For all of its runaway success ($14 billion and counting), the Marvel Cinematic Universe isn’t entirely loyal to its source material – that being Marvel Comics.
And, frankly, that’s okay, as some of the original comic book storylines are somewhat dated by today’s standards, not to mention the fact that licensing agreements tend to limit the number of characters who appear on the silver screen.
The impending Disney-Fox merger will change all that, of course (providing it receives the green light), but while promoting the imminent release of Avengers: Infinity War, Joe and Anthony Russo outlined why the MCU has typically blazed its own path when it comes to continuity. Because although they share DNA, Marvel’s cinematic universe is worlds away from its comic book universe, as Joe Russo told The Telegraph India:
We’re inspired by the books, but the Marvel Cinematic Universe is not the Marvel comic book universe. They’re different. As a comic book fan, I think it’s fun to take elements from the books that I identify with. But if I want a literal interpretation, I’ll just read the book. I think that Marvel jumped off with this cinematic experiment that they started 10 years ago with a narrative that diverts from that. So we wanted to fulfill storylines that we’ve set up in Captain America: Winter Soldier and Civil War that we want to carry forward into Avengers: Infinity War and the next one; but not necessarily do a literal interpretation of Jim Starlin’s’ book. But there are great ideas in that book, and we owe a lot of the movie and what’s behind the movie to Jim.
That’s not to say that Infinity War has totally overlooked its source material – far from it, in fact, as Joe Russo went on to stress that Marvel’s comics still had a bearing on the sequel’s colossal story, one which involves Thanos rounding up all six Infinity Stones, much to the horror of Earth’s Mightiest Heroes.
But it’s been important for us to find connective tissue that the audience can relate to and has emotional connection to based upon what they’ve seen before. As far as fan service goes, every fan wants something different. You can’t please all fans. We’re fans, and we love making these movies, and we loved comic books growing up. So our mandate all along has been that we’re going to make something that pleases us, that we’re happy with and that we’re excited about and that we want to share with people. Then we keep our fingers crossed that everybody’s as excited about it as we are.
Suffice it to say, fans are beside themselves with excitement when it comes to Avengers: Infinity War, and one need only look to the latest box office forecasts ($225 million in its opening weekend) for evidence of that. April 27th is the date for your diaries.
