Can Marvel Survive?

I love comics. Yep. Even with all their crazy retroactive changes, future versions, alternative universes, history changing, never-aging, inconsistent characterization they have been and always will be my go-to form of entertainment.

The recent glut of comic-book films has been brilliant, not least because the quality has continually improved by leaps and bounds.

Head and shoulders above the rest, for so many reasons, have been the films from the Marvel camp. Even the most prosaic films are entertaining and far above the worst of the genre (The Spirit or Green Lantern), if not yet reaching the heights of the Dark Knight trilogy (yet). Beyond this is the excellent planning and development of a full universe akin to the comic books, and unheard of in film history. Each of these characters, Captain America, Iron Man, Agent Coulson, Thanos, Nebula, all exist in the same universe.

The great collection of heroes in the team-up film The Avengers was a culmination of a long-term vision. The next decade is apparently filled up with more ‘phases’ from the Marvel Studios roll out. New characters and new interactions (Infinity War anyone?). All of which means Marvel‘s billion dollar empire is sure to keep on rolling… for a while.

There is a dangerous element that is overlooked, but hardly unknown, that will eventually cause no lack of consternation among both fans and Marvel filmmakers alike. Time.

In the realm of comics time has little sway. The Marvel core of characters; the Fantastic Four, X-Men and so on, have been fighting the good fight since the 1960’s. Superman and Batman have another 20 years on that (but they have their own problems…). Yet all of these characters are virtually unchanged since they first appeared. Teams have changed and new characters have appeared, but the basic characters have remained as they were.

Changes are slow and can take years but thankfully comics follow their own logic* (or lack thereof) and everything is good so long as the stories are entertaining and the fans are happy. Sure, we might see a future version every now and again but for the most part, the 18 – 35 is the age range of every major character in the canon of Marvel titles. Even Captain America is looking good for veteran of a war nearly 80 years past. Death rarely lasts longer than a Joss Whedon TV series and few people really track just how convoluted most of these people’s lives are.

Marvel‘s film empire has leveraged the great characters, grand themes and interaction of heroes into its films, but it’s built on a medium where time has no effect. Marvel‘s films are great now, but how long can it last? Actors get more expensive, more in demand, and less able. Already the iconic Robert Downey Jr. has made overtones of his age and how difficult the role of Tony Stark is becoming.

Right away we can think, “let’s replace them”. I suppose it worked for Spider-man? Well, then again, not really. Despite profits and sequels the new line of films has garnered luke-warm reviews and the box office didn’t show any signs of the films being a smash hit.

The issue with Marvel‘s world is a little more complex. Simply swapping out characters into new franchise roles, a la James Bond, or re-starting every few years is much trickier when your films are both a) successful and well-known, and b) inter-related.

After five films and billions of dollars, Robert Downey Jr. is stamped all over the Iron Man title and the Marvel Universe. Thor and Captain America will be receiving three films each apiece. People know these actors and the universe is built on their stories. Replacing him, or anyone at this stage, would be a very painful process for the studio. It affects far more than one film but a universe, and will be a lot more difficult as things progress.

The more popular the actor, the bigger the name on the marquee, the harder it will be to fill that role and keep the entire machine running. The Spider-Man franchise took a break for several years, restarted and banked on the character’s brand recognition to pull people into theatres.

Marvel hasn’t the luxury of restarting; even if they can find someone who can replace Tom Hiddleston as Loki, are you going to re-release all previous Marvel films with the new actors face pasted over Tom’s? (Sacrilege!)

The option that Marvel has to consider, and one that would be as bold as their multi-film franchise endeavor, could be to grow up with these actors. To watch them age and build that into the stories that are being told. An aged Tony Stark having to deal with a perpetually young Thor would be a great character touch. Bleeding in the new troops, the young replacements, and taking the risk to pass the torch on. Then, eventually, letting these characters die (obviously heroically) and have it really matter.

I really hope this is the course Marvel takes. It both separates it from the world of comic books while also paying respects to it. This is the ‘real’ world and this is what would happen to our heroes. The variety and quality of characters in the Marvel Universe means there will be no shortage of stories to tell or new faces to pull in younger audience members. Allowing the audience to grow with the actors rewards the fans and opens up a huge emotional connection.

Although I suppose, really deep down, we’re all hoping that Marvel gets first in the door on some new cloning technology and our beloved actors can live young and flawless forever and ever just like their printed brethren.

*special commendation to the Judge Dredd comics that run in almost real-time.

This article was written for publication on the GCE by Paul Neary