…is like a Mobius strip. Or a Gordian knot. Or perhaps a Cosmic Cube (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cosmic_Cube), if we want to stay on topic. Basically, it’s really complicated, is what I’m driving at.
It has not been often in movies that this many properties have attempted to tie themselves together with this kind of continuity between films and brands, all within the same fictional universe. The “Marvel Cinematic Universe,” as it is called, currently includes the events of six films from the “Iron Man,” “Incredible Hulk,” “Thor,” “Captain America” and “Avengers” franchises, with at least four more sequels on the way. Trying to lay out all of the plotting of “when and where” events in each film happen in conjunction with each other is quite the convoluted exercise.
That fact makes an attempted timeline like this all the more impressive. I can’t imagine how much work was put into doing this, and naturally it must be updated constantly and continue to evolve throughout. How do they know that the events of “Thor” happened before “Iron Man 2,” anyway? Or that “Iron Man 2” occurs almost simultaneously to “The Incredible Hulk”? I admit that I have no idea.
What does amuse me is how much MORE complicated it could have been, if other Marvel products had been included. Remember the “Fantastic 4” movies? They starred “Captain America’s” Chris Evans as The Human Torch and now seem to have been struck from canon entirely. What about all three “Spider Man” films with Tobey Maguire? Technically, none of the preceding five movies exist in the “Marvel Cinematic Universe,” despite the fact that they’re all Marvel products and DO share the same fictional universe within the comics. And what of upcoming projects like “The Amazing Spiderman”? That film will be out in July. Is the concept simply that the characters from a crossover like “The Avengers” don’t exist at all for the Peter Parker of this reboot’s world? He lives, by the way, IN THE SAME CITY that was practically destroyed in “The Avengers.” It seems like the kind of thing he would notice, if he was a high school student living there.
I wish I could sit down and talk to someone who was the architect of how Marvel products were adapted to find out the answers to some of these questions. Unfortunately, it’s a side effect of the unprecedented success of comic book adaptations in the past decade, especially when it comes to Marvel products. As more and more heroes get their own film adaptations, the overall universe becomes increasingly confusing. Things were easy enough in the days when every film was assumed to be occurring in some sort of Stephen Hawking-devised pocket dimension, independent of all the other superheroes, but with The Avengers finally tying it all together in one timeline, they’ve instituted a deeper form of continuity that I fear they’ll never be able to live up to in the future.
As such, it makes me concerned and dubious about some of the upcoming franchise titles, such as “Iron Man 3,” “Thor 2” and “Captain America 2.” When do these films occur? Does “Thor 2” take place after the events of “The Avengers,” and does it abide by the fate of villain Loki (Thor’s brother) in that movie? Doesn’t it pretty much have to? And as such, were the script writers for “Thor 2” consulting with the people writing “The Avengers”?
Meanwhile, is “Captain America 2” a story that takes place somewhere in World War II, or is it post-Avengers? Or post-thaw, pre-Avengers? In all of these movies, given that they’ve already established the “assembling” aspect of The Avengers, how can you now script one where a hero takes on a world-threatening villain alone? Wouldn’t they call for Avenger assistance?
I never thought that superhero movies would have me contemplating the purchase of a large, flow-chart-friendly whiteboard, but that may be where we’re headed.
What do you think, sirs?
Please Wait…