May 2, 2008, is a date that should go down in history as one of the most important dates in pop culture history, as it introduced one of the most influential movie characters in all of cinematic history: Tony Stark. Through the chaos he experienced in the Middle East, quick-witted snarkiness and love of Burger King, we were introduced to the Marvel Cinematic Universe, a media franchise that revolutionized the way we look at and intake movies and pop culture.
Marvel brought a new life to Hollywood blockbusters by shattering box office records with every new release of mind-bending CGI, diverse characters and jokes and puns galore. It also mastered the art of long-term and consistent storytelling which kept audiences coming back for more as they wondered and speculated what would happen next to their favorite superheroes. Marvel has developed characters in a genuine way that makes these superheroes feel human and relatable to the average moviegoer.
This led to Marvel’s magnum opus when, after 10 years of fantastic world-building, hundreds of millions of fans began anticipating the releases of “Avengers: Infinity War” and “Avengers: Endgame.” In addition to the insane story building prior to their release, these two movies exhibited Marvel’s ability to make the stakes of this battle the highest they ever have been up until that point.
Instead of some run-of-mill Saturday morning cartoon villain, Marvel put the Avengers up against the eternal-deviant warlord, Thanos. He was the perfect villain for the Avengers to take on in their biggest movie ever and arguably one of the greatest written villains of all time. Don’t lie, you were either very excited to see this movie, or a friend made you tag along to a showing.
Another specialty of Marvel that makes it so extraordinary is that it grew up with the rise of social media and that allowed the MCU to grow a fanbase that no one had ever seen or will see for a long time. The impressive CGI and crazy fight scenes definitely helped it garner attention. But what made it so special is it allowed fans to always be in the loop about any news surrounding their favorite superheroes and debate with strangers about their favorite MCU films.
One final aspect of the MCU I find particularly intriguing is its subsequent downfall from its prime. Like an aging athlete and most other movie franchises, Marvel just can’t accomplish what it has done in the past. Marvel is different, however; it suffers from having too many resources due to its past successes. This resulted in Marvel making too many films in a short span, thus causing major audience fatigue that it may never recover from.
Many can agree that Marvel is far from its golden years and will most likely never ascend to the highs that it once knew. I hope we can realize that most movies today were shaped by the magnificence of the MCU and something like that doesn’t come around often. In my opinion, nothing will be as impactful to the world of cinema and blockbusters as the MCU ever again.
Quinn Elfers is a freshman studying journalism at Ohio University. Please note that the views and opinions of the columnists do not reflect those of The Post. Want to share your thoughts about the column? Let Quinn know by emailing him at me989022@ohio.edu.
