Now That is Some Odd Criticism

It is right now unquestionably the time of the Super Hero Movie, as for over a decade now movies based on comic book Super Heroes have been dominating the box office, with the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) becoming one of the most, if not the most, successful film franchises ever. and despite some rather random claims, there is no sign of this winding down any time soon.

As a fan of the MCU, having seen every one of the films in the theater opening weekend, I have enjoyed them all.

Some time someone trying to be bluntly critical of the MCU film started using the term 'The Marvel Formula', making the blanket claim that most of the MCU follow the same story telling formula for each of the their films. The basic ideas is that all the MCU films share the same structure, trying to imply a lack of creativity in the films.

So here is what is claimed as being the marvel Formula:

Having a villain similar to the hero - Yes this does happen, but it is far from being in every film and it also fits with the basics of comic book rivalries. The idea of Iron Man fighting villains who are also armored has been there since his comic started. Thor fighting Loki... Gods fighting other gods... Yeah that's been around for some time now, a little while before comic books if I am correct. The Hulk fighting another gamma powered giant monster... A good deal of Hulk's villains have always been behemoths just like him. Dr. Strange fighting another sorcerer, well that just sounds like any movie about a sorcerer. In westerns gun fighters almost always seem to fight other gun fighters. Of course in over half the films there are villains that are not at all similar to the heroes, but that is ignored by those who wish to use this criticism.

The stories are comprised of three acts, with the action escalating in each act - Ok??? I am fairly certain that is just the basics of action movie. How many great action films use that formula? Could you make a enjoyable action film without that formula? That is really just a outline, that you can then fill it in with a lot of ways to create a great story. If you do not escalate the action, escalate the danger, then the story would get boring real quick.

The use of humor - Yes, they do use humor in the MCU films and they do a great job with it. The humor works with the story, not against it. I cannot at all figure out why this is something that people are critical about.

Protagonist is met with insurmountable odds, protagonist overcomes insurmountable odds and wins the day - Once more, is that not a basic idea for just about all action movies? If the hero gets an easy battle to end the film with, the audience is going to feel cheated.

There is no feeling of anything at stake - This is the idea that due to the predictable nature of the stories, you know the hero is going to survive so there are no real stakes involved... That is true of 99.9999% movies ever made. You kind of know form the get go that the vast majority of the time your heroes are NOT going to die in the film. We get a lot of drama, even knowing the hero is going to pull through their near death experiences and save the day.

The films always end with a big battle - Right, and once more that is a standard for action films.

The Marvel formula really is just a basic formula for telling stories that is seen all the time, not just in film but in all forms of entertainment. As is not too uncommon, this is just trying to find flaws in what is popular just to be critical of for the sake of being critical. It benefits no one and only serves to fuel the toxic fan mentality.

I and many millions other MCU fan will keep on enjoying the brilliant films, ignoring the unfounded claims that fall apart fairly quickly with just the slightest level of common sense applied.

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