Summary
- Realistic and believable visual effects are crucial for immersing audiences in the MCU's action-packed stories. Quality should not be compromised in future projects.
- Balancing emotional moments with light-heartedness is key to creating impactful and accessible storytelling. Marvel Studios must find the perfect balance between comedy and drama.
- Every good MCU project requires an attentive director who can leave their personal touch and creativity on the film. Directors play a vital role in the success of the franchise and should be given appropriate creative control.
Over the last fifteen years, Marvel Studios has developed the massive Marvel Cinematic Universe by following these cardinal rules for success and learning from their mistakes when the rules have been forgotten. Since the MCU kicked off with 2008's Iron Man, the franchise has grown exponentially, and now spans over forty projects in film, TV, and animation, each marking huge developments for the characters and the world of the MCU. Even though the MCU is the most expansive and successful superhero franchise of all time, Marvel Studios has made mistakes, but these can be learned from, helping to improve projects in the franchise's future.
Since the MCU started in 2008, Marvel Studios has produced some of the most successful superhero movies ever, but many of the MCU's projects have also been met with criticism. Even so, every mistake made is an opportunity to learn, which means the MCU's projects should keep getting better. Over the course of the MCU, several key elements have presented themselves that, if followed, may be the key to delivering successful projects every time. While some of Marvel Studios' recent projects have neglected several of these cardinal rules, there are hopes that the remaining Marvel movies in 2023 and beyond can bring the franchise back to form.
10 Visual Effects Must Be Realistic & Believable
When adapting stories from Marvel Comics into the live-action MCU, Marvel Studios needed to ensure that everything on-screen looked as realistic and believable as possible, allowing audiences to become fully immersed in the action. A huge part of this fell on Marvel Studios' CGI and visual effects artists, as some of the stranger-looking characters, such as the Hulk, Thanos, and She-Hulk needed to look real. Unfortunately, VFX artists were stretched thin during the MCU's Phase 4, which meant the quality of several projects was impacted, so this is something that Marvel Studios must pay extra close attention to in the franchise's future.
9 Emotional Moments Need To Be Balanced With Light-Heartedness
Marvel Studios has always ensured that the MCU has been family-friendly and accessible to a wide range of audiences, which led to the integration of comedy into the often-dramatic storylines. The MCU's humorous moments usually heighten the impact of the emotional stories, most notably in Avengers: Infinity War and Endgame, which focused on a traumatic event but still utilized comedic scenes to soften the blow. This has sometimes been exaggerated too much, such as in Phase 4's Thor: Love and Thunder, but these criticisms only mean that Marvel Studios needs to rediscover the perfect balance between emotional impact and comedy.
8 Every Good MCU Project Needs An Attentive Director
If it wasn't for the painstaking work of visionary directors behind the camera on every MCU project, the franchise would have tripped at the first hurdle. Jon Favreau was perhaps the perfect choice to direct Iron Man, and since then, directors such as the Russo Brothers, Destin Daniel Cretton, James Gunn, Peyton Reed, Chloé Zhao, Jon Watts, Taika Waititi, Ryan Coogler, and Sam Raimi have put their stamp on the MCU. Although Marvel Studios has often been criticized for not giving their directors enough creative control, the personal touches of each director can still be felt in every MCU project, and hopefully, this can increase in the future.
7 Heroes Need To Have Clear Character Growth
Marvel Studios has introduced dozens of complex characters into the MCU since it began, making it difficult for them to get their fair share of screen time and character development. Even so, this is paramount to creating successful MCU projects, as it's great to see heroes grow and change over several years. Most notably, characters such as Black Widow and Hawkeye arguably didn't see enough development in the early days of the MCU, but they eventually received their own solo projects, which fleshed out their stories further. The MCU's heroes need to have clear journeys in every project so that the franchise can keep moving forward.
6 Villains Must Pose A Real Threat
While the MCU's heroes might always be the focus of the narrative, they'd be nothing without powerful and terrifying villains to battle. Unfortunately, Marvel Studios hasn't always delivered these formidable foes, as the likes of Justin Hammer, Whiplash, the Mandarin, Malekith, and Ghost seemed more like inconveniences than true threats. Nevertheless, villains such as Ultron, Thanos, HYDRA, and Kang the Conqueror have presented true threats to the MCU, and this has only made the heroes' victories even more satisfying. The importance of a strong villain cannot be forgotten, particularly as the MCU is inching closer to the Multiverse Saga's epic conclusion.
5 Character & Story Must Be Prioritized, Action Comes Later
It's probably difficult for Marvel Studios to avoid using flashy action and massive CGI battles in the MCU's projects, particularly since Marvel Comics thrived on the vivid colors and huge battles. However, bringing characters into live-action means that they need to feel like real people, which means that a lot of work needs to be done on character, and this shouldn't be sidelined. The MCU's stories only make sense when characters make believable decisions based on their own personalities and thought processes, yet several recent projects - most notably Phase 5's divisive Secret Invasion - have neglected this. Action is great, but it shouldn't come at the expense of character development.
4 Marvel Studios Isn't Afraid To Explore Superhero Team-Ups & Crossovers
Creating intricate and realistic characters has another added benefit for the MCU: each can show off their different personalities when they're brought together in crossover events and team-up movies. Marvel Studios' Avengers projects have become some of the most successful films of all time, and have provided the MCU with some of its most entertaining moments as every hero battles for the spotlight. The joy of a shared universe also means that individual characters can pop up in others' solo adventures, including Doctor Strange in Thor: Ragnarok and Bruce Banner in Iron Man 3. This potential to establish connectivity shouldn't be ignored.
3 Storylines Cannot Be Spoiled Before The Film's Release
Marvel Studios has delivered some major shocks over the course of the MCU, including seeing Earth's Mightiest Heroes fail in Avengers: Infinity War, Iron Man's sacrifice in Avengers: Endgame, and three versions of Peter Parker coming together in Spider-Man: No Way Home. These twists are always more impactful if they haven't been spoiled before the project releases, which means Marvel Studios needs to be careful what is being revealed in set photos or in actors' interviews. Tom Holland and Mark Ruffalo have regularly been the biggest offenders of spoiling storylines, but the MCU's projects are always more enjoyable without having any preconceptions of what's to come.
2 MCU Movies Need To Have A Strong & Committed Cast
In the early days of the MCU, the core cast signed on to multi-picture deals, ensuring they'd appear in several stories to keep consistency and continuity in the MCU. However, this hasn't been the case in recent years, leading to the MCU Phase 4 being widely regarded as the MCU's most disconnected era. Actors who sign on to be part of the MCU usually do so with the understanding that they'll likely be asked back in the future. This means the MCU's cast needs to be fully committed to the franchise, just as the likes of Robert Downey Jr., Chris Evans, and Chris Hemsworth were in the MCU's earlier projects.
1 MCU Movies Must Connect With The Wider Franchise
Keeping the cast consistent is one way to establish continuity between every MCU project, which is paramount to the success of the shared universe, but the MCU's storylines also need to make sense in the wider franchise, especially since they could potentially inform the projects that follow. A great example of this is how Phase 4's WandaVision set up the Scarlet Witch as a villain for Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, or how most projects in the MCU include Easter eggs to those that came before. This level of connectivity is crucial to the Marvel Cinematic Universe, so shouldn't be ignored when Marvel Studios' projects hit theaters.
