The Marvel Cinematic Universe reputation in film has always been known for many attributes while in its success: Easter eggs galore with cameo appearances, post-credit scenes that just tie all the films together, and of course, the countless quips and jokes that cater to all ages for a good time experience.
While the likes of upcoming events in Avengers: Infinity War seem to pose a much darker path for the future of many characters, it was a rarity for them to stray away from its silliness in a crazy world of colorful superheroes and mostly one-dimensional villains.
Let’s face it: when there is barely any consequences with the amount of destruction taking place afterwards and so minimum of a body count, it would put itself in positive vibes for the kids and barely raise the bar.
One man’s dedication for the quips has gone as far as making a very impressive report for all 10 years of MCU movies. George Hatzis took all the time to dedicate that data, outlining the frequencies, the averages, even making comparisons meet between the films over which took the mantles of more comedic or going down a different path.
The visual representations show some pretty cool perspective as to how their standard formula from the beginning evolved and given us an idea what’s changed. There was a significant influence with the now gone Joss Whedon after his touch with Captain America: The First Avenger and, more notably, the big team-up The Avengers.
With the Russos making the big jump on Captain America: The Winter Soldier, that was when the darker parts of the cinematic universe began to show and helped diversify that path with the more mature elements. Perhaps that’s what could have also given the opportunity for the likes of Netflix programs like Daredevil and The Punisher to come around and continue being successful.
Interestingly, the year’s biggest year of laugh was with the releases of last year, with Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 and Thor: Ragnarok really delving into that humor genre and scoring quite high with critics and audiences alike. It could be said they finally found the perfect rhythm by then.
But can it keep it that way after the big plunge of destruction and higher stakes of Thanos? We still got a long way of these films to adapt to our generations, old and new, and there is no sign of the quantity slowing down. We’ll just have to see where it all goes from there.
In the meantime, Marvel’s upcoming film Black Panther will continue the research as it opens February 16th, 2018.