What does Elektra bring to the table that Captain America can't?
Is Victor von Doom really a better villain than Ultron? We love the
MCU – we're not knocking it one bit – but the old Marvel movies just did some things better.
There isn't a superhero film out there, at least on the Marvel side of things,
that tells a more compelling and accurate origin story than the original "Spider-Man."
Not only does it carry the heart of the original Marvel comic books on its sleeve,
it combines the origin directly with one of Spidey's most formidable foes.
Likewise, the 2005 "Fantastic Four" film, Ang Lee's "Hulk," and "The Punisher," among others,
set their title characters up for success early on. How is this done? By establishing
a clear origin story that often directly ties our heroes to their most iconic villains.
While MCU films like "Iron Man" and "Captain America: The First Avenger" stand out as solid
origin stories, most MCU films skip their inception completely. Instead,
the films usually dive right into the action to keep their audience's attention. That,
or characters are introduced in another film before getting their own standalone,
which also often skip the origin stories. This can be a huge disservice to both the characters
and the audience. Peter Parker watching his Uncle Ben die, Bruce Banner's childhood flashbacks,
and Logan's frustrated attempts to uncover his own history are what grounds and guides the heroes.
Plus, who doesn't love watching the Fantastic Four as they get hit with cosmic rays from space?
"Rise and shine, big boy. How you feeling?"
There's no doubt that one of the things we love most about movies like "Guardians
of the Galaxy" and "Thor: Ragnarok" is the humor. The blend of character growth with
self-deprecating jokes is a true-blue staple of the MCU, and for good reason — it works!
"I used to spin it really fast and it would pull me off the…"
"Oh my God, the hammer pulled you off?"
"The ground."
In fact, many of us rewatch these films over again just for the laughs. But the old Marvel films
took a different approach. While there are clear moments of levity in "X-Men," "Spider-Man," and
"Daredevil," the films don't allow the humor to hold them back from telling more refined stories.
Raimi's "Spider-Man" trilogy is the perfect example of blending Spidey's
humor with compelling stories that feel honest, raw, and genuinely human.
"I will… always be spiderman."
The "X-Men" series developed Hugh Jackman's Wolverine in ways that no MCU character has,
simply by taking the character and his mythos seriously rather than making a joke out of them.
The only reason an incredible film like "Logan" could have even been made
is because of the groundwork they'd laid with the character years prior.
There's a lot to be said about a complex, interconnected universe where Howard the Duck
can chill with an immortal Elder and 20 years' worth of Peter Parkers can meet up to make meta
jokes about their various movies' faults. It's a whole lot of fun for fans, but it also means
you have to keep up with dozens of releases to understand everything that's going on.
One thing the old Marvel movies really had going for them was that they were truly stand-alone.
You didn't have to watch "Ghost Rider" to understand a scene or two in "X-Men:
The Last Stand," and that's something of a lost art nowadays. We've all gotten so used
to interconnected stories and universes that we expect them now at every turn.
Aside from the "X-Men" and "Blade" films, which really build off each previous installment,
most of the old Marvel flicks can be consumed on their own. "Spider-Man 2" is just as great
if you haven't seen the first film as it is if you have, and even "Elektra" isn't completely bound by
the "Daredevil" film she first appeared in. If "Captain America: Civil War" proved anything,
it's that sometimes being too interconnected can hurt the growth of your primary characters,
and that's not something the old Marvel films had to worry about. Rather,
each made sure to focus on their own localized story before expanding the world around them.
Since the foundation of the MCU, the franchise has struggled primarily with their villains.
Aside from Loki, Thanos, Killmonger, Vulture, and one or two baddies from the Netflix shows,
many MCU villains aren't terribly compelling, interesting, or even believable. Most of them
don't stand out as anything other than pale imitations of their heroes, and not in a good way.
The old Marvel films, however, understood their villains completely. Our heroes' main foes were
dark, mirky reflections of themselves, and not just because they had a similar Stark
Tech suit of armor. Rather, they made similar choices to our heroes but with different results,
often warping their own perspectives of truth and justice to fit their own agendas. The dichotomy
between characters like Spider-Man and Green Goblin, Professor X and Magneto, and Reed Richards
and Victor von Doom is fascinating, powerful, and full of surprises. In fact, some of these
villains are so iconic that they even brought a bunch of them back for "Spider-Man: No Way Home."
"Attaboy."
The old Marvel movies also dealt with a completely different set of philosophical implications
than most in the MCU. While "Iron Man" focuses heavily on "War On Terror" politics and the
"Captain America" films reference PATRIOT Act surveillance, earlier Marvel pictures went for
more universal, down-to-earth themes. They dove into sociology, philosophy, and even religion.
Like the original Marvel Comics before them, the "X-Men" trilogy ran underlying themes of equality,
hoping to remind us that people should be treated the same whether they have a
difference in appearance or ability. This was ultimately the message that Stan Lee hoped to
convey with their famed mutant characters, and the Fox films handled it pretty well.
The "Spider-Man" trilogy heavily promotes moral notions of responsibility,
which stand out among all superhero films as being some of the most powerful ideas
explored in the genre. The "Daredevil" film even touches on Matt Murdock's Catholicism and
how his role as Hell's Kitchen's "Guardian Devil" is heavily influenced by his faith.
"Ghost Rider" explores the moral and spiritual implications of selling one's soul. Likewise,
"Fantastic Four," much like the MCU's "Guardians of the Galaxy" now, promotes the idea that you
can find your "true family" through friendships. They weren't always the best films, but there's no
denying that the old Marvel films had a depth to them that has yet to be fully replicated.
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