Is the over reliance on humour a problem in the MCU

[TheVileOne]

It depends. IMHO, some of the jokes in Age of Ultron didn't land at all and were just too much.

 

[Frankeh]

Age of Ultron, Doctor Strange, Thor 2, and Iron Man 3 all had amounts of humor that didn't work for me.

 

[TheVileOne]

Just by comparison, what jokes there are in Avengers tend to land a lot better. In Age of Ultron, which is more of what Whedon wanted apparently, they didn't work as well.

Like it's really not funny at all when Samuel L. Jackson brings up Cap saying "language" later. It's OK when Iron Man brings it up the first time if at all.

Ultron needed to be less humorous too. I didn't like that he was Stark's analog.

 

[2kt09]

Iron Man 2, The Avengers, Iron Man 3, Thor TDW, GOTG, AoU, Ant-Man, Civil War (Parker intro + airport scene), Dr Strange

Dr Strange: only the post-credit seemed to have gotten a laugh out of me
Civil War: We interrupt the dire realization to bring you "fun"
Ant-Man: First half has a ton of Wright dialogue with none of the punch
AoU: When it's so heavily laced you forget to laugh at the bland humor
GOTG: Relegated most of the good ones to Groot & Rocket
Thor TDW: A couple between Thor & Loki were ok
Iron Man 3: Goofy second half
The Avengers: Bland quips
Iron Man 2: Bird is the word

 

[TheVileOne]

I'm not really a huge fan of Ant-Man in particular. I like Paul Rudd, and I think he's OK as Scott Lang. However, it seems more like he's Paul Rudd than actually playing Scott Lang as his own character.

Then again, I was never a fan of how they decided to make Hank Pym an older mentor either and essentially wrote out Janet. It's hard for me to accept Hope as the Wasp.

 

[The Endless]

Ant Man is one of my favourites tbh. I liked the humour. I liked how Rudd seemed completely exasperated and out of his depth. And Pena was awesome.

 

[AVEITWITHJAMON]

Ant Man is one of my favourites tbh. I liked the humour. I liked how Rudd seemed completely exasperated and out of his depth. And Pena was awesome.

Yeah I thought Ant Man worked well with its humour. I really like the movie as well. One of Marvels better origin story's for me and one where the humour fits.

 

[MadVillainy]

Ant Man humor was fine for me except for the scene when Hope and Hank reconcile and Scott has his "That's awesome" stuff

I still really enjoy the movie but that little bit was so weird and stupid

 

[AVEITWITHJAMON]

Ant Man humor was fine for me except for the scene when Hope and Hank reconcile and Scott has his "That's awesome" stuff

I still really enjoy the movie but that little bit was so weird and stupid

I actually normally hate when MCU do that, undercutting an emotional moment with humour. But I think that instance works, it makes me laugh every time.

 

[Samuron]

Ant Man humor was fine for me except for the scene when Hope and Hank reconcile and Scott has his "That's awesome" stuff

I liked it; without it, the scene would be a total cliché.

 

[I SEE SPIDEY]

Ant-Man is one of my favorite MCU movies. And I'm just fine with Paul Rudd playing Paul Rudd because Paul Rudd is awesome.

 

[Slade W]

Ant Man humor was fine for me except for the scene when Hope and Hank reconcile and Scott has his "That's awesome" stuff

I still really enjoy the movie but that little bit was so weird and stupid

I think that the humour in the MCU can be overdone at times, which causes problems for me, but I actually thought that scene was very funny.

 

[2kt09]

I'm not really a huge fan of Ant-Man in particular. I like Paul Rudd, and I think he's OK as Scott Lang. However, it seems more like he's Paul Rudd than actually playing Scott Lang as his own character.

Then again, I was never a fan of how they decided to make Hank Pym an older mentor either and essentially wrote out Janet. It's hard for me to accept Hope as the Wasp.

Pretty much.
Rudd's "older Parker" portrayal in Civil War was an improvement.

 

[def28]

What other studio has had this kind of success with comic films?

It's not a problem with getting or keeping audiences at the theatre, so there is no issue. That's the goal and they have achieved it. The humor has always been there since Iron Man.

I wasn't a huge fan of Doc Strange and thought the humor wasn't great but this is a film that got good reviews and solid box office over 650m. That's exactly what they want and why they make these films. They are hitting all their marks.

When audiences stop showing and critics start bashing then there is a problem.

 

[Leo Zelinsky]

The MCU films that had more jokes than I'd like were


Ironman 2
Ironman 3
Thor TDW
GotG
AoU
Ant-Man
Dr. Strange

 

[NotNickFury]

What other studio has had this kind of success with comic films?

It's not a problem with getting or keeping audiences at the theatre, so there is no issue. That's the goal and they have achieved it. The humor has always been there since Iron Man.

I wasn't a huge fan of Doc Strange and thought the humor wasn't great but this is a film that got good reviews and solid box office over 650m. That's exactly what they want and why they make these films. They are hitting all their marks.

Yeah, but the question isn't the humor being there or if the films are or aren't hitting their marks. That's not up for debate because we've seen Marvel Studios' success from Iron Man to now. That's not the point.

It's about there being an over-reliance on it, and I do think it depends on the director and tone of property. Doctor Strange is the biggest indicator of what happens when you try to inject a lot of humor into situations that don't call for it.

 

[kguillou]

AoU is the biggest offender for me. I felt really let down by the over abundance of humor in that. The trailers sold us on a dark, menacing Ultron and had that scarily perfect line of "there are...no strings on me." and then we go from that to in the actual film Ultron singing gleefully "there are no strings on me!" I felt that was a case of Marvel trying to have their cake and eat it too by selling a darker, higher stakes film when in reality they had no intention of making such a film.

 

[TheVileOne]

I wonder if they even actually filmed that line "there are no strings on me" or if it was just an editing trick and a voice-over line they threw in for the footage.

But yeah Ultron was way less menacing in the final product.

 

[First Avenger]

AoU is the biggest offender for me. I felt really let down by the over abundance of humor in that. The trailers sold us on a dark, menacing Ultron and had that scarily perfect line of "there are...no strings on me." and then we go from that to in the actual film Ultron singing gleefully "there are no strings on me!" I felt that was a case of Marvel trying to have their cake and eat it too by selling a darker, higher stakes film when in reality they had no intention of making such a film.

To be fair Whedon described Ultron as he is in the movie since the beginning when the movie was announced in 2013. I can't find the links right now but remember the interviews. Besides Marvel doesn't edit its trailers.

 

[The Endless]

Whedon said he wouldn't be your standard robot or rogue AI. He said he'd be emotional and a bit crazy. Which is fine. And I did like certain aspects of his personality. His confrontation with Klaw was awesome. It had that balance of danger and humour.

But overall Ultron himself just didn't seem threatening enough. I remember Busiek's Ultron Unlimited. Ultron was truly terrifying in that story.

 

[Lilbaz]

Like you others have said, its about balance and placing the humor at the right moment. Don't have Thor's mom die and then 5 seconds later cut to wacky pantless antics from Stellan Skaarsgard, there's no need for Beyonce jokes when Doctor Strange is trying to learn magic, and there was no reason to have every other sentence out of Ultron's mouth be a quip. Balance.

Also, let's remember, Marvel's best, most iconic stories from the comics have always been its most serious and intense ones, the ones that put the hero through the ringer and have them overcome adversity and their own demons: Kraven's Last Hunt, Death of Gwen Stacy, Demon in a Bottle, Death of Captain America, pretty much all of Frank Miller and Brian Bendis' Daredevil comics, The Dark Phoenix Saga, the original Civil War, Annihilation, Ironman: Extremis, X:Men God Loves, Man Kills etc. etc. etc.

The mcu is trying to appeal to different ages/sexes. From young children to parents. They need to be fairly family friendly and have some humour. That way they get maximum profit. Some people may prefer films such as logan but they will not be put off going to see antman or gotg because it has a few jokes (or at least not many will).

As i said aou and tdw the jokes sometimes felt forced and not needed. If they can make it feel natural and fit with the story it would be better.

 

[I Am The Knight]

AoU is the biggest offender for me. I felt really let down by the over abundance of humor in that. The trailers sold us on a dark, menacing Ultron and had that scarily perfect line of "there are...no strings on me." and then we go from that to in the actual film Ultron singing gleefully "there are no strings on me!" I felt that was a case of Marvel trying to have their cake and eat it too by selling a darker, higher stakes film when in reality they had no intention of making such a film.

Like Iron Man 3. That was a slap in the face.

I also remember the TDW trailers being serious but the actual movie was...Well, not.

The Beyonce stuff in Dr. Strange is really lowest common denominator. The film had plenty of humor already, that was not needed.

I think the Russos are handling the humor well, altough it is a bit of an issue when Ant-Man is funnier than Spider-Man.

 

[AVEITWITHJAMON]

AoU is the biggest offender for me. I felt really let down by the over abundance of humor in that. The trailers sold us on a dark, menacing Ultron and had that scarily perfect line of "there are...no strings on me." and then we go from that to in the actual film Ultron singing gleefully "there are no strings on me!" I felt that was a case of Marvel trying to have their cake and eat it too by selling a darker, higher stakes film when in reality they had no intention of making such a film.

Agreed, with Ultron himself being a real disappointment in that regard. He wasn't threatening in the movie at all which was such a waste. I understand them powering him down as he is nigh on invincible in the comics, but dont make him no threat to the heroes at all. Even as a huge Joss Whedon fan, I find that movie so disappointing.

 

[Samuron]

The title of the thread is a loaded question; it presupposes an "over reliance", which I don't concede.

The MCU incorporates humor, and it works. Some of the joke may fall flat, but that's the way it goes.

The Thor teaser is humorous to the point of tongue-in-cheek, and is breaking records for viewings.

DC/WB is clearly aware of how effective this is, given the jokes shoved into the JL trailer and Chris Pine's comic relief in the WW one.

The powers that be at Marvel are working to tell good stories without taking themselves too seriously. This, IMO, is exactly the right approach, considering the source material is "comic books".

Doctor Strange made as much as Man of Steel, so no, I'd say it's not a problem.

 

[NealKenneth]

As long as we're talking about it, the decision to have Ultron be "humorous" was so poor to me that I actually didn't like Age of Ultron much at all at first. Now, it's really grown on me, but Ultron is definetly the worst part.

Avenger's EMH did Ultron perfectly.