On the recent successes of Marvel's Cinematic Universe

Jeremy Renner as Hawkeye in Avengers: Age of Ultron (2015)

Chris Evans as Captain America and Chris Hemsworth as Thor in Avengers: Age of Ultron (2015)

Mark Ruffalo as The Hulk and Robert Downey Jr as Iron Man in Avengers: Age of Ultron (2015)

Aaron Taylor-Johnson as Quicksilver and Elizabeth Olsen as Scarlet Witch in Avengers: Age of Ultron (2015)

Scarlett Johansson as Black Widow in Avengers: Age of Ultron (2015)

So last week I got the chance to see Marvel’s latest gamble in film making, Guardians of the Galaxy, and it was amazing. Marvel continues to exceed my expectations with the diversity of their film franchises. Almost every film I think won’t be exceptional proves me wrong, and in this case I’m glad that I have been proven wrong.

It all started with The Avengers (2012). Avengers to me seemed like a bad idea. You already had Iron Man (2008), The Incredible Hulk (2008), Iron Man 2 (2010), Thor (2011), and Captain America: The First Avenger (2011) preceding it, all of them giving backstory and fame to each of their titular characters (and in the case of Nick Furry and Black Widow, their secondary characters). It just didn’t look like it would work in my eyes. Each of these characters were developed prior to this film, some of them played by big name actors like Robert Downey Jr, Scarlett Johansson, and Edward Norton (although he didn’t reprise his role). I predicted that the movie would rely too heavily on you having seen the previous films and that Downey would overpower the other leads with his star-power. This wasn’t the case. The Avengers was a perfectly well-balanced film that didn’t just assume that the audience knew everything about the previous ones and went the extra step of further developing each character in a logical and compelling manner.

Chris Hemsworth as Thor, Robert Downey Jr. as Iron Man, and Chris Evans as Captain America in The Avengers (2012)

Next came Captain America: The Winter Soldier (2014). Watching all the trailers, I had low expectations for this film. I saw explosions, a dark blue Captain America suit with little red or white, and little story. I wasn’t intending to go see the film in theaters when it came out, but one day I was trying on jeans at Kohl’s when I got a text from my friend Joey who asked if I’d like to go and see it. I agreed, and I saw what is so far my favorite movie of 2014. Captain America: The Winter Soldier continued in the vein of Avengers and succeeded in my book for two reasons: It used minimal CGI (see my rant on CCP’s tumblr, I used this as an example of CGI done right) and it didn’t fall under the typical mold of a superhero film, instead acting as more of a political thriller. It proved that superhero films weren’t just about the action or the effects.

Chris Evans as Captain America in Captain America: The Winter Soldier (2014)

Finally, Marvel proved me wrong with it’s most recent endeavor, Guardians of the Galaxy (2014). Whereas I had low expectations going into Avengers and Captain America, I had no expectations for Guardians and that was simply because I did not even know what to expect. It was a superhero movie, starring the guy from Parks and Recreation with Bradley Cooper voicing a raccoon and Vin Diesel voicing a tree. I had never even heard of the Guardians prior to this film. It seemed like such a whacky concept that I didn’t know what to think except that it could be a huge flop. But… at the same time if Marvel could make it work, Guardians would open up a whole new world for their cinematic universe. Just like how Captain America proved that the genre didn’t have to just be action/adventure, Guardians proved that Marvel could mix a perfect comedic superhero movie.

Chris Pratt as Peter Quill in Guardians of the Galaxy (2014)

Now comes my next concern: Can Marvel make Avengers 2 work? Avengers: Age of Ultron is set to come out in May 2015 with great expectations placed on its shoulders. Marvel made four movies this year, three of which proved to be some of their strongest works yet (let’s just not mention The Amazing Spider-Man 2… shhhhhhhh). Age of Ultron provides one concern for me, which is plausibility. Can lightning strike twice? Will the reason for the Avengers reassembling be worthy of another movie? Not only that but the same Avengers as the last time? To be fair, they did reunite a few of the Avengers in their standalone movies, such as Captain America and Black Widow in Winter Soldier, or Iron Man and Hulk in Iron Man 3, but will this work? I guess we will just wait and see.

In closing, I may have a few misgivings on Avengers 2, but with the way Marvel movies have been going, I think they have a good chance of making quality movies for years to come, and believe me, they’ve planned them out for several years. There are even rumors that Guardians of the Galaxy was the first step in establishing the plot for Avengers 3!

Avengers: Age of Ultron, scheduled to be released on May 1st, 2015