Marvel Studios and the fourth phase of the Marvel Cinematic Universe has been under heavy critique. Not only did its recent releases face a lower CinemaScore than previous entries, but as they experiment and try out new things, people are feeling a bit aimless in where it’s all leading. Well, directing duo Anthony and Joe Russo, who had a hand in shaping some of the biggest entries of the MCU, offered their thoughts on the matter.
Anthony Russo highlighted some of the critiques that recent Marvel movies aren’t breaking records like previous entries, which stems from the belief that their success metric is reaching at least a billion, which is technically still an uncommon action for any other franchise or film. Well, Anthony Russo believes that Marvel simply had such a success that even a slight sophomore slump is being turned into the end of an era.
The overwhelming success of those movies has caused them to represent something that has become ‘other,’ or maybe not attainable to some others for whatever reason. Not every movie has to be liked globally.
Anthony Russo
While his brother Joe Russo pulled in a comparison with his own relationship to the band U2. Especially highlighting how people tend to act towards any medium that reaches a certain point of popularity.
When I was 19, I used to love U2. And then they started getting some commercial success, beyond their MTV early days, where they were the biggest band in the world. And I was like, ‘I hate U2. I’m sick of U2. They’re so ubiquitous!’ That was just my ego trying to define myself against the masses. Then, 10 years later, I was like, ‘I fing love U2. Why did I do that?’ I outgrew it. It feels like a very juvenile conversation. The whole thing feels sad and cynical and pessimistic. You’re talking about movies that 10-year-olds are weeping over and begging to go see. They’ll remember for decades that they were there with their grandfather. Like, give me a fing break.
Joe Russo
The medium has definitely reached young and old, especially for those that found a way into comics and film through these projects. While some will point at these films as expendable and forgotten, there are definitely people that are now locked in a nostalgia for the Infinity Saga, as they face a new future and direction. We’ll see if perhaps SDCC or D23 have what the MCU fans have been waiting for.
Source: Hollywood Reporter
