Is Marvel studios or Marvel Netflix better?
In the age of comic book movies, Marvel Comics seems to be leading the game. Since 2008, starting with “Iron Man,” they have released a series of movies that all contribute to a broader storyline. In 2015, they also debuted their first Netflix original show, “Daredevil.”
Marvel Studios has done a great job so far of incorporating their movies into a universal storyline. Each important character, such as Iron Man, Thor and Captain America, has a standalone movie. Then, their individual storylines converge in “The Avengers.” It became the first Marvel movie to generate over $1 billion, making $1.5 billion during its time in theaters. Even after “The Avengers,” Marvel continued to build up to an ultimate storyline, which is speculated to end with “Avengers: Infinity War.” The Avengers movies continue to be the highest grossing movies for Marvel Studios, even above “Captain America: Civil War,” which debuted Spider-Man into the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU).
Lately, Marvel films have been becoming increasingly intense. “Captain America: Civil War” was the most action-packed Marvel film to date. Not only was the entire movie filled with fight scenes, but there was even a huge one at the end involving all the heroes that the fans know and love. Fans are excited for “Thor: Ragnarok” this November when the Hulk is reintroduced after an absence. “Black Panther,” a character introduced in “Civil War,” gets his own standalone movie in 2018 that focuses on his homeland and origins. Later that same year, Marvel fans will get what they were waiting for when “Avengers: Infinity War” is released.
Netflix Original Marvel shows have done essentially the same thing with their storyline. When “Daredevil” released in 2015, nobody thought they would go on with more Marvel Netflix shows. “Jessica Jones” debuted later that year and introduced another character, Luke Cage. Cage then debuted in his own show in 2016. Iron First released this year, followed by The Defenders, a collaboration between all four shows. Daredevil is about a man blinded by a childhood accident with heightened senses that fights crime. Jessica Jones and Luke Cage both have super strength and Cage is also invulnerable. Iron Fist is about a billionaire who is trained in mystical arts at a secret place in the mountains. Each of the shows did an amazing job of progressing their own storyline as well as contributing to the overall storyline without either story overshadowing the other. Recently this year in August, the first season of The Defenders was released. The main characters from each stand alone show met through a common acquaintance. They have a common goal and end up working together.
The Marvel Netflix shows have a much darker and more mature take on the characters. Each character has a very dark past and they are all quite serious about everything. Despite the occasional humor, all of the shows portray morbid points of view of the characters. Whereas Marvel Studios takes a much more humorous point of view on the characters. There are still serious moments when appropriate and lots of action but most characters are almost always cracking jokes in every situation.
Each branch of Marvel represents the extremes. Marvel Netflix has room to add more humor into their shows while Marvel Studios should take out a bit of humour and add more serious and captivating scenes to their movies. Overall, both Marvel Netflix and Marvel Studios have done a magnificent job with their respective films. Considering the amount of money made off the films, the storylines and the quality of the film itself, Marvel Studios definitely has the edge over their Netflix counterpart.
