Finally watched the Iron Man 3 trailer

[adiva_calandia]

It looks fun! There are 'splosions! And a new villain!

But what really struck me about it was the line Nothing's been the same since New York. That establishes the movie without a doubt as being post-Avengers, in direct continuity. There's a shot at about 0:30 that appears to be some kind of memorial, which I'm guessing is for the victims of the invasion in New York.

And it occurred to me that what's really cool about the Marvel Cinematic Universe is that they're actually almost recreating the experience of reading comic books in an entirely different medium. These aren't just a bunch of disparate action flicks under the same company's logo (X-Men aside). They're carefully intertwined; each sub-franchise uses events in other movies and sub-franchises to tell its stories. They may have different writers and directors and producers, but they're all making up the same tapestry of stories.

And that, I think, is incredibly cool, and something no other current movie franchise seems to be doing. I have an inkling that old-school film serials used to do something similar with crossover characters, but my film history isn't as up to snuff as it should be so I'm not sure of any specific examples. Certainly in my lifetime, those kinds of crossovers in movies have faded away. Our most popular and enduring action movie franchise is James Bond, and there's not been a hell of a lot of continuing storyline in those. My impression of the Jason Bourne series, the new James Bond, is that the Jeremy Renner incarnation is closer to a reboot or a spinoff.* Marvel is doing something unique.

It's no small feat of storytelling to do this, either. Action movies get big budgets because they're expected to do well internationally, and they're expected to do well internationally because explosions and fights scenes and car chases need no translation. This is why Michael Bay continues to have a career. So the writers for the MCU have to make sure that their movies are straightforward enough to do well internationally, are self-explanatory enough that people who haven't seen the other movies will still want to see them and be able to enjoy them, and are contributing to the larger story of the MCU as a whole.

How freaking amazing is that?

I just find the whole thing very, very exciting. Serial storytelling is becoming part of our cultural zeitgeist again -- witness the ever-increasing complexity and sophistication and envelope-pushing of TV shows -- and I think that's just awesome.

*I think? Maybe? Am I completely off the mark? If there are people out there who know more about these franchises than I do, please let me know!

Comments

[skygiants]

This is something I've been thinking about a lot too! It's the most interesting thing about the Marvel movie franchise to me, this attempt to tackle comics-style interlinked storytelling in a visual form. The buildup to Avengers, in which four or five separate separate and mostly-unrelated movies were carefully planned to lead up to one culminating film that essentially required you to have seen most of the others is, I am fairly sure, not something that Hollywood has ever done before; it was a huge gamble of long-term planning that paid off amazingly for them. I don't know how long it will keep working (well, I guess that depends on if you think American superhero-universe comics really work, as a storytelling medium, on which opinions vary) but for now it's super fascinating to watch them work their way through it.

[adiva_calandia]

Huge risk is right -- can you imagine the pitching session?

It will definitely be a challenge for them to keep it working, I think. The two Chrises made the point in an interview that once you've banded the Avengers up, it's kind of difficult to justify in the individual franchises why they wouldn't show up to help, soooo yeah. That'll be fun!

[sdelmonte]

Wait...there were victims in the invasion of NYC? Sure didn't seem like that to me.

Is it possible that Shane Black is going to actually achieve some sort of emotional resonance when Joss didn't?

[ashen_key]

There are follow-throughs in the Craig!Bonds - the second movie happens directly because of the first, and there are references to it in both emotional arc and the bad guy plot, but people tend to write off Quantum of Solace for some bizarre reason, so it's not as...noticeable as with the MCU.

But, yesssssss, I'm really looking forward to Tony's reaction to the Avengers, and to how the world itself is going to react to an alien invasion. The rest of the trailer...I am intrigued, but also side-eyeing in case it goes grimdark, Nolan Bat-trilogy-esque.

[lienne]

re: Bourne, Jason Bourne is mentioned in the one with Jeremy Renner in it (his character is Aaron Cross, a member of a program similar to Bourne's), but the mention is fleeting. It is basically a sequel set in the same universe with about 0.2 of the same characters.

[silveraspen]

My impression of the Jason Bourne series, the new James Bond, is that the Jeremy Renner incarnation is closer to a reboot or a spinoff.

Spinoff. I don't think we're quite into Matarese territory yet, but I definitely have a feeling of the Lustbader vs. Ludlum interpretations of the Bourne stories.

I would be willing to bet that Cross (Renner's character) ends up meeting Bourne (Damon) at some point.

[remindmeofthe]

Yessss. When I realized after Iron Man that this was going to be the set-up, I was incredibly excited. And worried that they wouldn't commit to it and Avengers would suck, heh. I didn't even care about Marvel, but I love complex story arcs, so this franchise was perfect for me for all the reasons you just said. I really hope it stays good for a while longer.