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Obert Opines: Guardians of the Galaxy and Marvel’s biggest problem

Dear Diary,

I had so much fun watching Guardians of the Galaxy 3, but I had even more fun playing Guardians of the Galaxy 3 with my brother.

I remember it like it was yesterday because it was yesterday.

“I call being Stakar Ogord played by Sylvester Stallone!” my brother and I said simultaneously.

Stakar Ogord

“No, I call being Stakar Ogord!” I said

“Rock Paper Scissors for it, loser still gets to be groot,” my brother said.

“Wait wait before we play, I want you to know I’m throwing paper,” I said.

“Fine, so am I,” my brother said.

We played Rock paper scissors for two hours. We both threw paper 1100 times in a row. Making direct eye contact neither one of us budged from paper, when I realized we were almost out of sunlight.

“Fine you can be Stakar Ogord, I wish Groot had more than one line,” I said.

 PS Diary here is my updated top 7 favorite performances of all time.

1. Robert Pattinson in Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (specifically tree climbing scene)

2. Sylvester Stallone in GOTG 3

3. Vin Diesel in GOTG 3

4. Vin Diesel in Fast and Furious

5.       Vin Diesel in 2 Fast 2  Furious

6.       Vin Diesel in Fast and Furious: Tokyo Drift

7.       Sylvester Stallone in Escape Plan

Bye Diary, stay super freaky, peace and love mate.

Marvel’s problem 

With a formula of compelling storylines, down-to-earth yet interesting characters and

witty humor, Marvel dominated the 2010s film industry. Using entertaining

crossover movies, Marvel convinced its fans it was necessary to watch every film to

stay in the loop. After the release of the very popular ‘Endgame’, marvel has

struggled to keep pace with some of their earlier classics. 

Many have theorized the reason for Marvel's downturn. Have the movies always been mediocre? Or have they simply fallen off? I think it’s something in between. 

Making superhero movies that surround characters who are relatable, quippy and often sarcastic was a great, and relatively original idea. However, that formula doesn't fit for every character, and after nearly two decades even the most hardcore Marvel fans have noticed the redundant nature of the MCU. 

When Quentin Tarantino came up with the revolutionary idea to depict criminals as everyday people talking about quarter pounders and foot massages in the movie ‘Pulp Fiction’, he didn’t say, “Wow, that worked! Now let me make 30 more movies exactly like that!”

 Not only have audiences caught on to the formulaic manner of the MCU, but it almost feels like Marvel is forcing square pegs into round holes. For Robert Downey Jr. and Chris Evans, actors with experience in comedies, the quippy nature of their characters works perfectly for them as actors, and makes sense for their characters. For Chris Hemsworth, it isn’t as easy to deliver one-liners or zingers to perfection. Additionally, the character of ‘Thor’, the god of thunder and asgardian, has no business being a relatable sort of character like Spider-man. For some reason though, Marvel insisted on having Thor be a Fortnite gaming and beer-belly’d shell of himself in ‘Endgame’ (I know Thor was coping, but I’ve never understood the 180 degree turn that character has taken for the sake of some laughs). 

Marvel’s main problem is that it lost its best characters and actors (Iron man, Robert Downey Junior, and Captain America, Chris Evans) and its solution has been to force actors out of their comfort zone to continue to get butts in seats at theaters. Now that Guardians of the Galaxy has come to a close, Marvel will be forced with the same problem, but will need a better solution.


Bobby Gorbett is a junior studying journalism. Please note that the views and opinions of the columnists do not reflect those of The Post. Want to talk more about it? Let Bobby know by tweeting him @GorbettBobby.

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