Movie Serials, Where Are the Avengers Taking Us?

Avengers: Infinity Warhit the theaters this past week almost as hard as the characters hit each other in the movie. There are a multitude of reviews and, for most people going to see the movie, none of them matter. The same is true for the previous release, Black Panther. Both movies came out as huge opening weekend successes. And, this happened at a time when there are reports how movies aren’t doing well in general.

If movies aren’t doing well, why are the Marvel movies breaking records?

People have said it is because these movies are great. And, to them, they are great movies because they're part of the movie's fandom. You will get the same reaction from Star Warsand Star Trek fans. You can also watch the sparks fly when you get the super fans of these different universes together to discuss what’s best.

I have the pleasure of knowing big fans of each of these three universes along with Middle Earth. When listening in on what they say, there is a universal truth that emerges. They want more stories from these settings.

There is an argument the movie industry makes too many sequels. Many sequels try recapturing the story of the first movie. Not a continuation of the story, but the same story with the same lead characters doing the same basic things in a new setting, or maybe the same setting. I’m sure everyone has gone to a follow-up movie because of we liked the first one only to leave the theater after the second hating it. We knew what was going to happen and by the time we got to the end and the predictability left us flat.

We go because we already know the characters and have a level of bonding with them. That is a big reason people like trilogies in movies and books. We don’t have as many introductions to go through and by knowing a level of the backstory we get more out of the next installment.

This is nothing new. There were the Saturday serials. Every week you could go to the movies and see the feature and the latest installment of the Lone Ranger. I’ve heard people talk about how they went to see the next chapter of the serial, not caring what the feature film was. They already had investment in the story and characters and wanted to see more of them.

The first James Bond movie hit the screen in 1962 and has 25 movies (not counting spoofs) telling the spy’s stories. The Marvel universe has released 19 movies so far in this storyline. The Harry Potter universe has released 9 movies, as has Star Wars. And Star Trek has 13 released. None of them look like they are going to stop making movies soon.

They are making movies based in a universe, or world, of their own creation where there are more stories to tell. Stories people want to see because they already know something about the characters or the world. Then, as new characters are introduced, they want more of them. And, it could be argued we are watching sequels.

There is a difference. Some of these are rebooting a story because it sat idle, but there are new stories moving in new directions. They have layers of backstory fans already know from earlier movies, books, television, and late night discussions on the theories of who shot first.

I think we are going to see more universal settings develop with the rise of the blockbuster serials. There have already been some other story universes introduced. For movies, these may be newer concepts, but they have been around in books. And, that is one reason these serialized movies are going to keep developing and get better.

The Hobbit showed where a complex setting in a book can be done in a multi-movie presentation. A number of other book series have also come to the big screen. Most of these have been single author series, which is different from what we get when dealing with Marvel, Star Trek, and Star Wars. Each of these have many writers creating original works beyond the movies. They have been creating stories within the confines of the universe setting to great success. This is why there will be more, and better movie universes coming.

Along with the hundreds of books supporting each of the Star Wars, Star Trek, and Marvel universes, there are other collections of stories to be drawn upon we haven’t seen on the silver screen.

What I want to know is, what universe already being written about in another media would you like to see come to life when the lights go out after the trailers have run?

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