This is my Weekly Design Inspiration, this is a space where I share some design work that has either inspired me or caught my attention for its execution or concept. The things I feature on here can include (but not limited to) branding, web design, app design, illustration, typography, video games or anything that shows creativity in a unique way.
Now that we have been given a small glimpse into the world of the Marvel heroes post the infamous ‘Thanos snap’ in the form of a trailer for the upcoming Avengers movie, Endgame, it has given me a chance to think back on the 10 years of cinema that has gotten us to this point. But not just the 10 years of Marvel Studio films, but the Marvel heroes who have graced our screens for the last two decades.
Growing up I was always interested in Marvel comics, more so than DC, mostly because I found the characters more grounded (in a sense) especially the likes of Spider-man who was an ordinary teenager with real life issues that gets powers unwillingly bestowed upon him. That kind of thing, opposed to the likes of Superman who is an all powerful alien with very few weaknesses, is what got young people like myself interested in these characters and stories. Not to say there isn’t anything relateable or engaging about Superman or other DC characters, more so that Marvel was my go to comic book franchise. So in 2002, at the tender age of 8, when there was actually a superhero I had been reading about coming to the big screen, I was super excited. I’m of course talking about the original Spider-man trilogy staring Tobey Maguire and directed by Sam Raimi. These movies, for me and many others, was the first stepping stone to many superhero flicks to come in the following years. Around that time in the early 2000’s we saw a mixture of Marvel superhero films hit the big screen including Daredevil, Fantastic Four, the X-men trilogy and the Blade trilogy (the first one actually being released in 1998). Now these films were quite different to the massive interconnected MCU we are used to seeing now and were significantly darker, edgier and overall not all that family friendly (it’s a wonder that I was even allowed to watch some of these as young as I did).
I was unaware at the time, but these films were the precursors to the success that Marvel Studios has today. Although these films were often camp and a bit rough around the edges, they did create a platform for superhero movies that wasn’t well executed up to that point in time. Without the success of the Spider-man trilogy (ignoring the shocker that was the third film) and the popularity of the X-men saga, I don’t think there would have been the demand or interest in an expanded universe of interconnected films.
Unbelievably, Iron Man came out all the way back in 2008, also known as the year of the potato… Anyway, this movie is where the MCU started and has been developing ever since. Since then there have been 20 or so films as well as a handful of television series, all based within the same cinematic universe. This was a concept never achieved on this scale before and was fairly experimental to say the least. No-one could have guess back in 2008 that Marvel movies would become some of the biggest blockbusters of all time, with films like Black Panther and Avengers: Infinity War each raking in over $200,000,000 each on their opening weekends. The success of these films has encouraged other film creators to produce cinematic universes of their own, with varying success. DC for example, hasn’t had the best run of films in its attempt at an interconnected universe. But that’s not to say it can’t be done to certain levels of success, there is currently plans to produce a ‘MonsterVerse’ by Legendary Entertainment, featuring the likes of King Kong and Godzilla. This has the makings of being something quite marketable and appealing to the masses (perhaps not to the scale of the MCU, but definitely different and interesting).
It took Marvel Studios a good few years to really find its feet with the MCU and to get it to the point it is today where there is a huge medley of heroes to choose from and play off of each other in their individual films and in collective films like the Avengers. For me, The Avengers (2012) was the first glimpse at the potential of the MCU and was the first time seeing all these heroes from their own films coming together under one roof on the big screen. Seeing the characters play off of each other and the technologies, powers and worlds come together cohesively was super satisfying for a comic book fan. Although, having said that, it hasn’t all been plain sailing for Marvel movies, as there has been some real doozies along the way. Now you may disagree with me on this but I’m thinking of Iron Man 3, Thor The Dark World, Avengers: Age of Ultron and Ant Man (to a degree). To be fair, most of phase two was pretty weak in comparison to the first and third, perhaps these were seen as filler to get to the good stuff in the third phase. With phase three we started to see some more interesting and lesser known Marvel heroes hit the silver screen including the likes of Doctor Strange and Black Panther. To a comic book fan these are household names, but to masses these must have seemed fairly strange (pardon the pun) to say the least. Also, after many legal discussions with Sony, Disney finally managed to bag the rights to use Spider-man in the MCU, first making his debut in Captain America: Civil War. With all these new characters introduced Marvel now has a platform of a dozen or so heroes to play with and tell new stories with.
Phase three has definitely given us some of the best MCU films to date including Captain America: Civil War, Thor: Ragnarok and of course Avengers: Infinity War. However, I can’t help but think that perhaps this is as far as the MCU can go. Arguably, Marvel has proved that it’s possible to inject new life into any franchise, take Thor: Ragnarok for example, but the ability to keep adding new and interesting heroes into the mix while losing some of the most iconic heroes of all time is going to be tricky. I can’t see a future for Marvel films without the heavy hitters like Captain America, Iron Man and Thor, these characters are staples of the franchise, not just on film but in the comic books themselves. Sure Black Panther and Doctor Strange do have important roles within the Marvel universe, but in my opinion, they aren’t solid enough foundations to hold up the franchise alone. I’m guessing that with a Captain Marvel movie on horizon and it being highly likely to be heavily involved with Avengers: Endgame, Marvel are probably looking to have Captain Marvel spearhead the franchise into the next phase of Marvel films. This does make sense in context to both the story and culturally, there will need to be a new leader of the heroes that are left after the events of Endgame and who better than a super powerful ‘captain’? Also, this will be the first female led Marvel film released in the last 10 years, it would be smart for Disney to have a strong female character at the forefront of their most lucrative franchise to both draw in larger audiences and appease any haters for their lack of strong female characters. This seems to be Disney’s approach for both Marvel and Star Wars (although I won’t get into that now).
With all the talk of contracts for the original roster of the Avengers coming to an end and seeing what we’ll be left with, I can’t help but think that Marvel will be struggling to engage long time fans and attract new ones with characters that the masses won’t have heard of. With the acquisition of the rights to the X-men Disney could reinvigorate the franchise by taking it in a whole new direction, but it’s going to be a difficult balancing act with superpowers, mutants, cosmic beings and magic all in the mix. Marvel Studios have been proving themselves time and time again that they can make things work and more importantly make things work together cohesively. I’m cautiously optimistic about what’s in store post Avengers: Endgame, but can’t help but think that this franchise may have peaked and is now exhausted of fresh potential. Only time will tell.
Honorable Mentions
As part of my Weekly Design Inspiration I also like to share some bits and pieces that I have seen which have inspired me in the last week. I have captioned each image with some info and relevant links so you can find out more.
It wouldn't be right to talk about how inspiring the MCU is without acknowledging one of the people who helped bring the visual style to life. Ryan Meinerding is the Head of Visual Development at Marvel Studios and he creates the most stunning artworks you've ever seen. His work shows both finished product and concept art, both of which are extremely interesting to look into.
It would also be fitting to mention the other side of the MCU, the Netflix originals. Daredevil is by far one of my favourite TV series, not just because he is one of my favourite Marvel characters but because of the direction they chose to take this show in. It is dark, gritty and grounded in reality, Mat Murdock isn't invincible, you see him hurt and recover, which is very different for a superhero genre show. This fight scene in season 3 is something truly special and is the epitome of what makes a good 'one shot' scene. You as the viewer feel physically drained after watching it. If you haven't watch Daredevil yet, seriously, go watch it.
I'm a big fan of Overwatch and the team at Blizzard really do push themselves when it comes to promotional material. This stop motion animation was released over the Christmas period and is very well executed and a bit of fun for the fans.
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