Howdy, everybody, and welcome to And Then Shawarma. If you’re reading this, you’re likely either:
a) a friend or acquaintance of mine trying to be supportive, in which case oh my god you really do read my Facebook! Thank you! Make sure you RSVP to my open mic downtown.
b) a devoted fan of the interconnected, multi-media film franchise known officially as the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
If you are neither a) or b), I’m not sure what to say to you. Hello, I suppose. You have some movies to catch up on if you want to hang out here.
Okay, I’m here. What’s this all about?
I remember it now: it was the year 2008. Up to that point, X2: X-Men United and Spider-Man 2 stood as likely the finest the comic-book film genre had offered, although all that was about to change, with the mega-hyped The Dark Knight looming nigh (with more than a few morbidly curious to see the recently deceased Heath Ledger’s performance as The Joker).
You have to understand; the superhero film was in trouble in 2008. Spider-Man 3 made a metric ton of money, but it was also a metric pile of crap. Since Blade and the first X-Men movie rejuvenated the genre back in 1998 and 2000, we also had to deal with two really bad Fantastic Four movies, a Ben Affleck-led Daredevil vehicle (maybe one of the more uniquely bad Hollywood movies ever), Ghost Rider starring Nicolas Cage, the enormous fuck-you of a movie known as X-Men: The Last Stand, and a pair of bombs (Catwoman and Elektra) that proved once and for all female-led superhero movies can never catch on with a general audience. About the only superhero franchise that had anything going for it was Batman Begins, with a real director and vision behind it.
Then, Robert Downey Jr. happened.
On May 2nd, 2008, Marvel Studios’ first film, Iron Man, was released, and it changed what comic book movies could be. For instance, it got my butt into a seat.
Like most general movie-goers at the time, I was generally only familiar with the major comic book stars; Spider-Man, Wolverine, Batman, Superman, and the like. Any movie starring anyone below that tier seemed like a movie that was trying to stretch a premise. In 2008, we couldn’t even manage to have three good Spider-Man movies; why did we think we suddenly needed a movie starring Iron Man, played by washed-up actor Robert Downey Jr., a man who almost managed to get through a whole season of Alley McBeal, no less?
And then the buzz started coming out. RDJ, in turns out, was born to play the role of Tony Stark; in fact, for all intents and purposes, he was Tony Stark. But even cooler than that was the rumor of a post-credits scene starring none other than Samuel L. Jackson. He would be playing a guy named Nick Fury and he shows up to recruit Mr. Stark into something called The Avengers Initiative.
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| Imagine everybody's disappointment when it wasn't this Nick Fury. |
I knew Marvel meant business when news broke that Downey Jr. would be playing Tony Stark in another movie that summer, a remake/reboot of/sequel to Ang Lee’s 2003 Hulk, a plodding attempt to make a serious comic book movie that nobody liked. With both of these cameos in mind, I knew this attempt at an interconnected film universe was something I had to get in on, even if I knew nothing about Iron Man and even if I kinda hated that first Hulk movie. As it turns out, Iron Man kicked a lot of ass and The Incredible Hulk ended up being good enough, and I was a fan of what turned out to be called the Marvel Cinematic Universe ever since. Sorry, Dark Knight. I liked you, too.
Great. So why now?
Over the almost seven years since Iron Man hit the scene, the Internet has become positively stuffed with articles, websites, subreddits and podcasts devoted to the movies and television shows (and the impossibly false rumors regarding both) that make up the Marvel Cinematic Universe. So why now, in 2015, did I decide to launch yet another website devoted to it?
So that you never have to read articles like this again. http://moviepilot.com/posts/2014/09/18/ranking-the-marvel-cinematic-universe-worst-to-best-2277573?lt_source=external,manual
Simply put, my mission is to be able to talk about a movie universe that I love and honor a movie studio that has kept me amused and entertained since 2008 in an entertaining, often analytic manner, while still being able to back up my points beyond “I ranked this movie 10th because I didn’t like it but it has its good moments.”
Okay, that sounded a little pretentious.
Look, every movie in the MCU has its low points. Even The Avengers (hahaha, no I’m kidding). It brings me no pleasure to bring them up. But bring them up I will, if only to be able to contrast the lows with the highs. I owe it to you as a reader to be honest and entertaining at the same time.
Okay, so what’s the plan?
The plan is to officially review everything related to the Marvel Cinematic Universe, from 2008’s Iron Man to the upcoming Avengers: Age of Ultron. I’ll throw in ABC’s Agents of Shield and Agent Carter, as well as the upcoming Netflix Daredevil series. And beyond. (I probably won’t be doing individual episode reviews until I hit a slow spot, and the MCU comic tie-ins I’ll probably never touch. However, stay tuned.)
But there’s a twist.
There’s always a twist.
I’m going to try my darnedest to let this be a valuable resource to those jumping into the MCU for the first time. To that end, each review will have sections devoted to Things to Look Out For, highlighting things in each movie that connect to the bigger storyline being told. Of course, as an MCU veteran, I’ll make (or at least attempt) to make the content of this site entertaining to long-time fans as well, with some interesting facts (did you know Quentin Tarantino was once in talks to write and direct Iron Man?) compiled along the way. We'll see how all of this comes together as we move forward (and expect a lot of George Lucas-esque tinkering along the way), but hey! At least there's a plan.
Touche.
Well, at any rate, these are the morals and views that form the foundation And Then Shawarma will be built on. Expect a lot of tinkering along the way, so pardon the dust.
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