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Final Writing Assignment
Final Writing Assignment
Joao Baylon
12/7/22
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“There was an idea: To bring together a group of remarkable people to see if they could
become something more.” These are the words that would light the fire of the leading juggernaut
of entertainment for the last decade and a half. At this point, Marvel Studios is almost
synonymous with Hollywood. Many people nowadays can’t remember a time when the likes of
Iron Man, Captain Marvel, and Black Panther didn’t regularly grace the silver screen. Though
this wasn’t always the case, as not that long ago Marvel was not much more than a struggling
comic brand. I may have always known of them through a childhood filled with their comic
backlog, but general audiences didn’t know that much about the larger Marvel Universe.
However, through a carefully crafted plan, Marvel rose like a phoenix from the depths of near
bankruptcy and bolted into the pop culture stratosphere. Though at the time I was young,
nevertheless I was there from the inception all the way until today. And the impact of their
Marvel had many hurdles to overcome if they were to make their mark. The comic
company was truly struggling throughout the 1990s, to the point that they were risking
bankruptcy. To try and recoup some cash, they sold off the film rights to multiple characters and
franchises movie studios deemed marketable. Daredevil, the X-Men, and the Fantastic Four, as
well as any characters adjacent to those franchises created prior and onward, such as Elektra,
Silver Surfer, Doctor Doom, and Deadpool, were sold to 20th Century Fox; The Punisher was
pawned off to LionsGate; Blade, who would end up being the first of these sold off characters to
receive their own feature film, was sold to New Line Cinema; The Incredible Hulk and Namor
the Submariner were given to Universal Studios; and finally, Ghost Rider and, more importantly,
Spider-Man and any Spidey adjacent characters created before and since then (Morbius, Venom,
Miles Morales, etc.) were sold off to Sony Pictures, who still own the rights to this day, though
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the Ghost Rider rights have since gone back to Marvel. At the time, Marvel had no real interest
in making their own films, rather splitting the profits of films made by other studios. That all
changed, however, after the successes of the likes of Blade (1998), X-Men (2000), and especially
Sam Raimi’s Spider-Man (2002). Marvel got the wake up call they desperately needed. And so,
in 2007, under the guidance of one Kevin Feige, Iron Man went into production. It wasn’t
smooth sailing from there, though. The film had a lot going against it at the time: the character
wasn’t exactly a household name, the Marvel brand had lost its Hollywood luster over the years
due to increasingly mediocre films, and the film’s star, Robert Downey Jr., was very
controversial at the time. Yet despite all of this, the MCU truly came out swinging from the start,
as critics and audiences around the globe praised Iron Man upon its release in 2008, calling it a
refreshing take on the traditional origin story. For instance, in The New York Times’ review of
the film, titled Heavy Suit, Light Touches, they point out how surprisingly down to earth the
movie was, saying that “It is not quite the real world, but it’s a bit closer than Gotham or
Metropolis.” Of course, as we all know now, things would only go up from here.
But let’s take a break from the history lesson so I can explain why I’m talking about these
larger than life heroes. The larger Marvel universe has been a part of my life for as long as I can
remember, and then some. I’ve even seen photos from when I was a baby of birthday parties with
Spider-Man balloons and Wolverine plates. Of course, these were all before I truly gained
consciousness. Once I learned how to talk and read, my shelves began to fill up with second
hand Marvel Comics, either from my mom who used to collect them, or from a cousin who
worked at a local comic shop. Obviously, most of them consisted of the big characters most
people were aware of: your Spider-Man’s, your Hulk’s, your X-Men’s, etc. However, I also
owned a few issues that introduced me to characters that would stick with me for the rest of my
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life, like Black Panther, the protector and king of the fictional African nation of Wakanda; the
Fantastic Four, the first family of comic books, and of course the billionaire playboy
Speaking of which, while I didn’t always keep up with it, nevertheless I was there when
the MCU first took form. Granted, I was only 5 when Iron Man came out in theaters, so I wasn’t
exactly frothing at the mouth to go see it in theaters. I only found out about it later, since my dad
brought some totally legal movies on DVDs from trips he took to Peru. But after seeing it once,
forget it. I would rewatch the movie so much that I eventually messed up the disc it came on and
my dad had to get me another one. After reading about so many of Iron Man’s adventures, seeing
him brought to life for the first time by the talented Robert Downey Jr. was such a surreal
experience. Eventually, my dad got me the DVD for 2008’s The Incredible Hulk for my 7th
birthday in 2010. While today I’ll gladly tell you that the movie is mediocre at best, back then I
absolutely loved it. And let me tell you, the excitement that coursed through my veins when I
saw RDJ’s Tony Stark pop up at the end of the movie to discuss “putting together a team” was
indescribable.
Now, let’s get back to Marvel Studios’ exploits. Iron Man wasn’t just a one and done
movie. Rather, it was the first part of a carefully crafted plan put together by the aforementioned
Kevin Feige, the head of Marvel Studios. This plan was to slowly, but surely, plant the seeds of a
more connected world throughout more films, which included 2008’s The Incredible Hulk,
2010’s Iron Man 2, and 2011’s Thor and Captain America: The First Avenger. Throughout these
movies, audiences began to catch on that these were all connected, displayed greatest by the
thread that sewed these stories together: Samuel L. Jackson’s Nick Fury character, who
constantly referenced the putting together of a team. And, in May of 2012, audiences would
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finally get to see the fruits of Fury’s, and to a greater extent, Kevin Feige’s labor as The Avengers
released, becoming a worldwide box office record setter. This movie brought together the six
heroes of all the movies that came before to form what is now one of cinema's most iconic
ensembles: Iron Man, played by Robert Downey Jr.; Captain America, performed by Chris
Evans; Thor, portrayed by Chris Hemwsowrth; Mark Ruffalo playing Bruce Banner and his alter
ego, the Hulk; Natasha Romanoff, the Black Widow played by Scarlett Johansson; and last but
not least, Clint Barton, AKA Hawkeye portrayed by Jeremy Renner. These six protagonists came
together to stop Thor’s evil brother, Loki (played by Tom Hiddleston), from taking over the
Earth. Viewers around the globe were enthralled by their true first taste at what this cinematic
universe had to offer, with an enticing promise of more to come. Coincidentally, around this time
is also when the acquisition of Marvel by the Walt Disney Company, first announced in 2009,
finally became official, thus financial limitations were no longer a concern going forward. All
these factors combined led to more creative endeavors, such as 2014’s Captain America: The
Winter Soldier and Guardians of the Galaxy. Thus, over the span of almost a decade, Marvel had
grown an unwavering audience who would come to see what the next part in this ever evolving
Even back then, anticipation for this movie was high, as nothing on this scale had ever
really been done in the world of cinema. Audiences all over the world were excited for what
Kevin Feige and the Marvel machine had cooked up, myself included. Up until that point, I had
only ever seen Iron Man and The Incredible Hulk. But after I saw the trailer for the movie, I
knew I had to watch the other movies. My parents bought the DVD’s for the remaining movies,
which were Iron Man 2, Thor, and Captain America: The First Avenger. I’d watch these movies
over and over again, making sure I knew everything I needed to know for the upcoming
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blockbuster. And eventually the day came, and for the first time ever, me and my dad actually
went to the theater to see the movie, and on opening weekend at that. That day is one I will
surely never forget. To this day, I can’t describe the feeling I had seeing these characters I had
been reading and watching since before I could even talk on the big screen teaming up together.
Ever since then, I began to fall more and more in love with the Marvel brand. Obviously,
it was a big bonding point for me and my dad, since he first gave me the comics when I was
little. But after The Avengers, it became our tradition to see every Marvel movie on opening
weekend. Of course, all these movies only strengthened my interest in the comics even more. At
this point, I would be getting at least 2 physical comics every month. This is when I became fans
of even more characters, like the new Ms. Marvel Kamala Khan, Hawkeye’s successor Kate
Bishop, the Ultimate Spider-Man Miles Morales, and my personal favorite Marvel character,
Matt Murdock, the Daredevil. On top of that, I was able to start making more friends through
Marvel. I wasn’t very social up until a few years ago, but starting in high school, my love for
Marvel allowed me to meet the people who I now consider my best friends. We bonded over
having seen the movies when we were younger, and even some of them also read the comics. In
fact, the one of the first times I recall going out with this group was seeing Avengers: Infinity
War opening night after class. And while we’re on the topic of that movie in particular…
It seemed like nothing could stop the bullet train that was the Marvel Cinematic
Universe. Everything was going right for them: slowly but surely, they were reacquiring the
rights to all the characters they had sold; their biggest possible competitor, DC Comics’ attempt
at a cinematic universe had flopped; they had even struck a deal with Sony to include arguably
their most popular comic character, Spider-Man, in the MCU. And, of course, their movies were
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nonstop hit after hit, with the likes of 2016’s Doctor Strange and Captain America: Civil War,
2017’s Spider-Man: Homecoming and Thor: Ragnarok, and 2018’s Black Panther. Of course,
their biggest success comes in part to how they manage to connect all these movies in small but
meaningful ways. As noted in HBR’s article Marvel’s BlockBuster Machine, they get audiences
hooked for the next story “by putting “Easter eggs” in its current releases that suggest a future
product without giving away the story”. After years of buildup, however, the saga that started all
the way back in 2008 was nearing its end. Announced in October of 2014, Avengers: Infinity War
Part I and Avengers: Infinity War Part II, later renamed to Avengers: Endgame, promised a
crossover of epic proportions while also concluding the current story arc that the movies had
been building up until this point. They would see the Avengers, alongside newer heroes such as
Doctor Strange, Black Panther, Captain Marvel, Spider-Man, and the Guardians of the Galaxy,
try and stop the Mad Titan Thanos (played by Josh Brolin) from collecting the six Infinity Stones
in order to wipe out half of all life in the universe. Infinity War and Endgame were released in
2018 and 2019 respectively to unprecedented acclaim. The linchpin films of the MCU were both
massive successes, with Avengers Endgame even going on to become the highest grossing film
ever, albeit only for a brief period of time. However, Marvel Studios wasn’t only succeeding on
the movie front. Also in 2019, after years of back and forth negotiations, Disney had finally
acquired 20th Century Fox. Many outlets reported on how this would make Disney as a whole
such a larger brand. However, NPR’s article Disney Officially Owns 21st Century Fox highlights
how this benefits Marvel Studios specifically, noting that the studio “will now also get Deadpool
and the Fox-owned Marvel characters such as the X-Men and Fantastic Four, allowing for the
full Marvel family to be united.” Since then, Marvel has gone on to release more successful
films, such as 2021’s Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings, as well as starting to make
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shows for the streaming platform Disney+, such as 2022’s Moon Knight. On top of all that, they
have announced even more projects in the works, such as a new Fantastic Four film, a third
installment of the Deadpool franchise, and even two brand new Avengers movies. Although the
story that began all those years ago with Iron Man had finally come to a close, the future of the
That being said, while I love Marvel ‘til this day, I’ll admit that I’m personally uncertain
about the future of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Of course, I’m excited that the likes of the
X-Men, the Fantastic Four, and Deadpool will finally join this grand universe. I watched the
original X-Men movies alongside Iron Man and grew to love those characters as well, so seeing
them interact with the likes of Doctor Strange, Spider-Man, and Daredevil is an exciting
prospect. Regardless, I feel Marvel has been a little directionless since Endgame, and while most
of their products have stayed at high quality, some of them felt like they weren’t trying. And in
an era where some of their multimedia projects are growing in scope and creativity, such as
recent comic arcs, or game’s such as the 2018 PlayStation 4 title Marvel’s Spider-Man, the
possibility of the movies stagnating and not trying new things will only become increasingly
more noticeable if they don’t try new things. Despite all of this, I’m still there opening night for
every movie, and tune in every Wednesday for a new episode of any of their Disney+ shows.
Because at the end of the day, I grew up with this brand and these characters,s o no matter what
With many projects announced and much more in the pipeline, the Marvel train isn’t
stopping any time in the near future. Of course, not every single move of theirs is a sure fire
success. They’ve had many missteps along the way, even recently. However, the fact that
audiences still stick around and have faith is a testament to the achievement that Marvel has
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accomplished. They’ve managed to go from a near defunct company that focused on a niche
corner of entertainment to the dominant force of pop culture around the world. Marvel has
forever changed the face of entertainment, and one thing is for sure: they aren’t going away
anytime soon.
References
Scott, A. O. (2008, May 2). Heavy suit, light touches. The New York Times. Retrieved
Schwartz, Matthew S. (2019, March 20). Disney Officially Owns 21st Century Fox. NPR.
https://www.npr.org/2019/03/20/705009029/disney-officially-owns-21st-century-fox
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Harrison, Spencer. (2020, February 13). Marvel’s Blockbuster Machine. Harvard Business
https://hbr.org/2019/07/marvels-blockbuster-machine.