Super Series

The Legacy of the Marvel Cinematic Universe

By Edan Castiel, Staff Writer

The year 2008 was the release of the first ever Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) film: “Iron Man.”
As in every MCU film, there is a post credit scene.

Nick Fury, played by Samuel L. Jackson, delivered a line that foreshadowed the start to something special.

“You think you’re the only superhero in the world?” Jackson said. “Mr. Stark, you’ve become part of a bigger universe; you just don’t know it yet.”

Unbeknownst at the time, the film was the start of the most successful movie franchise in history.

The brilliant acting from Robert Downey Jr. and Gwyneth Paltrow gave a just a small taste of what was to come for the future. Iron Man displayed action every superhero fan would drool over. Everything about the films worked, and the success of this film sparked excitement around the world.

In 1993-1996 Marvel was on the brink of collapse. Hundreds of comic book retailers went bust as sales tumbled by 70 percent. Marvel had suffered the biggest debt they ever had to face.

In the early 2000s, Marvel decided to dedicate to creating films. Marvel released one of there more successful films: “Blade,” which made 70 million in the box office.

From that point on it was clear movies was Marvel’s best bet.

Marvel titles continued to swing into theaters with “Spider-Man” for Sony and the start of “X-Men” for Fox. Every movie released seemed to be a success.

In 2003, a talent agent named David Maisel came to Marvel’s Isaac Perlmutter with a proposal: Why not create a cinematic universe with multiple movie franchises? Although the stock recovered from the early 1990s, Marvel wanted to soar. It was an idea that could, in theory, be worth untold millions.

Little did they know it would be worth billions.

After “Iron Man,” the cinematic universe had to grow. So within the span of three years, Marvel introduced 3 more characters with there own featured film: The Hulk, Thor, and Captain America.

“The Incredible Hulk” was released in 2008 and stared Edward Norton. The film was a minor success, but it is still filled with amazing action sequences. After “Hulk” was released, the MCU decided to recast Bruce Banner as star actor Mark Ruffalo.

“Thor” was released in 2011 and stared Chris Hemsworth. Thor was filled with heart and comedy that allowed the audience to connect to the characters. Thor also was the first movie to introduce space into the cinematic universe.

“Captain America: The First Avenger” was also released in 2011 and starred Chris Evans. The first Captain America was the end of the beginning for the MCU. Steve Rodgers (Captain America) gave the audience exactly what they wanted to see, a character full of complexity and heart.

It’s not surprising that the Captain America trilogy is considered as the most complete trilogy in the universe.

The MCU did exactly what was planned. They made multiple movie franchises that all crossed over. After the five first films, the MCU conducted the first major crossover: “The Avengers.” This movie had potential to be amazing or fall flat on its face. The crossover included six heroes from different films: Captain America, Iron Man, The Hulk, Black Widow, Hawkeye, and Thor. The movie had very high expectations, and it would have been disappointing it didn’t meet expectations.However, “The

” somehow found a way to exceed expectations. The movie had drama, comedy, and, most importantly, action. The film broke the box office and was established as the best superhero film of all time.

After 11 years, 21 films, and 46 hours of film, Marvel recently released the fourth Avengers movie: “Avengers Endgame,” a film that promises to be the ultimate payoff from the previous films.

In the film, the Avengers will have to face their biggest threat: Thanos. Thanos already proceed to kill half the population in the universe, and it’s up to the Avengers to avenge. Although “Endgame” isn’t the last movie the MCU creates, it feels like the last film in this generation.

Captain America and Iron Man seem ready to move on from the superhero life, Thanos’s reign seems to be coming to an end, and a new generation of young superheroes seem ready to take over.

The first 11 years of the MCU is what many people describe as part of their life. Each hero seemed to give a connection to the audience that makes the audience attached to the characters. To see this generation of the MCU end is one of the most difficult things to watch, but yet it feels right. Each generation seems to have a set of legendary films. 1970-80s is the “Star Wars” generation, the 1990s was the “Jurassic Park” generation, and 2000-2010s is the MCU’s generation. This generation was very fortunate to let the MCU be a part of their lives.

The Marvel Cinematic Universe is the most successful movie franchise ever. From nearly broke marvel created over 15 billion dollars just from the box office.