OPINION: THE MARVEL CINEMATIC UNIVERSE HAS ACHIEVED THE PERFECT FORMULAS FOR SUCCESS

OPINION: THE MARVEL CINEMATIC UNIVERSE HAS ACHIEVED THE PERFECT FORMULAS FOR SUCCESS
By
Logan C.
It has become known as one of the biggest and influential cinematic universes in the history of film. What started as the Marvel Cinematic Universe, or MCU, began under the supervision of Marvel Studios and president Kevin Feige it featured a motley crue of Marvel superheroes, each with their own amazing stories. After eleven years, the MCU has shown no signs of slowing down, furthering its legacy for years to come. Join me now as the MCU Series examines how Marvel achieved the perfect formulas for success. 
(This is the final part of my three-part “MCU Series”. If you want to view any of the other parts, the links for those will be posted at the end of this article. In addition, this article will expand on areas covered in different posts, so some of this may be familiar to you.)
Formula #1: The Vision & Timing
In 2005, Marvel and Kevin Feige, then second-in-command to Sony producer Avi Arad, had visions for a cinematic universe featuring some of the most well-known characters from comics we read growing up. From the beginning, Marvel & Feige envisioned the franchise to appeal to a younger audience by incorporating and blending humor with a lot of action and drama. As time went on, this vision proved to be a hit with audiences of all ages. Why? Because of the timing for the beginning of the franchise in Iron Man & The Incredible Hulk. Tony Stark & Bruce Banner barely made it by the skin of their teeth as the Great Recession of 2008 was brewing for several months when these two films premiered. Had these two films been released in December of 2008 and January 2009 respectively,  the audience and financial windfall would have been minimal  during the economic downturn. 
Following the crash, studios were more risk-averse than ever and they were prepared to take risks on tentpole movies to try to make profit. Marvel was the perfect company for the new cinematic landscape, because Iron Man & Hulk provided what audiences wanted more than anything during 2008: an escape from turmoil and the ability to have a good time at the movies in the worst of circumstances. It could even be inferred that Marvel had the financial crisis in mind when they set the release dates for these two films.  According to the National Association of Theater Owners, there were box office gains in six of the eight last recessions (Riesman, 2018) and according to NATO (not that NATO) member Patrick Corcoran, “People seek relief in forgetting their problems, so they go to the movies, and it is the least expensive form of entertainment” (Riesman, 2018). Throughout the years, the MCU has become a franchise that had and still has escapism at its forefront and it is very likely they will not change that mentality. By my book, it has achieved the perfect formula for its vision and timing.
Formula #2: The Execution
Piggybacking off the vision a little bit, MCU had to tackle how to execute juggling humor with action and drama. In its earlier stages and subsequent phases afterward, execution includes the ability to establish character arcs for the main heroes and villains. This in turn, played a role in setting up the tone for each film; Iron Man is a special example as it laid out the overall tone for each film after it (The Incredible Hulk can be seen as having less humor due to it being the lone film produced by Universal). To me, Marvel has achieved the perfect formula for execution because of its unwavering ability to stay true to it; Feige and company makes sure the movies are not too campy nor too serious and full of drama. The MCU has acquired the rare ability of hitting a happy medium.
Formula #3: The Pace of Development
The pace of development in a cinematic universe is very crucial toward its potential for success. In part 2 of my series, I compared the MCU and Universal’s Dark Universe using this technique: the slower the pace of development, the better the chance for the films to be executed as properly as possible. In a very big landslide, the MCU wins in this category.
Carrying over into the marketing formula, early films in the franchise such as Iron Man & The Incredible Hulk were developed and marketed like pure standalone films that hid any hints of franchise world-building and interconnectivity in the post-credits scenes. It wasn’t until films like Iron Man 2 & Thor began referencing events of earlier and future films in loose connections. Having solo films featuring members of the Avengers before the Avengers came together is a surefire indicator of a slow pace of development for the franchise. One example to note is the fact that  Iron Man & The Incredible Hulk were released in May and June of 2008 and Iron Man 2 was released in May 2010. The nearly two-year gap highlights the fact that proper execution and long-term franchise planning was essential toward Marvel’s potential for success.
As later phases came in, the pace of development for the MCU and world-building increased in favor of interconnectivity and long-term planning. In addition, it expanded to allow the chance to take risks with lesser-known characters and with expanding beyond the big screen to TV shows. This part is worth noting, as Marvel is trying again to expand continuity after their original round of shows on ABC, Netflix and Hulu were not connected to the films. 
Now with all three phases in the books, the MCU has achieved the perfect formula for pace of development. This is because Marvel and Feige emphasize the importance of the “slower the pace” formula and of long-term planning. This continuous execution of these techniques has led to tremendous box office success. According to Rotten Tomatoes, the MCU is the first franchise of its kind to have its audience consensus and critic consensus percentages almost identical to each other; 82.1% compared to 83.8%. This makes the MCU special in its own right.
Formula #4: Marketing
The marketing aspect is another area where the MCU excels. Beginning in phase two, the franchise began expanding into television (see the above section under “pace of development”). 
Continuing with their mentality for trailers, Marvel continued to reveal the film piece by piece with each trailer that came out and the promotions game was really stepped up with each phase. Every film included promotional materials ranging from custom backpacks to T-shirts to being able to grand marshal the Daytona 500 and a fake travel site called Galaxy Getaways. 
By being involved so heavily in the marketing, it gives Marvel the ability to appeal to several different types of audiences, especially with younger demographics. I think Marvel hit the perfect formula for marketing because of their ability to appeal to everyone, including people who have heard of the characters but have not seen the films. 
Conclusion
Overall, I believe the Marvel Cinematic Universe has achieved all the perfect formulas for success and that it would have never gotten to where it is today if it did not spend plenty of time and thought on its vision, execution, pace of development and marketing. There is no better cinematic universe in film today.
Links to other parts:
Part 1: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-qpa2-8MVh8
Part 2: https://www.facebook.com/permalink.php?story_fbid=529881694351918&id=100019902758741
Citations:
https://catcherinthewryblog.wordpress.com/2019/03/20/marvel-marketing-phase-two/
https://www.vulture.com/2018/08/how-the-2008-crash-shaped-the-marvel-cinematic-universe.html
https://editorial.rottentomatoes.com/article/amazing-tomatometer-stats-from-the-marvel-cinematic-universe/