When Stan Lee and Jack Kirby, creators of Marvel comics, began intertwining the plot threads of their comics in the 1960s, it was an ambitious task. The two went about slipping one character after another into each other’s stories, making the narratives complex and creating ensembles. The web of interconnected stories and characters continues to grow to this day.
A similar, ambitious task was undertaken about 50 years after the comic book experiment, when producer Kevin Feige pitched the idea of linked superhero movies. A shy comic-book nerd himself, Feige built on Stan Lee’s comics to pull off a Stan Lee with his movies. And, though it seems like Avengers: Endgame brings down the curtains on over a decade of storytelling, it is, in effect, only a pit stop before this universe diversifies even further. As Endgame smashes box office records, it is cementing its position as a ‘marvel’ in cinematic history. The massive turnout can be largely attributed to the feat of keeping the movie’s premise a secret.
With Endgame, Marvel Studios has produced 22 movies—collecting upwards of $19 billion in ticket sales—and 11 TV series with Feige at the helm. The studio consists of a core six-man team of Feige and other comic-book nerds. When an idea for a film arises, a “lookbook” is made using references to the comics. Potential directors then get to pitch their vision for the movie, and how it would fit in the grand scheme of things.
These are mostly directors who had no recognisable work to show for. For instance, the Russo brothers, who directed four MCU films including Endgame, had earlier directed just two movies. One was the Owen Wilson-starrer comedy, You, Me and Dupree.
Much has been said about how the MCU changed the face of comic book-based films—the humour and prioritising character first, plot second and action, CGI and everything else later. But critical recognition came only this year at the Academy Awards, when Black Panther became the first superhero movie to be nominated for best picture and won three other Oscars.
Though the MCU started slow with mediocre films, these origin tales proved vital as they shared a subtle connective tissue that usually showed itself in the post-credit scenes. That phase peaked with the first Avengers (2012), when it brought the heroes together. By the time we reached Captain America: Civil War, fans had a dream lineup that included the much-loved Spider-Man. And when Infinity War (2018) came out, watching it felt like attending Comic-Con.
Endgame turned out to be curated fan service like the ongoing Star Wars trilogy. The cultural impact that the Marvel movies have had on kids of today can be equated with the Star Wars effort of the 1970s. The fan culture, in the MCU’s case, has not been limited to just memorable lines, costumes or cult characters, but has extended to conversation around exhaustive fan theories and the stories that have touched on social issues.
Feige remains tight-lipped about future plans, but has said that a lot will change now. With Disney launching their own streaming platform, Disney+, this year, many actors will reprise their roles in character-based shows. The Eternals, another set of heroes in the comics, are set to have their own story arc, possibly signaling a shift in focus from the Avengers. If Endgame marks the end of an era, it gives way to another era of content that would benefit from this giddy high, yet chart its own path with compelling stories.