Marvel likes its narrative templates.
I get it – if I was pumping as many well-made, largely (though not always – see Avengers: Age of Ultron) I’d probably stick to a template as often as I could too.
After all the fan boys and fan girls love it, it fits with the overall look and feel of the overall Marvel Universe (yes, that is a capitalised thing: it’s Marvel’s world and you and I are just buying tickets to live in it) which is all about titanic battles between good and evil and it means you can create an interlocking series of storylines that all make sense together.
But it can also mean things get a little same-y and been-there, done-that, got the T-shirt (and the Pop Funko figures and the DVD and the …) so when Marvel steps outside the box of its own highly-successful making and offers up something quirky, strange and different (see Guardians of the Galaxy and Deadpool, both of which I loved), you can’t help but sit up and take notice.
In this instance, Doctor Strange, starring the most handsome mis-pronouncer of “penguins) himself, Benedict Cumberbatch himself, and Suicide Squad, both of which offer up a distinctly fun, and pleasingly divergent approach to presenting the denizens of the Marvel Universe.
Sure they still tick all the superhero boxes but in ways most unusual which if you’re a little bored by Marvel B.A.U. is a very good thing indeed.
SNAPSHOT
Doctor Strange follows the story of neurosurgeon Doctor Stephen Strange who, after a horrific car accident, discovers the hidden world of magic and alternate dimensions. “Doctor Strange” is the latest film in Phase 3 of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Phase 3’s goal—over the course of four years and nine films—is to introduce audiences to new heroes and continue the adventures of fan favorites. (synopsis via Coming Soon)
Doctor Strange opens 4 November 2016.
SNAPSHOT
It feels good to be bad…Assemble a team of the world’s most dangerous, incarcerated Super Villains, provide them with the most powerful arsenal at the government’s disposal, and send them off on a mission to defeat an enigmatic, insuperable entity. U.S. intelligence officer Amanda Waller has determined only a secretly convened group of disparate, despicable individuals with next to nothing to lose will do. However, once they realize they weren’t picked to succeed but chosen for their patent culpability when they inevitably fail, will the Suicide Squad resolve to die trying, or decide it’s every man for himself? (official synopsis vis Screen Crush)
Suicide Squad opens in Australia on 4 August 2016 and USA on 5 August.