Welcome to a four-part series detailing the history of Marvel Studios and the legendary Marvel Cinematic Universe. From its extremely humble beginnings to the earth shatteringly huge “Avengers: Infinity War” to be released at the end of April, it’s time to take a look at a studio that can only be called Marvelous.
In 2010, Robert Downey Jr. reached out to his “Kiss Kiss Bang Bang” collaborator on possibly directing the third “Iron Man” film, after Jon Favreau said he would not return to direct. In February of 2011, Shane Black officially signed on to direct and write with Drew Pearce.
Production went underway, with Black describing that his biggest goal during writing would be to avoid scenes of pure exposition and to set it during Christmas to enhance Tony’s feeling of loneliness after the first Avenger’s mission. Guy Pearce, Rebecca Hall and Ben Kinglsey were brought onto the film and shooting began in North Carolina in May of 2012.
After filming in Florida, Beijing, North Carolina and Hollywood, production wrapped in December of 2012 before reshoot in early 2013 in India and Manhattan Beach. Seventeen visual effects companies worked on the film to create the suits and effects, working from January in 2013 to the end of April.
“Iron Man 3” was released on May 3 2013. It was the first example of Disney demanding theatres to give them a higher ticket price percentage than before, even preventing chains from allowing pre-order sales until a deal had been reached. A deal was reached with all major chains on April 25 2013, a week before the film’s opening.
“Iron Man 3” opened to $174.1 million in the U.S. and ended with a U.S. total of $409 million and a worldwide total of $1.2 billion. Critical response was favorable, with an 80 percent Rotten Tomatoes score and a 62 Metacritic score. The film’s action scenes, darker story and performances received praise.
Robert Downey Jr. in particular was lauded for his portrayal of Tony’s evolving psyche, as well as the film’s willingness to dive deeper into his character. Psychology Today even praised the film’s accurate depiction of Tony’s evolving PTSD. However, many fans felt cheated and betrayed by the movie’s villain twist involving the Mandarin.
Soon after the release of “Iron Man 3” came another sequel to one of the original MCU films. “Thor: The Dark World” began filming in September 2012 with Alan Taylor replacing Kenneth Branagh as director. Filming took place across Iceland and London with production wrapping in December 2012.
However, shortly afterwards, reshoots began with Joss Whedon coming in to rewrite much of the film and with Marvel executives requesting that different scenes be added or changed. “The Dark World” opened on November 8, 2013.
It received mixed reviews, with a 66 percent Rotten Tomatoes score and a 54 Metacritic score. Critics praised the continuing chemistry between the cast, especially Tom Hiddleston and Chris Hemsworth, but noted the overall derivative feeling the film had. It grossed $85 million in its U.S. opening and finished with $206 million in the U.S. with a total of $644 million worldwide.
Marvel found the directors for their next film from an extremely unlikely place. After watching the Season 2 finale of “Community,” titled “For A Few Paintballs More,” Kevin Feige sought out the sibling duo of Joe and Anthony Russo to direct “Captain America: The Winter Soldier.”
The duo began filming in April 2013, working off a script from Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeely. They fought for as much realism and practical effects as possible, as Anthony Mackie (Falcon) stated in an interview with MTV:
“The Russos, what they did that was so great was, they wanted to stay with live action, which is a dying art form. If they can build it, they built it. If we could do it, we did it. They wanted to do as little CGI as possible. That's why the movie looks so great.”
Inspired by World War 2 films like “Three Days of the Condor,” the Russo’s sought to create a more political and genre film than what Marvel had attempted prior.
In an interview with Film Journal International, Anthony discussed, “It's hard to make a political film that's not topical. That's what makes a political thriller different from just a thriller. And that's what adds to the characters' paranoia and the audience's experience of that paranoia.”
Production wrapped in June of 2013, with the team having to create over 350 different versions of the film for different markets, due to its heavy reliance on American politics and history. These versions all had to be completed within 17 days, to clear the release date. “The Winter Solider” was released on April 4, 2014.
Critics praised the film for its intensity, focus on suspense, paranoia and realism, with many calling it a poignant Cold War era thriller. Chris Evans received praise for his performance, as did the rest of the cast, with Sebastian Stan being particularly lauded for his portrayal of Bucky Barns. It received an 89 Rotten Tomatoes score and a 70 Metacritic score. It opened in the U.S. to $95 million and grossed $259.8 million in the U.S. and $714.3 million worldwide.
Just as Marvel had succeeded in jumping into a more realistic genre, they were about to jump into a genre almost the opposite. Production on “Guardians of the Galaxy” began in 2010, with Fiege hinting at the film at that year’s San Diego Comic Con. While numerous directors were in the running, Joss Whedon pushed his support behind James Gunn, director of “Slither” and “Super.” Whedon stated as much in an interview with MTV “James is what makes me think it will work… He is so off the wall, and so crazy, but so smart…he has a very twisted take on it, but it all comes from a real love for the material.”
Filming began in July 2013, after the cast of Chris Pratt, Zoe Saldana, Dave Bautista, Bradley Cooper and Vin Diesel had signed on. Gunn rewrote the script previously penned by Nicole Perlman. Shooting took place in London at Fullcross Studios. James pushed for an emphasis on practical effects and makeup effects to compliment the visuals and motion capture.
Gunn stated that the introductions were the most difficult part of the film. It would also be the first time that Marvel fans would see the biggest villain to enter the universe yet outside of a cameo: Thanos.
“Guardians of the Galaxy” opened on Aug. 1, 2014. It was one of Marvel’s most ambitious releases yet and one of its biggest marketing successes. It spawned iconic moments such as the “Dancing Groot” which was released as a figure by Funko Pop Industries and the lauded soundtrack was released on a special edition cassette tape, Disney’s first cassette release since 2003.
The film was praised for its humor and zany personality, while many stating that it was the first Marvel film in a long time to maintain its own distinct identity. The cast was praised, particularly Pratt and Cooper, with the film's visuals and production design being equally celebrated, as well as the soundtrack. It received a 91 percent RottenTomatoes score, with a 76 Metacritic. It was nominated for two Academy Awards: Best Visual Effects and Best Makeup and Hair Styling.
With audiences enjoying a rollicking time in space, Marvel was hard at work with Whedon to create the next Avengers film. “Age of Ultron” was put into production in February 2014 in South Africa, and continued across the globe in locations such as South Korea, England and Italy.
Despite working from Whedon’s own script and the relationship formed during the first film, Marvel executives and Whedon butt heads multiple times during the editing process. Executives didn’t like scenes such as Hawkeye’s farm and were confused as to the intentions of some scenes, like Thor’s hallucinations. Whedon had cut some of the various hallucination scenes to be shorter after poor test screenings and even removed a subplot involving Thor’s dream.
“The dreams were not an executive favorite either — the dreams, the farmhouse, these were things I fought to keep. With the cave, it really turned into: They pointed a gun at the farm's head and said, 'Give us the cave, or we'll take out the farm' — in a civilized way. I respect these guys, they're artists, but that's when it got really, really unpleasant. I was so beaten down at that point that I was like, 'Sure, OK — what movie is this?'”
“Age of Ultron” was released on May 1, 2015 in the U.S. to mostly positive reviews. Critics praised James Spader’s performance as Ultron, as well as Paul Bettany’s. The cast and overall story was praised as well, but many found the film overstuffed and lacking a spark that the first film had. It received a 75 RottenTomatoes score and a 66 Metacritic. It grossed $191.3 million in its opening weekend and $459 million in the U.S., for a worldwide total of $1.4 billion.
A smaller scale film might seem like the best idea stepping forward and Marvel intended to deliver a smaller scale film, literally. With Edgar Wright writing and directing, an Ant-Man film had been in development since 2006, with Wright leaving in 2014 citing creative differences. He was replaced by Peyton Reed and still received writing and executive producer credits.
Paul Rudd was cast to play Scott Lang in 2013 and filming began in August 2014. Shooting took place in Georgia and wrapped in December 2014. Reed specifically shot with modified LUT cameras to give the film a darker, more 80’s look to it, as well as making extensive use of macro photography for the smaller scenes.
“Ant-Man” was released on July 17, 2015 and opened to a $57.2 million opening weekend. It grossed a total of $180.2 million in the U.S., for a worldwide total of $519.3 million. It was well received by critics, who praised Rudd’s performance and the unique look of the film, as well as the campier tone. It received an 82 on RottenTomatoes and a 64 on Metacritic.
With phase two of its films complete, Marvel had gone big and it had gone small. It had gone political and had gone to space. Next it would try something they hadn’t done before; pitting everyone against themselves.
Photo Courtesy of Marvel Studios and Walt Disney Motion Picture Studios.
