Marwood
Posts: 2615
Joined: 1/10/2005
From: Only The Shadow knows
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ORIGINAL: fuzzy
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ORIGINAL: Marwood
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ORIGINAL: Vadersville
i was hoping we'd have a mention or two of other characters in The Avengers that would then to get their own film. So far it seems the Phase 2 of the Marvel Cinematic Universe is just going to be sequels. I was hoping to have some more characters personally.
Plus in all honesty they've already mined the most likely bankable characters left in their in-house stables; the rest are unlikely IMO to be able to draw the same sort of audiences as the Phase 1 guys so they;re best trying to milk those cows a bit more and use Avengers 2 to broaden the universe in a more direct way rather than throw new character after new character at the screen and seeing what sticks. It's a business strategy as much as anything else as these are big productions and even while Marvel and Disney can rest on their laurels a bit it still doesn't mean any character with the Marvel Studios banner attached will be as big a success as the Phase 1 films; they need sequels to Iron Man, Thor and Cap for a steady cash flow while they can push out new characters to set up Avengers 2 and not have to be too concerned about any of those being potential bombs. It will balance things out untl Avengers 2 which (if done right again) could be their next monster monster hit.
I can totally get the need for the studios to milk their most bankable characters for all their worth, but I still reckon failing to introduce or at least cameo a couple of newbies in the Avengers was a missed opportunity. Let's face it Hawkeye and Widow weren't exactly household names to the wider audience, but they were still given intros in Thor and IM2 respectively. Now they're both popular and had ample screen time to shine in the Avengers, putting them in good stead for future films, whether they be SHIELD based or standalone.
I think slipping in a quick cameo by Hank Pym on the Helicarrier for example would have worked, even it was for 5 mins. It didn't do Hawkeye any harm in Thor. I can understand the worry of over cluttering the film with superheros for example, but this is the Avengers, like X-men, the ranks will only swell in films to come, so what's the harm in little cameos and intros while you have the opportunity - and if you can't do it in the 3rd biggest grossing film of all time when can you do it! And as Marvel look to introduce the likes of Black Panther, Dr. Strange and Antman/Wasp (who are clearly not as well known), it's also an opportunity to test out audience reaction before contemplating a costly standalone film - which could prove the end of that character if it bombs.
I love cameos and am all for them but The Avengers had enough going on so that using that as a springboard for a new set of heroes to get their spin off films would have been a bad move and could have hurt it. Look at the X-Men films (particularly The Last Stand) with their massive casts of prominent characters and many, many cameos that ultimately prove distracting as much as anything else. Avengers got it right by not overcrowding and keeping it's focus on the core idea of "what would bring these guys together?". It was a big enough experiment for Marvel to start with and anything more would have just turned it into an exercise of throwing as much shit as they could and seeing what stuck.
While they can use Phase 2 to open things up a bit more they still need to think about the long game rather than go crazy and risk oversaturising. Cameos and clues in the Iron Man, Cap and THor sequels is fine, have a couple of new character solo films like Ant Man and Black Panther as well and then tie everything back in for Avengers 2.
Then with Phase 3 they could perhaps give the Phase 1 characters a break, sequelise their Phase 2 characters while also introducing new characters in solo films.
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Bilbo: What about the Ewoks? They were rubbish.
Tim: Yeah but Jar Jar Binks makes the Ewoks look like f***ing Shaft!
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Marvel Cinematic Universe - 
) because as IM2 showed. If you crowbar too many characters and references in, you compromise the story a little and the films suffers. 
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