In 2008 we saw the beginnings of something awesome with the post credits of The Incredible Hulk (2008). General Ross sitting at a bar drinking and a then unknown man starts speaking to him. It is then revealed that it is Tony Stark ( Robert Downey Jr.).
Marvel then did something unexpected and decided that through their newly founded Marvel Studios, they would now be completely responsible for making their own movies, probably in a move to control the rights of their characters. Many sceptics said that after X-Men, Spider-Man and other characters had already been sold to other studios that Marvel perhaps were shooting for the stars with their belief that they could make credible movies with the what was left of their heroes.
Marvel once again silenced Hollywood as Iron Man was extremely well received globally with an overall gross of $585,174,222 and then continued their spree with another Iron Man movie as well as Captain America: The First Avenger (2011) and Thor (2011). With Marvel being bought by Disney, we finally got our big Avengers movie and the world stood in awe of it as a superhero movie of this magnitude and quality was never seen before, drawing from the fanbases of it's previous hero movies and culminating in a heart-pumping action adventure that packed theatres.
It's now a few years since then and already other studios are now scrambling in the shadow of post-Avengers cinema. Everyone wants to now fill their movies with heroes and hope for the glory of Disney's effort. What am I talking about? Well 20th Century Fox owns the rights to the X-Men and no one can dispute the work that Bryan Singer & Brett Ratner put into the original 3 movies. In fact the success of these movies as well as Blade (1998) led to the building of the Marvel cinematic universe and provided a financial backbone to follow up with further endeavours.
In 2011 while Marvel killed the competition in theatres, Matthew Vaughn then released an X-Men movie of note in the form of X-Men: First Class (2011). This movie redefined the X-Men world and even to the greatest extent overshadowed the franchise which Singer had previously built. Vaughn had successfully rebooted and breathed new life into the X-Men. The movie was made off a budget of $160 million and fell short domestically in the U.S. but worldwide made a total of $353 million thus doubling it's takings in terms of production.
In the American Summer of 2012, Marvel's The Avengers (2012) was released and all other studios stood up and took note. Marvel and Disney had now done something different, they not only linked all their heroes but created a box office giant! Then in 2013 Man of Steel (2013) was released and finally through the hands of Zack Snyder and Christopher Nolan we received an interesting Superman reboot. The movies production was $225 million and netted a global total of $668 million making it a force to be reckoned with.
Now in 2014, 20th Century Fox released X-Men: Days of Future Past (2014) which saw Singer's X-Men franchise join up with Matthew Vaughn's new one. Clearly by throwing all kinds of mutants and doubling up of it's characters, Fox was hoping to duplicate the wonder created by Avengers not 2 years earlier. The movie was financed with around $200 million and currently is globally sitting on $661 million. While this is a worthy effort thus far, it still stands behind Marvel's The Avengers and has in no way even dented or come close to the same glory. However, having made $661 million and with a sequel already in progress, these has bourn the financial fruits which Fox had hoped for.
In the background the DC universe is now expanding and like Fox, are seeking once again to replicate Angers-like success. The production of the Man of Steel sequel or Batman Vs Superman: Dawn of Justice (2016) and what looks like the makings of a Justice League movie with Wonder Woman, Aquaman and Batman and rumoured annoncements of DC movies to come, including solo hero movies and an official Man of Steel solo sequel it certainly looks like we're going to be drowned in heroes per movie.
Just as a thought, has Marvel's The Avengers (2012) woken the box office giant that is James Cameron also? Cameron ruled the box office with his megahit Titanic and then followed it up with 3D sensation known as Avatar. What influence did Avengers have on Cameron with his announcement of 2 or more sequels to Avatar in a post-Avengers cinematic world? That question can only be answered by Cameron himself and I'm doubtful that any recognition will be given to Marvel or Disney for that.
So there you have it, my original question was HOW HAS MARVEL'S THE AVENGERS CHANGED CINEMA? We can now see that hero movies or at least through the views of other studios, need to have more heroes than any of us can count. A giant leap in the genre was made in 2012 and whilst we all get to see the consequences of this and fans are more than happy to go watch their heroes on screen, how long until we start tiring of this and it all gets way too much? Some might argue that perhaps we're already there and have reached the hilt and heights of where these movies will go and perhaps we will now see a downward spiral as everything in cinema is exaggerated and over compensated thanks in due to the record breaking Marvel's The Avengers...
Only time will tell.
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