It's the Marvel Phase 3 Slate!

[Umbran]

My hope is that Marvel alters it's formula now; the movies are starting to feel very formulaic to me.

Yes, well, the comics are very formulaic, too. Though, to be honest, I think what we see is really just Three-Act structure (or maybe 5-act, with really short dénouement?). They have a big climax at the end - and when you're dealing with superheroes, that climax is going to be a big old fight.

For me, Marvel's had about a 50% hit rate with the combined universe slate - Cap1, Thor1, IM 2 & 3, the first Hulk were all misses for me. IM1, Cap2, Thor2, Avengers, were all hits. GotG would have been a hit in isolation, but I'd reached peak formula by that point.

The two latest Spidey flicks were both misses, as were the two F4 flicks. Wolverine bores me senseless now, but there's most recent X Men movies were excellent.

So 50/50ish in all. I can live with that, but they do see to change things up a bit to retain my enthusiasm.

Of course, the Spider Man and X-Men movies aren't under Marvel's control, so Marvel cannot alter the formula on those. But if you find the formula is driving also through those movies, it may be more an issue of genre than anything else - how else do you do something that's a clearly in the spirit of the comics, but looks different?

And Hulk... Hulk was clearly experimental. Ang Lee could not decide if he wanted to make an action movie, or a turgid drama, tried to split the difference, and ended up with a lumbering monstrosity. The second was better, but still not great.

 

[Kramodlog]

If you're going to do that, just go for broke and have the entire Marvel Cinematic Universe be a dream sequence of a young boy who fell off a ladder and hit his head. Audiences *hate* the, "erase the established history" resolutions.

Meh. Everyone on the web hates everything.

I find that done well it would be a great soft reboot.

 

[Kramodlog]

Dr. Strange has been cast.

Surprise! He is Khan!

 

[Morrus]

Yes, well, the comics are very formulaic, too. Though, to be honest, I think what we see is really just Three-Act structure (or maybe 5-act, with really short dénouement?). They have a big climax at the end - and when you're dealing with superheroes, that climax is going to be a big old fight.

Nah, Nolan's Batman trilogy didn't feel similar or part of that formula. I don't think it's quite that simple. I wish I could define what I mean more precisely.

Of course, the Spider Man and X-Men movies aren't under Marvel's control, so Marvel cannot alter the formula on those. But if you find the formula is driving also through those movies, it may be more an issue of genre than anything else - how else do you do something that's a clearly in the spirit of the comics, but looks different?

No, I don't feel those movies follow that formula, either. The formula is all the shared universe stuff and GotG. My observation about the forumula is separate to my observation about things being a 50% hit rate.

Anyhow. I expect that the plan is to change the formula a bit now, in order to pre-empt audience fatigue. I hope so, anyway!

 

[delericho]

Nah, Nolan's Batman trilogy didn't feel similar or part of that formula. I don't think it's quite that simple. I wish I could define what I mean more precisely.

Cracked had an article about this a few months back. Amongst other things, it pointed out that Avengers, Iron Man 3, Thor 2, Cap 2, and GotG all climaxed with a large multi-front battle, almost all featuring a large-scale threat from the sky.

 

[Morrus]

Cracked had an article about this a few months back. Amongst other things, it pointed out that Avengers, Iron Man 3, Thor 2, Cap 2, and GotG all climaxed with a large multi-front battle, almost all featuring a large-scale threat from the sky.

I never noticed that! But yeah, that is undoubtedly part of it. I like their theory that all the next bunch of movies are going to end on ESB-style downers.

 

[Jester David]

Bit in the past, but still excited for the news.

I like that while everything is connected and in the same universe Marvel continues to try new genres. Black Panther, Doctor Strange, and the Inhumans should be very different than their other films. But since they're off doing their own thing it allows those movies to succeed or fail on their own. They can get a little more experimental knowing that the movie will automatically have *some* draw, so while it's in the same continuity, it doesn't have to be a sequel. And it's nice having fewer sequels during the summer.

Unlike some detractors, I don't believe that a bad movie will kill the Marvel films. That's the strength of the mega-franchise; if Guardians of the Galaxy had been terrible, they just wouldn't have greenlit a sequel and everything else progresses normally. It encourages different films.
It's a change from other franchises that suffer from the ability of a bad film to kill the franchise's momentum. You can see that with Bond, Batman, the Terminator, Alien, Spider-man, and so many others. They go strong, a bad film happens, and the franchise has to go sit in a corner for a while until the licence is due to expire.

 

[trappedslider]

here's the full and corrected picture showing all of the releases planed for the MCU phase 3



<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-cards="hidden" lang="en"><p>Apparently, the Inhumans' calendar's a few days off from ours...here's the right version of the Phase 3 MCU timeline! <a href="http://t.co/Zw1xfjeOAq">pic.twitter.com/Zw1xfjeOAq</a></p>— Marvel Entertainment (@Marvel) <a href="https://twitter.com/Marvel/status/534472544087064576">November 17, 2014</a></blockquote>
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