A Hero for Every Genre
Mixing Motifs in the Mighty Marvel Manner
Birth.Movies.Death. Avengers: Infinity War Commemorative Issue
By Jim Braden @jbraden6
When Iron Man and Thor meet for the first time in THE AVENGERS, Iron Man quickly appraises the God of Thunder and asks, “Doth mother know thou weareth her drapes?” The moment resonates not just because “ZOMG TEAM-UP!”, but because these two characters, drawn from their eponymous films, speak very different cinematic languages. These men are at odds not simply because one’s a Norse god and the other’s a billionaire playboy genius, but because one stepped out of a Shakespearean familial drama and the other rocketed in from a sci-fi action-comedy. Tony’s post-modern snark smashes into Thor’s pretentious prose with the force of an Adamantium claw against Vibranium shield, but somehow it works. Tony’s jibe is an almost direct acknowledgement of the fact that these characters come not only from different worlds, but different film genres entirely. “King Lear meets Robocop” is a tough sell, but somehow Marvel makes it click.
“I don’t believe in the comic book genre,” says Marvel Studios President Kevin Feige. “I don’t believe in the superhero genre. I believe that each of our films can be very different. They all happen to be based on Marvel characters and Marvel comics, but from a genre and a cinematic perspective, they’re all very unique.” To create thematically and tonally distinct films, Marvel hires the creative talent to best fit the desired genre. Who better to find the Shakespeare in THOR than Sir Kenneth “HENRY V” Branagh? Who could more confidently explore BLACK PANTHER’s themes of family honor and racial injustice (punctuated by epic right hooks) than Ryan Coogler, director of FRUITVALE STATION and CREED? Marvel’s record of matching the right directors to the right films demonstrates their commitment to maintaining quality, variety and unpredictability.
WINTER SOLDIER is the film that’s possibly the farthest removed from the standard superhero milieu, plotting a brainwashed Cold War assassin controlled by a hostile foreign entity. When directors Joe and Anthony Russo were asked what inspired the film, they cited ’70s geo-political conspiracy thrillers – including THE FRENCH CONNECTION and THREE DAYS OF THE CONDOR – as their prime influences. The Russo brothers even referred to their film as Three Days of Captain America, an apt comparison given the film’s close camera work, intense psychological conflict, and the far-reaching political implications for the Marvel universe.
By contrast, ANT-MAN injected high-concept comedy genre conventions into an otherwise straightforward superhero recipe. Scott Lang, aka Ant-man, is a small-time crook trying to do right by his young daughter. No higher calling, no desire to save the world. It’s a heist comedy, even down to the “one last job” trope. Though he’ll ultimately accept the mantle of a superhero, Scott remains a down-to-earth guy. The biggest thrill for him is going toe-to-toe with Falcon, himself a second-string Avenger. Later, in CAPTAIN AMERICA: CIVIL WAR, Falcon introduces Ant-man to Captain America, and the interaction is hilarious because it plays like squirrely Matt Damon from OCEAN’S ELEVEN meeting badass Matt Damon from THE BOURNE IDENTITY. WINTER SOLDIER and ANT-MAN couldn’t be more different in tone and style – for proof, imagine the climactic Helicarrier battle between Captain America and the Winter Solider being interrupted by the sudden appearance of a comically gigantic Thomas the Train toy crashing through the ceiling. When these characters join forces in the ensemble films, however, it’s these differences that make the story come to life.
Not only does Marvel introduce its characters in specific genres, but also keeps them anchored there. SPIDER-MAN: HOMECOMING is a high school coming-of-age story, but unlike the Sam Raimi Spiderman movies of the early 2000s – which couldn’t wait to get Peter Parker out of the classroom and into his costume – HOMECOMING centers on Peter after he’s discovered his powers and dipped a toe in the waters of super-heroism. His hero’s journey runs in reverse, exploring how a post-CIVIL WAR superhero returns to the life of a high-school student with real-life teen angst, relationship drama and familial responsibilities – everything you’d expect in a John Hughes movie. Even when Tony Stark offers him the chance to join the Avengers, Peter instead sends himself back to the minors, eschewing the superhero label and retreating to his own genre until the next time he’s called to join the bigger fight.
Without debating the relative quality of the DC Extended Universe and the MCU, it’s clear that Warner Bros took great pains to try a different approach than Marvel. While Marvel explored many different genres to built out its roster, DC fully embraced a single, definitive superhero model. Differences in powers and origins aside, the members of the nascent DCEU’s Justice League largely share a single personality and noble sense of higher purpose – altruistic gods soaring above humanity – and each DC film we’ve seen so far can only really be mapped to that single template. By contrast, the various genres that comprise the MCU’s oeuvre are more reflective of reality; of real people whose personalities, lifestyles and experiences create their own personal genres. We’re each the protagonists of our own stories, after all, and the MCU’s heroes embrace that notion.
What genres are left for the MCU to explore? Horror remains untapped, but possibly not for long. There have already been rumblings that Man-thing, Werewolf by Night, Morbius and a rebooted Blade could form a heroic monster squad battling their villainous supernatural counterparts. And after all, why not? Marvel’s risk-taking has certainly been richly rewarded so far.
AVENGERS: INFINITY WAR represents the culmination of everything the MCU set out to accomplish 10 years ago. Marvel is running every play in the book this time out – super science and mystical sorcery, aliens and gods, and the whole damn thing will come together in a supernova of contrasting sensibilities. INFINITY WAR will surely be a box office juggernaut bigger than, well, Juggernaut. Even if it doesn’t meet every impossibly high expectation, it’ll still be like nothing we’ve ever seen, in any genre.
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