This post is slightly ferocious, the point is not to make people mad or be an annoying contrarian. I find myself not really connecting to the MCU the same way others do. I thought it would be fun to highlight my reasons for disliking the MCU. Don’t take it too seriously since it’s only my opinion.
Caveats
This post is only about The cinematic universe. I have no opinion on the comics at all.
Second of all, I feel like I have to state my biases.
I read DC comics in my childhood and teen life. I am/was a huge fan of DC comics, their heroes and villains, I have never really gravitated towards Marvel in any way. I have never actively disliked Marvel, but I still can’t stand their movies.
I could make this post about why I don’t like the DCEU too, but I dislike Marvel films for different reasons than I do DC comics movies.
Lastly, I have not seen all of the Marvel movies. However, those I haven’t seen are from phase 4. I was caught up until recently.
The Good
Before raging too much about what I hate, I might as well talk a bit about the things I like about the MCU.
I admired their ambition, planning, and foresight. Having multiple different heroes introduced in their own movies and then come together in the first Avengers movies was actually fun to watch. I still remember seeing the first Avengers in theaters and having a good time and to this day that movie is something I look back on fondly.
Other Marvel movies I enjoy are
Winter Soldier, for being a solid spy movie with twists and turns, along with some kickass fighting scenes. The relationship between Steve and Bucky is an example of earned pathos.
The bromance between Steve and Falcon is also good
Iron Man 3
Yes, I like this one. First of all, I like it because Shane Black wrote it and he is very good indeed.
Second of all, I like it because it dared do something different, which it of course was punished for by the fans (typical). The fact that Tony Stark had PTSD from prior events is actually a really good and interesting thing to write into a superhero movie.
I also liked the twist with Ben Kingsley’s character and thought it was subverted well. But once again an example of clever writing being redcorned because of fan outrage.
The Bad
Let’s start with an overview of the characters I do not like
Captain America
The name itself is painful, maybe because I am not American and throughout my life, I have grown tired of the endless American patriotism. The Name feels like something from Team America.
He also fights with a shield which is inherently uncool if you ask me.
His powers are human yet superhuman. Not really cool.
Black Widow
WHAT?!?! An alien invasion! Fear not! We have a Russian Spy in thigh latex.
Thor
It’s not really good to steal a whole pantheon. You do not get points for creativity by straight-up stealing from Norse mythology.
The Villains
Marvel villains are also extremely underwhelming. I can’t think of a single good one besides Tinky Winky in the endgame. None of the villains stuck with me at all. They are all bland and forgettable because the focus is on the hero. The hero has to be the best and the funniest.
Do you know who Darren Cross is? No, I didn’t either, I had to look up what his name was. He is the villain from The First Ant-Man. He is an evil version of the hero just like Killmonger, abomination, Red Skull, and I could go on and on. Some would argue that the villains are not supposed to be good since it’s all about the heroes and their struggles and stories. You need a proper villain to push the hero to overcome something, if the challenge is not from a villain then where is it from?
Overall
Here are some pointers for what I overall do not like about these films.
First of all, I hate the dialogue. Every single character talks the same bloody way at this point. It’s all jokes and quips, and none of it is that funny.
Thor started out as this mythical hero character which he is (even though he is a ripoff), but later when Taika took over the Thor franchise he started talking like everybody else. He never takes anything seriously and all he does is joke. The Thor we meet in the first film is not the same as in Ragnarok. The digression of his character is also not “character development” since we don’t see him build to being a jokester in any of the other films.
Marvel movies have lost touch with themselves. When Thor throws the ball onto the wall and then hits himself, that scene is like a bad slapstick movie and not a superhero movie. When Zeus flickers his clothes off and one of the female characters literally faints, you sit back with a feeling of seeing a movie you are too old for.
The big one
By far my biggest problem with Marvel movies is that they feel like a chain, where every link in the frances is becoming less and less good/interesting/watchable. All the movies feel like it’s simply building toward the next one. It is a franchise where the whole is so much better than the sum of its parts. Every movie is weak and not worth watching on its own.
The movies take advantage of the idea that people love to see something/someone they like interact with something else they like. That is also why people geek out over easter eggs. It feels like they force references and characters into the movie to make fans happy.
I also don’t like how unwieldy the whole thing has become. A new person to the franchise would have to watch 20+ movies and God knows how many series. How many of those could be skipped? Well, none since they all contain references and information about the broader universe, but on a quality level, most of them are simply not worth watching.
My big problem is more with the idea of a shared universe. It is not Marvel themselves, but they are the ones who have perfected it for better and for worse.
I don’t like how movies have become like television. The MCU feels like a continuous series that you have to watch in order to see the next one. I personally am a big movie guy and don’t like watching TV series.
This is also why good artists can never work on a Marvel film. Because the important thing is to make something from a checklist.
You need to give this and that character this much screen time
You need these references
All characters need to have at least one dubious joke that is not funny upon reflection.
Conclusion
The characters are not to my liking, both in terms of aesthetics and overall coolness factor. I find none of them appealing and have no wish seeing them do anything.
My biggest problem is more with the idea of a shared universe and how everything has become a franchise.
When you make movies by committee instead of with visionary directors the art suffers. It becomes more important to feed the giant Hollywood machine than to make good movies.
The truth is I don’t really have anything against Marvel as a collection of superheroes. My problem is that they created a trend where everybody is making shared universes, and I truly believe that when creating such a universe the important part becomes how to set up the next film instead of making a good film here and now.
I realize that I come off as a bit of an elitist with this post and that is not my initiation. I have liked Marvel films in the past and I am generally not opposed to fun. The problem is also the fact that I don’t feel there is anything good being made and that the quality of films is worse than ever before. I would not have a problem with Marvel if I could watch something else, but I can’t, everything is bad.
If you like Marvel movies then that is okay, but don’t expect me to.