A Viewpoint

      Everything in existence has it's peaks and valleys and nothing escapes this duality----the MCU that we're seeing right now is perhaps a pale reflection of what it once was, but it doesn't really take away anything from the sheer greatness that it was back in the pre-Endgame saga. And as the MCU is currently going through it's inevitable 'phase of the Valley', this article attempts to celebrate this enormously grand and unique movie franchise by remembering one of most important and pivotal films to have come out of it----the film that not only played a key part in making the MCU what it is today but also created a massive cultural shockwave that paved the way for all the other subsequent films that we've seen from the franchise. And it's none other than The Avengers (2012)----the first billion dollar global blockbuster that had a huge role on making the MCU a juggernaut of a Worldwide movie franchise and a household name. Sure, there are multiple m...

The MCU is now officially the biggest movie franchise of all time and they’ve completely earned every bit of their supermassive success. The greatest thing the Marvel films did lies not in their sheer cinematic spectacles but in their delicate balancing act which focused on it’s characters’ super-heroism as well as their human vulnerabilities, simultaneously humanizing these super heroes on a level that’s both relatable and heartfelt for us. This is the real key to their success—they made those fictional characters feel real and brought them closer to the audience with their individual emotional journeys, character arcs and resolutions. It’s what makes the MCU both universal and intimate, at the same time. To make us feel for it’s characters so deeply is the real success of these films and that’s what’s responsible for bringing back the audiences into the theaters for multiple viewings. However, when viewed from a purely cinematic standpoint, it’s also not hard to see that...