out loud. They want the money from 99% of the fan base but the writing is pandering to 1% of the fanbase. The actual percentages may be slightly different but you understand the point.
Very well said
One thing I think they did a good job of is was Captain Marvel. Because Carol Danvers in the comics is pretty much a badass and does it really crack jokes. Also know she's not really known from smiling and having a sense of humor
I think this channel is the only KZhead writing channel that is giving good, solid writing advice.
Abbie is fantastic. I also recommended veteran author Jerry B. Jenkins as well. His advice along with Abbie's has helped tremendously.
What about Terrible Writing Advice by J.P Beaubien too
Abbie's channel is excellent of course! If you're looking for others, I recommend Quotidian Writer, Bethany Atazadeh, and Hello Future Me. Each has something unique they bring to their videos.
Jenna Moreci is also excellent.
@@wowkir lol
I've been wondering about this for a while now but could never really put my finger on why the older movies were better. I think I grow new brain cells every time a watch one of your videos; they're the best
DARN IT. I was hoping to see a Grease reboot with Will Smith as Danny and Caitlyn Jenner (so brave) as Sandy
Perfectly put, love your channel
"Marvel has taken the 'hero' out of 'superheroes.'" You put it so well!
Like supes from the boyz,a really good observation.