随着时间的推进，漫威宇宙伴随着它那亿万粉丝，从一个小小的漫画世界蜕变成为了全球电影产业的一个庞大现象。自2008年《钢铁侠》以来，漫威电影工作室（Marvel Studios）不仅重塑了超级英雄电影的模式，更是开创了跨度十多年的电影连续体——漫威电影宇宙（Marvel Cinematic Universe, MCU）。然而近年来，一些观众和影评人开始对漫威电影的质量表达了担忧。他们发现，这个曾经以創新和高质量影片着称的品牌，似乎在魅力和新意上有所减退。论坛讨论变得激烈，社交媒体上的争论此起彼伏，一个备受争议的话题——“为何漫威电影越拍越烂?”，逐渐浮出水面。

这不免令人产生疑问：究竟是漫威电影的制作质量出现了下滑，还是观众的期待随着时间提高了？是不是因为同质化严重、创意枯竭，还是因为市场饱和让观众体验到了疲劳？2024年1月13日推出的的最新一期《经济学人》, 在文化专栏中就该问题进行了深入探讨。
这也是[2024英语外刊超精读]的第一篇要深度学习的文章。每次精读课都会严格按照
预习—学习—复习—练习
的顺序依次往前推进。可以说,只要你认真跟着这套课程学下去,坚持一段时间,英语成绩和能力的提升,绝对不在话下。

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Superhero films
Marvel seems to be losing its powers
The world’s mightiest movie franchise looks increasingly fragile
Jan 11th 2024 |
IN “THE AVENGERS” (2012) Nick Fury (Samuel L. Jackson), a spy, described heroes as “an old-fashioned notion”. Certainly the film’s characters, including Captain America and Iron Man, were not novel, first appearing in comic books published in the mid-20th century. But if the idea was old, the excitement around superheroes had been renewed. “The Avengers” became the first Marvel movie to make more than $1bn at the global box office.
When Fury’s words were used in the trailer for “The Marvels”(2023, pictured), however, they took on a different tone. Heroes may seem antiquated, he argued, but “the world can still use them”. If it was an attempt to convince the viewer, it did not work. Released in November, “The Marvels”, the 33rd instalment in the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU), made around $200m at the box office. It became the poorest-performing MCU film to date, and will probably lose money.
Nor was “The Marvels” a one-off disappointment. “Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania” also underperformed. According to CinemaScore, an audience-rating benchmark, of the past eight MCU films, five have scored B+ or worse (see chart). Fans complain of dull characters, sloppy writing and amateurish special effects.
Marvel productions on the small screen have not fared much better. RecentMCU television series on Disney+, including “Secret Invasion”, about Fury’s character, have been poorly reviewed and, estimates suggest, little watched. It does not bode well for the shows due to be released in the coming months.
The decline is surprising: for a long time, the Marvel brand seemed invincible. Disneybought the comic-book company in 2009 and it became a prized asset. The 23 movies released between 2008 and 2019 grossed almost $23bn in total, making Marvel the largest film franchise in history.
Marvel kept standards high even as it increased production. The company released 2.75 films, on average, in 2016-19, up from 1.2 in 2008-13. Of those 23 movies, only one ranked lower than A- on CinemaScore. Three films received an A+, awarded to fewer than 100 of over 4,000 films measured since 1979.“Black Panther” (2018) even became the first comic-book adaptation to be nominated for Best Picture at the Oscars.
Marvel pioneered an innovative “cinematic universe” model, in which plotlines and characters were shared across films. As Marvel’s universe grew, its competitors tried, and failed, to emulate its success. DC Comics—which owns Batman, Superman and Wonder Woman—set up, and recently scrapped, its “Extended Universe”. Warner Bros has turned the Harry Potter franchise into a “Wizarding World”. Universal twice tried to launch a “Dark Universe” of monsters such as Dracula and the Mummy, but both attempts failed after a single release. Efforts to build out Robin Hood and his merry men (Lionsgate), Power Rangers (also Lionsgate) and King Arthur and his round table (Warner Bros) all faltered.
By the early 2020s theMCU seemed set for further dominance. In 2019 Disney acquired 20th Century Fox, which held the rights to characters including the X-Men and the Fantastic Four. The launch of Disney+ that year made it easier for fans to keep up with the ever-expanding MCU and enabled the franchise to tell new stories in a serialised format. But instead of developing its position in pop culture, Marvel has struggled creatively and financially.
Disney insiders suggest several causes for the slump. One is to do with personnel. Several trusted writers and directors have moved on. Many of the actors playing the most popular superheroes left theMCU after “Avengers: Endgame” in 2019, and Chadwick Boseman, the star of “Black Panther”, died in 2020. Last month Disney fired Jonathan Majors after he was found guilty of assaulting and harassing his then-girlfriend. The actor played the villain at the heart of the “Multiverse Saga”, the story which would connect the films released between 2021 and 2027.
Another reason is to do with geopolitics. The first 23 films were all released in China, the world’s largest theatrical market, but between 2020 and 2022, none was. (China did not give a clear reason why, but it was probably building up its domestic film industry.) Though this de facto ban is now over, cinematic universes are hard to understand when audiences have missed several entries. Making matters worse, Disney+ is not available in China, so fans cannot watch the TV entries.
Yet part of the problem is of Marvel’s own making. Since 2021 the MCU has released an average of 3.3 films and 3.7 television series every year—a rate that seems to strain audiences, internal creative teams and special-effects departments. For prospective viewers hoping to watch a new title, 33 films and 11 seasons of television is simply too much homework. The focus on the “multiverse”, which draws on films predating the existing cinematic universe, aggravates this issue.
Audiences may yet tire of superheroes much as they tired of Westerns in the late 1960s. But for now, the genre goes on. The third “Guardians of the Galaxy” film grossed $846m, making it the fourth-highest-grossing film of 2023, and received an A rating on CinemaScore. “Spider-Man: Across the Spiderverse”, an animated film by Sony, was also among the most popular films last year.
Bob Iger, Disney’s CEO, who initiated Marvel’s expansion, has said the franchise can return to its former glory by slowing the pace of production. “I’ve always felt that quantity can be actually a negative when it comes to quality. And I think that’s exactly what happened. We lost some focus.” He, and Marvel’s many fans, will be holding out for the heroes. ■
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