So...what now?
Seriously, they have spent four years and all these movies have been building up to this one event, which was indeed successful, but now it's all over. Most people will not see Avengers more than once in the theatre, and based on its box office success we probably won't see a DVD release until at least the fall (which, granted, is not all that bad and I'm sure the DVD is gonna be awesome, and damn skippy I'll be first in line for it). But even then, I'm left thinking about what is going to happen now that this one movie changed the game.
What I'm getting at is that there might be something rotten in the state of Asgard.
First, let's get the obvious out of the way: Marvel has officially kicked DC's ass out of the multimedia game. There was a chance, before Superman Returns karmically failed (see my X-Men 3 address for the story) and Green Lantern facepalmed its way into The Abyss, where DC and Marvel could have had a good race for the better general movie franchises. The X-Men movies were getting worse and worse, mediocre films about B-Level heroes were getting pushed out (The Punisher, Daredevil, Ghost Rider), and the bigger name hero movies were failing (Hulk, Fantastic fucking Four).
Amidst the mediocrity came Batman Begins and Spider Man, the crown jewels of DC and Marvel respectably. By 2008, Batman Begins was viewed as the best Bat-movie made up to that time, and Spider Man 2 probably received even more praise than that. 2008 changed everything with The Dark Knight and Iron Man. Basically polar opposites of each other, both got ridiculous acclaim and attention, with TDK making more money than God and changing the way people approached Comic Book movies forever. Iron Man flew a little more under the radar (ironically, considering the differences between Iron Man and Batman), but started the Avengers movement leading us to the now of things.
Like I said, there was a lot of potential for there to be a close race between the companies, even after Avengers-planning had begun. But after four years and so many misfires, DC had two things going for it: Dark Knight and Smallville. And guess what? Both are done. Smallville ended in pretty much the worst way possible, and Dark Knight Rises gets released in a couple of weeks, and that is going to be a BIG FUCKING DEAL. But once that happens they have nothing. Nothing, and staring down the barrel of upcoming releases the likes of Iron Man 3, Thor 2, and, of course, Avengers 2. I'm sure DC will attempt to make a comeback (and that I will enjoy it because maybe they will actually try), but it looks bleak, which is hard for me to say because I'm a DC guy at heart.
Amidst the mediocrity came Batman Begins and Spider Man, the crown jewels of DC and Marvel respectably. By 2008, Batman Begins was viewed as the best Bat-movie made up to that time, and Spider Man 2 probably received even more praise than that. 2008 changed everything with The Dark Knight and Iron Man. Basically polar opposites of each other, both got ridiculous acclaim and attention, with TDK making more money than God and changing the way people approached Comic Book movies forever. Iron Man flew a little more under the radar (ironically, considering the differences between Iron Man and Batman), but started the Avengers movement leading us to the now of things.
Like I said, there was a lot of potential for there to be a close race between the companies, even after Avengers-planning had begun. But after four years and so many misfires, DC had two things going for it: Dark Knight and Smallville. And guess what? Both are done. Smallville ended in pretty much the worst way possible, and Dark Knight Rises gets released in a couple of weeks, and that is going to be a BIG FUCKING DEAL. But once that happens they have nothing. Nothing, and staring down the barrel of upcoming releases the likes of Iron Man 3, Thor 2, and, of course, Avengers 2. I'm sure DC will attempt to make a comeback (and that I will enjoy it because maybe they will actually try), but it looks bleak, which is hard for me to say because I'm a DC guy at heart.
So why is this bad? For the zero wrestling fans that will read this and understand this reference, wrestling was redefined by a neck-and-neck competition between WCW and WWF, resulting in the best possible product it could present. It was glorious. Then one day the war ended: one company bought the other, and people stopped giving two shits about how good the product was because they knew there were no other options. This is what I am afraid of. It is easy for a director like a Nolan or a Whedon to legitimately care about their work, but for a company like Marvel (or Disney, really) to maintain that enthusiasm in a fight they have already won years down the road when Avengers 2 is ready to go? The pessimist in me does not think Avengers 2 will live up to the original.
Let's move on to the Superbowl Syndrome (patent pending).
'But Knight Owl, what ever is the Superbowl Syndrome?'
Oh, I'll feed you, baby birds. Every year I watch several months and many games worth of a season of football to come to an exciting playoff exchange and then the big climax in the Superbowl. There is a lot of anticipation and build up in that time: following teams, becoming emotionally invested in wins and losses. An inexplicably and unjustifiably large amount of time is devoted to this, even though it has that expiry date in the Superbowl and then the whole thing starts from scratch the following fall. Now. I'm not sure about most people, but I can't really think of a Superbowl that had lived up to my expectations fully, or even justified all the time I spent prior to that event preparing for it in so many ways.
I'm not saying that Avengers didn't live up to expectations because it did, very much so. But think about how you'd feel if the football season leading up to the Superbowl was FOUR GODDAMN YEARS LONG. The thing happens, and it's great...but then it ends. Loki. Shwarmas. Done. Would you be sad? I was a little sad. Maybe not the first or second viewing, but after the third or fourth I realized it was over until the next big game. So, sadness after witnessing the end of the conclusion of an culmination of a significant amount of time and investment=Superbowl Syndrome. Tell your friends.
'But Knight Owl, what ever is the Superbowl Syndrome?'
Oh, I'll feed you, baby birds. Every year I watch several months and many games worth of a season of football to come to an exciting playoff exchange and then the big climax in the Superbowl. There is a lot of anticipation and build up in that time: following teams, becoming emotionally invested in wins and losses. An inexplicably and unjustifiably large amount of time is devoted to this, even though it has that expiry date in the Superbowl and then the whole thing starts from scratch the following fall. Now. I'm not sure about most people, but I can't really think of a Superbowl that had lived up to my expectations fully, or even justified all the time I spent prior to that event preparing for it in so many ways.
I'm not saying that Avengers didn't live up to expectations because it did, very much so. But think about how you'd feel if the football season leading up to the Superbowl was FOUR GODDAMN YEARS LONG. The thing happens, and it's great...but then it ends. Loki. Shwarmas. Done. Would you be sad? I was a little sad. Maybe not the first or second viewing, but after the third or fourth I realized it was over until the next big game. So, sadness after witnessing the end of the conclusion of an culmination of a significant amount of time and investment=Superbowl Syndrome. Tell your friends.
My last big issue to address is the question of what's going to happen with the new characters that have been established? Sure, there's Captain America, Iron Man, and Thor that are all set up, but what about the other kids in the class? I'm sure Fury will pop up every now and again with Agent Robin Sparkles at his side, so no big there. But Widow and Hawkeye? Probably not. I do not think that 'Black Widow and Hawkeye Strike Back' is going to be a thing any time soon, which is a little too bad because I enjoyed their perspectives in this over-the-top world of gods and giants, being two just plain people who are pretty and shoot things.
The big question mark for me is The Hulk. This guy made the movie for me and pretty much everyone else as I understand, and in my opinion it was because it was the first time he was done RIGHT. The movies where he was solo were both two hours of melodrama and 15 minutes of FUCKING HULK SMASH! In Avengers there was a hint of that melodrama, but it wasn't his reason for being or his driving force. He wanted to help out, and he straight up knocked the gig out of the park. As both Banner and Hulk, he was entertaining, convincing and interesting to watch. Throw in a bit of slapstick comedy and you have yourself Hulk as he was meant to be seen. Now based on that, do I want to see a Mark Ruffalo-led Hulk standalone? NOOOOOPE. Let's face it, Hulk was awesome because there were people he could play off of. Banner hangs out alone because he's scared to death of killing ALL OF THE THINGS but he's cool around the Avengers because they can give him a run for his money. Lose them and it becomes another pity party for Bruce Banner and his stretchy pants. If it happens, I'll see it. If it's good, I'll eat my words. But for right now, history is on my side for this round.
The big question mark for me is The Hulk. This guy made the movie for me and pretty much everyone else as I understand, and in my opinion it was because it was the first time he was done RIGHT. The movies where he was solo were both two hours of melodrama and 15 minutes of FUCKING HULK SMASH! In Avengers there was a hint of that melodrama, but it wasn't his reason for being or his driving force. He wanted to help out, and he straight up knocked the gig out of the park. As both Banner and Hulk, he was entertaining, convincing and interesting to watch. Throw in a bit of slapstick comedy and you have yourself Hulk as he was meant to be seen. Now based on that, do I want to see a Mark Ruffalo-led Hulk standalone? NOOOOOPE. Let's face it, Hulk was awesome because there were people he could play off of. Banner hangs out alone because he's scared to death of killing ALL OF THE THINGS but he's cool around the Avengers because they can give him a run for his money. Lose them and it becomes another pity party for Bruce Banner and his stretchy pants. If it happens, I'll see it. If it's good, I'll eat my words. But for right now, history is on my side for this round.
Welp, that's it people. The Avengers is a thing and I am very, very happy about it. If I were smart enough to just live in the 'right now' and pay no nevermind to what's up ahead, I'd have no complaints. I could be very wrong about everything here, but I can very much see myself walking out of Iron Man 3 and saying, 'It was good, but it wasn't Avengers.' That phrase scares the shit out of me because I can see myself saying it a lot.
Let's face it, comic book movies can only really exist among themselves until they pull a Lord of the Rings and win an Oscar or some shit and truly legitimize the genre, but not even I want that to happen. Right now, I don't see myself comparing Django Unchained to Avengers, nor am I going to think about how much the new Superman movie coming out next year is NOT like The Artist (HATE). Keep it that way. At this point all I can say is that The Avengers is awesome and has changed everything. Watch it. Watch it again. Enjoy a shwarma, and we'll wait and see what happens.
Let's face it, comic book movies can only really exist among themselves until they pull a Lord of the Rings and win an Oscar or some shit and truly legitimize the genre, but not even I want that to happen. Right now, I don't see myself comparing Django Unchained to Avengers, nor am I going to think about how much the new Superman movie coming out next year is NOT like The Artist (HATE). Keep it that way. At this point all I can say is that The Avengers is awesome and has changed everything. Watch it. Watch it again. Enjoy a shwarma, and we'll wait and see what happens.
Knight Owl
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