Will Marvel Netflix Eventually Join Marvel Movies?
I'll be the first to tell you that the Marvel Cinematic Universe is a franchise that I absolutely love, and it's also a franchise that has turned me into a absolute Marvel nerd ever since it's formation starting with the excellent Iron Man movie in 2008.
Sure not everything that Marvel has put out, has been a runaway hit or gold as there have been some disappointing entries in the Universe such as Thor: The Dark World, and perhaps both follow up sequels to Iron Man in Iron Man 2 and Iron Man 3 (which in my opinion messed up a great chance to see Iron Man's arch nemesis The Mandarin finally come to life on the big screen)
Where It all began: Iron Man (2008) was a roaring success and a superb start for a Shared Universe
But don't get me wrong, these films have not been absolute disappointments, far from it, they still have great charm to them, and that's pretty much down to one key thing; the casting. I feel that Marvel Studios have completely knocked it out of the park when it comes to casting their superheroes on the big screen, you really believe and feel that Robert Downey Jr is indeed Tony Stark ripped straight from the comic book and thrown onto a live action screen, same can be said for Chris Evans as Captain America or Benedict Cumberbatch as Doctor Strange (Doctor Strange is damn near close to being my favourite MCU film so far by the way!)
Marvel Studios have done an excellent casting job as most characters look as if they have indeed been ripped straight out of the comic books and thrown on screen
The same can also be said about the other side of the Marvel Cinematic Universe; The Marvel Netflix Series, Daredevil has pretty much done for Marvel Netflix, what Iron Man did for Marvel studios and that is carve out a great connected and extended Universe, but this time with a more dark feel, but again Daredevil, Jessica Jones, Luke Cage, Iron Fist (despite his problems) & The Punisher (who cosmetically looks the most impressive out of the bunch) all feel like they have been ripped out of the comic books.
The same can pretty much be said about our Netflix Street Level heroes, the casting has been top notch, and yes Danny Rand's casting is the elephant in the room, but I feel there is potential with him if written and directed right, which is something I'm hopeful of seeing in The Defenders
Which takes me to what I want to talk about here:
With the success of BOTH the Marvel Movies & Marvel Netflix series I really do wonder If we will indeed one day in the near future, have the much wanted crossover of Daredevil & Co with Iron Man & Co?
There have been constant rumblings and rumours back and forth that there would eventually be a plan in place for a Series/Movie crossover ever since Daredevil set the Netflix world on fire with it's superb debut back in 2015, while also dropping nods to the events of The Avengers movie and referencing our favourite man in a 'Iron Suit' and Thor's 'Magic Hammer', which were moments that made me mark out like the extreme Marvel fanboy that I am.
There have been so many Movie references in Marvel Netflix shows that you just can't help but fantasise about The Devil of Hell's kitchen crossing paths with Iron Man on screen
One of the most interesting things that I have heard out of all the speculation, came from Vincent D'ONofrio, aka Daredevil's excellent Wilson Fisk who stated in an interview back in August of 2014 that "After the series stuff with Netflix, Marvel has a bigger plan to branch out".
Another Interview in April 2015 with. Charlie Cox aka Daredevil himself stated that crossing over with the films is "possible. I think there's a way that the worlds can merge. I think our show feels tonally and thematically a bit different from the Avengers movies, but it's all one universe and I feel like there's a way for Daredevil—and other characters, Luke Cage and street level crime characters—to fit into that universe. I think there has to be a way, and I think it's about finding an autonomous tone for that [crossover] film"
Charlie Cox bought up an interesting point in his statement and it's that of the 'tone' of the Marvel Movie properties and that of the Netflix properties, for a crossover to work where we have the more light sided comical tone that the movies take and the dark brooding tone that the Netflix series take, people helming a possible crossover project would have to find the right balance to successfully bounce characters from both properties off of each other, which is not an impossible task. (I'll get to that later)
However there have been counter statements that have alluded to there not being a chance of there being a crossover:
Avengers Infinity War Director Anthony Russo stated in July 2015; It’s complicated. When we start to serialize the telling of stories it’s difficult. You have to have a lot of control and focus on the course of history. The films are controlled by a group led by Kevin Feige, so they function as a unit. Other products, even if they are from Marvel, are controlled by others. Then there is the possibility of a crossover, but it’s more complicated. It is a smaller scale version of the problem that exists when remembering that Fox holds the rights to some of Marvel’s most popular characters.
On top of this there has been constant rumblings over the past couple of years that vice president of Marvel Television Joseph Leob and vice president of Marvel Movies Kevin Fiege do not get along with each other making the possible relationship of a crossover a complicated one.
Can't Get Along?: You'd be hard pressed to find pictures with both Marvel Netflix Vice President Joseph Loeb (left) and Marvel Studios President Kevin Fiege (right) in the same room
However I do have the belief deep down that we will eventually see a Marvel Series/Marvel Movies crossover, and it's down to the fact that we live in a era of trends, and what I mean by that is, we have gimmicks that are carbon copied from one company to another.
An example of this is the 'Reebot' trend that started in 2005 with the reboot of the much ill-fated Batman film franchise which started with Christopher Nolan's Batman Begins, the success and wide spread critical acclaim of this film made other film and entertainment companies take huge notice; which led to 'Reboot' of another famous film franchise that lost it's steam in the early 2000's, James Bond with Casino Royale in 2006, and the influx of these movies have gone on and on and on to the present day and beyond (the furthest reboot movie i can think of upon my research so far is The Mummy reboot with Tom Cruise, which was just awful)
Now with the reboot trend proving to be a favourable money maker for Hollywood and the entertainment industry, there is another trend that has taken over, and that is the 'Movie Universe' trend.
And it has arguably all started and been pioneered by Marvel themselves with their 2012 Avengers movie which saw a huge ensemble cast of superheroes finally get together on screen all at the same time to fight a common cause, this was a big gamble, something like this was never really done before in movies and it could of either been a big disaster or a huge phenomenon. The Avengers movie of course proved to be a huge phenomenon and pretty much a game changer for the movie and entertainment industry as now we have direct rival to Marvel, DC now building their own movie universe using the Marvel Studios blueprint and we are now seeing a influx of 'Universe' properties being paraded in the media.
Now to my point; what is the one attribute that we have not seen in the Film/Entertainment industry yet?.....(have a think) The answer is a TV series interacting directly with a movie or movie series.
If i was a betting person, I would say that Marvel are most definitely planning to set a trend of a TV series directly engaging with a movie in the cinema, a trend that will see a TV actor appear directly on the silver screen In conjunction with their TV show, this formula I believe, is a win win as it generates a lot of buzz and interest for both television and movie parties involved and in turn can become a gigantic money maker, and there is no way that Marvel are gonna just sit on something like that.
There seems to be a number of people who say that this is too complicated to work, but you could of easily said that way back in 2008 when Marvel Studios announced their idea of having their movies share the same continuity and have their main characters and actors all assemble into one big epic film, I myself was very doubtful of this working, and it seemed way too ambitious to work, but roll on near a decade later, it worked, and blew the roof off the place! Becoming a financial machine.
The argument can be made that Marvel are making an even bigger gamble with their upcoming Avengers Infinity War, which will see an HUGE ensemble casting on a level never seen before in film, the gamble of course is juggling a massive roster of big characters and actors into a competent and evenly filmed movie.
If Marvel are willing to put up a gamble like that then surely having our Netflix heroes make an appearance in the movies is not a far stretch at all.
Another thing that also rings alarms is the fact that the Netflix shows go out of their way to reference events in the movies, If Marvel truly believe that people who watch the Netflix shows are different to people going along to watch the movies, then they are surely going back on their belief, because it really doesn't make any sense to reference 'The Incident' (Avengers Battle of New York) in not just Daredevil, but multiple references in Jessica Jones as well, we also have the 'Judas Bullet' from Iron Man 2 making an appearance in Luke Cage and salvaged Chitari weapons from the Battle of New York shown and referenced in the show too. So do Marvel just expect their 'separate Netflix' audience to just understand where all this stuff is coming from and why they are being talked about and weaved into a completely 'different /focused narrative'?
Marvel surely have the sense to figure out that FANS of their properties watch BOTH of their Universe divisions and KNOW that these properties are all in sync with one another.
I for one and i'm sure many other fans know that there is a huge benefit to seeing Marvel Netflix heroes and heck even villains directly connect with the Marvel Studios movies as we have A tier movie actors like Vincent D'Onofrio as the Kingpin putting on a stellar performance that deserves to be on the big screen and I for one feel that he would fit right into a Spiderman movie, and yes he would fit right into any follow up to Spiderman Homecoming as I feel he has the perfect villain aura that would bounce off of our young hapless Tom Holland Peter Parker/Spiderman.
But then there's the argument that how can you transport a villain from a dark and gritty Netflix show to a family friendly movie? Well it's simple, you tone down the grit and violence that Kingpin has portrayed in Daredevil by simply not showing him doing any of that in Spiderman (simple concept right? Whowudathunkit?) You instead bring out more of the smart mastermind Kingpin which we started to see glimpses of in Daredevil Season 2, and you emphasis his wit more, he can still show violence but a toned down violence.
Also take in the fact that as human beings, in real life, we all see the world differently, someone might see the world as a scary hopeless place in their environment, where as someone will see a more bright and funny side of life, this can apply to the Marvel Netflix/Marvel Movie dynamic, for example Matt Murdock is a blind adult who grew up in the mean gritty streets of Hell's Kitchen, therefore the tone of his series reflects how he views his environment and how he feels with all the blood, gore and suffering, where as Peter Parker down the block in Queens is a hapless young teenager who's focused with the everyday trials of school life and growing up, sees the world a lot more brighter and a lot more quirkier than a Matt Murdock would, so therefore the tone of his movie reflects this and feels like this. So if you put someone like Kingpin in a Spiderman movie, the tone of the character reflects the view and the feeling of the main character.
The reboot success of both Batman Begins & Casino Royale kicked off a surge of reboot movie properties
Now with the reboot trend proving to be a favourable money maker for Hollywood and the entertainment industry, there is another trend that has taken over, and that is the 'Movie Universe' trend.
And it has arguably all started and been pioneered by Marvel themselves with their 2012 Avengers movie which saw a huge ensemble cast of superheroes finally get together on screen all at the same time to fight a common cause, this was a big gamble, something like this was never really done before in movies and it could of either been a big disaster or a huge phenomenon. The Avengers movie of course proved to be a huge phenomenon and pretty much a game changer for the movie and entertainment industry as now we have direct rival to Marvel, DC now building their own movie universe using the Marvel Studios blueprint and we are now seeing a influx of 'Universe' properties being paraded in the media.
The Avengers Movie (left) was a groundbreaking success and a true game changer for the film and entertainment industry to the point where we are now seeing direct rivals DC build their own movie universe with the Justice League (Right)
Now to my point; what is the one attribute that we have not seen in the Film/Entertainment industry yet?.....(have a think) The answer is a TV series interacting directly with a movie or movie series.
If i was a betting person, I would say that Marvel are most definitely planning to set a trend of a TV series directly engaging with a movie in the cinema, a trend that will see a TV actor appear directly on the silver screen In conjunction with their TV show, this formula I believe, is a win win as it generates a lot of buzz and interest for both television and movie parties involved and in turn can become a gigantic money maker, and there is no way that Marvel are gonna just sit on something like that.
There seems to be a number of people who say that this is too complicated to work, but you could of easily said that way back in 2008 when Marvel Studios announced their idea of having their movies share the same continuity and have their main characters and actors all assemble into one big epic film, I myself was very doubtful of this working, and it seemed way too ambitious to work, but roll on near a decade later, it worked, and blew the roof off the place! Becoming a financial machine.
The argument can be made that Marvel are making an even bigger gamble with their upcoming Avengers Infinity War, which will see an HUGE ensemble casting on a level never seen before in film, the gamble of course is juggling a massive roster of big characters and actors into a competent and evenly filmed movie.
If Marvel are willing to put up a gamble like that then surely having our Netflix heroes make an appearance in the movies is not a far stretch at all.
Avengers Infinity War is going to be the most ambitious movie project ever seen on film with it's crazy ensemble cast which shows that Marvel are up to pretty much do anything at this point
Another thing that also rings alarms is the fact that the Netflix shows go out of their way to reference events in the movies, If Marvel truly believe that people who watch the Netflix shows are different to people going along to watch the movies, then they are surely going back on their belief, because it really doesn't make any sense to reference 'The Incident' (Avengers Battle of New York) in not just Daredevil, but multiple references in Jessica Jones as well, we also have the 'Judas Bullet' from Iron Man 2 making an appearance in Luke Cage and salvaged Chitari weapons from the Battle of New York shown and referenced in the show too. So do Marvel just expect their 'separate Netflix' audience to just understand where all this stuff is coming from and why they are being talked about and weaved into a completely 'different /focused narrative'?
Marvel Netflix Shows such as Luke Cage seem to go out of their way to reference and include things that are going on in the movies, which tells me that there is more to these Netflix/Movie crossover rumours
Marvel surely have the sense to figure out that FANS of their properties watch BOTH of their Universe divisions and KNOW that these properties are all in sync with one another.
I for one and i'm sure many other fans know that there is a huge benefit to seeing Marvel Netflix heroes and heck even villains directly connect with the Marvel Studios movies as we have A tier movie actors like Vincent D'Onofrio as the Kingpin putting on a stellar performance that deserves to be on the big screen and I for one feel that he would fit right into a Spiderman movie, and yes he would fit right into any follow up to Spiderman Homecoming as I feel he has the perfect villain aura that would bounce off of our young hapless Tom Holland Peter Parker/Spiderman.
But then there's the argument that how can you transport a villain from a dark and gritty Netflix show to a family friendly movie? Well it's simple, you tone down the grit and violence that Kingpin has portrayed in Daredevil by simply not showing him doing any of that in Spiderman (simple concept right? Whowudathunkit?) You instead bring out more of the smart mastermind Kingpin which we started to see glimpses of in Daredevil Season 2, and you emphasis his wit more, he can still show violence but a toned down violence.
Daredevil's Kingpin portrayed by Vincent D'Onofrio would transition perfectly into a Marvel Movie such as Spiderman
Also take in the fact that as human beings, in real life, we all see the world differently, someone might see the world as a scary hopeless place in their environment, where as someone will see a more bright and funny side of life, this can apply to the Marvel Netflix/Marvel Movie dynamic, for example Matt Murdock is a blind adult who grew up in the mean gritty streets of Hell's Kitchen, therefore the tone of his series reflects how he views his environment and how he feels with all the blood, gore and suffering, where as Peter Parker down the block in Queens is a hapless young teenager who's focused with the everyday trials of school life and growing up, sees the world a lot more brighter and a lot more quirkier than a Matt Murdock would, so therefore the tone of his movie reflects this and feels like this. So if you put someone like Kingpin in a Spiderman movie, the tone of the character reflects the view and the feeling of the main character.
So with that said, there does not seem to be any huge pitfalls preventing a much wanted Marvel Studios/Marvel Netflix collaboration on the Silver Screen.
I think that Marvel are doing their best to throw people off the idea of it happening as much as possible, so that when it does happen, it will come as a euphoric surprise, but Marvel, you don't have me fooled. I know those Movie references are in the Netflix shows for a reason (wink wink)
Feel free to leave your comments and opinions on what you think about all of this.
-Simeon Barrett
I think that Marvel are doing their best to throw people off the idea of it happening as much as possible, so that when it does happen, it will come as a euphoric surprise, but Marvel, you don't have me fooled. I know those Movie references are in the Netflix shows for a reason (wink wink)
Feel free to leave your comments and opinions on what you think about all of this.
-Simeon Barrett
No comments:
Post a Comment