Marvel’s trilogies are a lot more closely connected than most people think. Hollywood has long been attracted to the idea of a film trilogy, influenced by popular trilogies such as Back to the Future and Star Wars. It became something of a template, an easy format to follow with potential franchises that worked in terms of marketing and allowed talent to be signed up contractually for a set number of films.
Even the Marvel Cinematic Universe has always tended to assume that each solo franchise would become a trilogy, with talent initially contracted for six or seven films (three solo movies, plus three-to-four Avengers crossover films). Just as Marvel planned, viewers have been treated to three Iron Man, Captain America, and three Thor movies. It’s believed the Marvel/Sony deal requires Marvel to produce three Spider-Man films as well. Of course, the irony in this case is that the MCU doesn’t necessarily require trilogies at all; Marvel’s shared cinematic universe model is far more radical, and characters could potentially turn up anywhere. The trilogy mindset may have actually prevented more cameos and team-ups, of the kind audiences saw with the Hulk in Thor: Ragnarok.
But, on a critical level, it’s interesting to ask whether or not these trilogies work in the context of the Marvel Cinematic Universe as a whole. Is it possible that Marvel needs to be a little bit more radical? Or do the trilogies have innate value in and of themselves?
- This Page: The Alleged Problem With Marvel Trilogies Page 2: What The Iron Man, Thor & Captain America Trilogies Get Right Page 3: Why Marvel Trilogies Secretly Work
The Alleged Problem With Marvel Trilogies
Hollywood’s trilogies have traditionally been self-contained; the idea is that, if you’re a fan of Christopher Nolan’s interpretation of Batman, you know exactly which three films you need to watch in order to appreciate the stories. But the shared universe model sits uncomfortably with that, because the characters all pop up in the tentpole Avengers movies as well. What’s more, because these are major events, they tend reshape the status quo for the follow-up installments.
Take the Iron Man trilogy, for instance. The first and second films are stand-alone, but to appreciate Iron Man 3, audiences really need to have watched The Avengers. A major subplot is the fact that Tony Stark is struggling with PTSD in the aftermath of the Battle of New York, and there’s frequent discussion of wormholes and alien invasions. Even the film’s most amusing narrative conceit - that Stark is recounting the tale of his battle with Killian to Bruce Banner - doesn’t work if you don’t know who Bruce Banner is. The Captain America trilogy is even more problematic; again, the first and second films are relatively self-contained, but Captain America: Civil War suddenly tosses in a bevy of other superheroes. Thor follows the same pattern, with Thor: Ragnarok requiring viewers to know all about the relationship between Thor and the Hulk. As separate movies in the shared universe, every one of these films work well. As chapters in a trilogy, they feel more than a little disjointed.
Even the Avengers movies suffer from the same problem. Joss Whedon’s masterful storytelling means it’s possible to watch The Avengers without checking out the whole of the MCU’s Phase 1 beforehand (although you’ll miss a lot of nuance). But Avengers: Age of Ultron makes absolutely no sense; where has S.H.I.E.L.D. gone, and why is Nick Fury on the run? That’s never properly explained in the film itself. As for Avengers: Infinity War, that’s the culmination of a decade’s worth of storytelling, with so many new characters and concepts tossed in that the script just has to assume viewers know who most of them are.
Page 2 of 3: What The Iron Man, Thor & Captain America Trilogies Get Right
Iron Man Is About Tony’s Past Sins
Marvel’s trilogies are a lot more cohesive than is commonly assumed. Their focus isn’t on the flow of narrative events; rather, it’s upon recurring themes. The Iron Man trilogy, for example, is all about Tony’s attempt to redeem himself, and to absolve himself for both his own past sins, and the sins of his father. That theme is pretty explicit in Iron Man, where Stark’s experience in Afghanistan leads him to reassess his life, create the Iron Man armor, and start taking down terrorists who are using Stark weapons across the globe. No longer is he willing to be the “Merchant of Death,” profiting from war and bloodshed. He messed up the world, and he realizes that he has both the power and the responsibility to put it right. Obadiah Stane, as a father-figure, represents everything Tony Stark was groomed to be; when Stane dies, it’s symbolically the death of Stark’s past.
This theme is subtly reframed and expanded in Iron Man 2, as Tony is forced to confront the legacy of his father, Howard Stark - the good and the bad. Whiplash represents the way his father took advantage of others, with the sins of the father visited upon the next generation. Meanwhile, the cure for Tony’s Palladium poisoning comes from learning the truth about his father, with Tony coming to understand Howard in a way he never had before. Even the fact that Tony is holding a Stark Expo is intended to signpost the “legacy” theme; the Stark Expos were famously associated with Howard. And then Iron Man 3 goes back to exploring the consequences of Tony’s past; his actions back at the turn of the Millennium set in motion the whole chain of events, inspiring Killian and Hansen to develop Extremis and ultimately become villains. Tony Stark is a hero who is haunted by the legacy of the Stark name, and his story is one of reconciling himself with who he was, and striving to somehow put it right.
Captain America Is About Bucky
The Captain America trilogy is the most cohesive in terms of overarching narrative, and that’s quite impressive given it changes genres after Captain America: The First Avenger. The first film is a period piece set during the Second World War, and it establishes everything viewers need to know about Steve Rogers and his friendship with Bucky Barnes. Bucky’s return is one of the driving plot points in Captain America: The Winter Soldier, and Captain America: Civil War continues that narrative, with Steve dividing from the rest of the Avengers because he refuses to abandon Bucky. This is a straightforward narrative arc, of the kind not seen in any of the other Marvel trilogies.
But the same thematic patterns are there as well. One of the most prominent themes is that of sacrifice, with Steve Rogers defined as a hero who will always choose to sacrifice himself for others. At the end of The First Avenger, he loses everything when he crashes in the ice, and awakens in a strange new world. In The Winter Soldier, he is beginning to build a new life for himself in S.H.I.E.L.D., but ultimately chooses to bring it all down in order to destroy Hydra. And in Civil War, Captain America’s innate sense of right and wrong means his new “family,” the Avengers, is torn apart. Steve is locked in a cycle, in which his entire life is torn down and built back up again.
Another notable theme is that of truth, with Captain America continually unmasking the secrets of others. The First Avenger reveals the truth of who Steve Rogers really is; in The Winter Soldier, he unmasks the truth behind S.H.I.E.L.D. and reveals it to the world, and in Civil War he can’t just stand by while an innocent man is blamed for a crime he didn’t commit.
Thor Is About Earning The Throne
At heart, the Thor franchise is about the throne of Asgard. In the first Thor film, Odin is about to step down as King of Asgard when the Frost Giants attack; Odin is furious to realize how petty and vain his son truly is, and banishes him to Midgard. There, Thor begins the quest to become worthy, to earn the throne that was previously just his by right. That theme continues on into Thor: The Dark World, which Thor choosing a path of self-sacrifice rather than keeping the Aether on Asgard and inviting the Dark Elves to meet Asgard’s armies in battle. All the Nine Realms see him fight for them, and he earns their respect. And finally, in Thor: Ragnarok, Thor comes to understand that Asgard is a people, not a place, and makes the most terrible decision of all - to destroy his home. The film ends with Thor seated on a very different throne to the one he envisioned.
For Loki, of course, the throne is an obsession, something he desires as a way to prove himself to his father. He conspires with the Frost Giants in a misguided attempt to earn the throne, even attempting genocide; when he claims the throne in Thor: The Dark World it’s through treachery, and he spends his time indulging himself, rewriting his own personal history in dramatic fashion. While Thor has proven himself worthy, Loki has consistently done the opposite; his story is one in which he continually falls short.
Page 3 of 3: Why Marvel Trilogies Secretly Work
Why Marvel Trilogies Secretly Work
There are two major reasons why Marvel’s trilogies really do work. The first is that Marvel has actually put in a lot of effort to ensure there’s a thematic throughline in all of them, even when there isn’t a straightforward narrative one. An Iron Man film, then, will always involve Tony Stark struggling to deal with his legacy; a Captain America movie will also involve Bucky, and a central theme will be one of sacrifice and loss; a Thor film will be all about two brothers struggling to prove themselves worthy of the throne of Asgard.
It’s generally assumed that Marvel’s newer franchises will all turn into trilogies as well, although it’s worth noting that’s far from guaranteed. After Ant-Man & the Wasp, will there be a third Ant-Man film? Ant-Man and the Wasp didn’t perform particularly well at the box office, so it wouldn’t be a surprise if Marvel shelved that franchise. Still, whether all these new series ultimately become trilogies or not, the fact remains that Marvel seem to be trying to continue that thematic throughline. Ant-Man and Ant-Man & the Wasp were both, fundamentally, explorations of the theme of family; Spider-Man: Far From Home looks set to have the same tone, style, and themes of Spider-Man: Homecoming, and Marvel is using the same talent for Black Panther 2 and Doctor Strange 2. The shared universe model is a lot more balanced than is generally thought.
At the same time, though, it has to be noted that the criticisms of Marvel’s trilogies are exaggerated; in narrative terms, the trilogies aren’t interrupted quite as much as is commonly believed. In theory, Marvel films exist in a shared universe where everything is connected to everything else. In practice, the overt connections only tend to happen in the tentpole Avengers movies. The events of Iron Man 3 have no impact on Thor: The Dark World, for example, and neither of those two films has any effect on Captain America: The Winter Soldier. As a rule, then, if a viewer wants to experience the cohesive narrative of a single trilogy, they just need to also check out the Avengers films. It’s not as though audiences need to have watched all 20+ Marvel movies in order to understand the next one. So the problems with Marvel’s trilogies are, frankly, overrated.
But will this continue to be the case going forward? Marvel’s Phase 3 has worked slightly different, with Captain America: Civil War serving as the launchpad for Spider-Man: Homecoming, Black Panther, and Ant-Man & the Wasp. That film was almost more of an “Avengers 2.5” than a traditional Captain America film. It even lifted themes from the Iron Man trilogy, with Tony Stark forced to deal with the fact that his parents had been murdered. But, even in Phase 3, that was the exception and not the norm. And, tellingly, there’s as yet no evidence Marvel is planning anything on that scale again; all the films known to be in the works are sequels, or the beginning of new franchises like The Eternals. The truth is that Marvel’s trilogies are a lot more closely-connected than is commonly thought, and that they operate perfectly well in the context of the shared universe model.
More: Every Phase 4 MCU Movie In Development
- captain marvel Release Date: 2019-03-08 The Avengers 4 Release Date: 2019-04-26 spider-man homecoming 2 Release Date: 2019-07-02
