Control: Make Mine Marvel

I, Dalton Lewis, watch Marvel movies. I watch them over and over, day after day, night after night, week after week. I watch the same ones even though they are the same every time. I have a question, though: should I write like them? They seem well-written, effective, and popular. They show good guys fighting bad guys in battles over the planet or galaxy. They have a large scope and show a large cast of diverse characters who each have their own personality.

I like that.

They also are very PG-13. When Thanos’s daughters explain his abuse of them, they say things in a very broad and general sense. We see Nebula screaming. We don’t see a domestic situation in which they are subjugated by their father. They can’t show a rape scene even if Thanos is implied to abuse and maybe rape them. He loves daughters, see, and loves to adopt them and teach them and turn them into mighty warriors.

I’m not sure about that.

The characters really make the movies shine. Loki is an adorable villain, one of those people who seem so real and desperately want to take over but are completely sympathetic as they do so. The Avengers are a full and diverse team, a family. They bicker and disagree as families do. Captain America is that guy everyone knows who is perfect and does the right thing in exactly every situation. Tony Stark is the bratty genius player that everyone knows and adores and considers larger than life. Romanoff is the clever and devious woman who knows how to handle any situation.

That’s fantastic.

The early years had three problems: first, the villains sometimes didn’t stand up for themselves and provide a real challenge for the characters. The dark elf in Thor: The Dark World was terrible. Mickey Rourke did his best as Whiplash with a weak part. Red Skull was a caricature of every bad characteristic a character could have. Second, no one was dying except for Thor’s mom. Death turned out to be a trick or temporary in the Marvel movies. This bugs me. In reality, when people die, they stay dead. Death should matter. It doesn’t in comic book stories, and that’s sad. Third, a few of the movies were cookie-cutter generic and pretty good, without anything to make them stand out from the formula.

That’s trouble — but trouble that got ironed out over time.

The plot twist mechanic is a positive, albeit one that gets overused. The initial villain isn’t the end villain, and that leads to surprises that can be earned well in some cases. To avoid spoilers I won’t repeat details except to say that Marvel believes in making things seem to go in one direction and then have them go in another direction. This is a plot point but a fun one. I’m glad that we don’t know everything that will happen going forward.

That’s a positive, but a formula, so it’s not perfect.

The bad: formula. The good: characters, themes, storytelling. I’d say the good outweighs the bad. I hope that people remember the Marvel Universe for hundreds of years. We will see who is more remembered — Toni Morrison or the Marvel movies.

Thanks, and take care, friends.