MCU: The Marvel Cinematic Universe Official Discussion - Part 4

[MbJ]

Not a particularly apt rundown since the MCU movies aren't aimed at kids, nor are kids generally what brings in the big bucks at the box office.

The MCU movies are absolutely aimed at a family audience at the very least. Why do you think there's a legion of toys and Lego kits with every movies? Heck why do you think they plug the movies on Cartoon Network and the Disney Channel? Why do you think we got that annoying ass kid sidekick palling around with Tony in IM3?

The MCU does a good job of making the movies entertaining enough that parents and teenagers aren't embarrassed to go see them but children and teens still absolutely make up a significant portion of the audience.

 

[flickchick85]

Being family-friendly is NOT the same thing as being aimed at kids. Marvel aims for the 4 quadrants with the MCU movies. Adults, kids, males, females. Audience breakdown for The Avengers had 50% over the age of 25, 21% teenagers, and that last 29% would've been made up of both kids under 13 and adults 18-24. 60% male, 40% female (and the MCU's female audience has grown since then). That's why there are toys. That's why there is action. That's why there is romance (as I can guarantee you a lot of kids don't wanna see that). They are going for broad appeal.

They aren't kids movies that aim to be tolerable for adults like Disney animated films. They are 4 quadrant films that are aiming for everyone.

 

[kedrell]

I actuay do agree with you though AVEITWITHJAMON, MCU clearly has a problem with their villains and a lot of fans brought up the issue. Heck there's a thread for it. The obly time I found the humour to be too much was in IM3 and Thor 2. They needed to dial it down Jesus. In Thor 2, it bothered me in the final battle. It lessened the stakes. Yeah it was funny but was too much.

In IM3, it was just I'll conceived situational humour. Like the armour being hit by the truck or when it came to the final battle and just crumbled. I laughed sure, but looking back at it, I could have done without those.

I've heard the villain complaint before and with perhaps the lone exception of Malekith, who I think got truly shafted as did Christopher Eccleston, I keep asking the same question: A villain problem compared to what? Are they all Darth Vader/Hans Gruber/Hannibal Lector level villains? Hell no but then who ever is? If that's the standard then nobody will be measuring up. IMO virtually all of their villains have been perfectly adequate and served their function as thy were meant to do. It's simply that they prefer to give more focus to their heroes in their movies and I can't fault them for that.

 

[T"Challa]

Being family-friendly is NOT the same thing as being aimed at kids. Marvel aims for the 4 quadrants with the MCU movies. Adults, kids, males, females. Audience breakdown for The Avengers had 50% over the age of 25, 21% teenagers, and that last 29% would've been made up of both kids under 13 and adults 18-24. 60% male, 40% female (and the MCU's female audience has grown since then). That's why there are toys. That's why there is action. That's why there is romance (as I can guarantee you a lot of kids don't wanna see that). They are going for broad appeal.

They aren't kids movies that aim to be tolerable for adults like Disney animated films. They are 4 quadrant films that are aiming for everyone.

Thank You. I wish someone would just stick this post atop every MCU thread.

 

[I Am The Knight]

Being family-friendly is NOT the same thing as being aimed at kids. Marvel aims for the 4 quadrants with the MCU movies. Adults, kids, males, females. Audience breakdown for The Avengers had 50% over the age of 25, 21% teenagers, and that last 29% would've been made up of both kids under 13 and adults 18-24. 60% male, 40% female (and the MCU's female audience has grown since then). That's why there are toys. That's why there is action. That's why there is romance (as I can guarantee you a lot of kids don't wanna see that). They are going for broad appeal.

They aren't kids movies that aim to be tolerable for adults like Disney animated films. They are 4 quadrant films that are aiming for everyone.

Yes. I was gonna make a similar post about this misconception, but you put it so much better than I would have

 

[First Avenger]

Being family-friendly is NOT the same thing as being aimed at kids. Marvel aims for the 4 quadrants with the MCU movies. Adults, kids, males, females. Audience breakdown for The Avengers had 50% over the age of 25, 21% teenagers, and that last 29% would've been made up of both kids under 13 and adults 18-24. 60% male, 40% female (and the MCU's female audience has grown since then). That's why there are toys. That's why there is action. That's why there is romance (as I can guarantee you a lot of kids don't wanna see that). They are going for broad appeal.

They aren't kids movies that aim to be tolerable for adults like Disney animated films. They are 4 quadrant films that are aiming for everyone.

Spot on.

 

[ThePhantasm]

Being family-friendly is NOT the same thing as being aimed at kids. Marvel aims for the 4 quadrants with the MCU movies. Adults, kids, males, females. Audience breakdown for The Avengers had 50% over the age of 25, 21% teenagers, and that last 29% would've been made up of both kids under 13 and adults 18-24. 60% male, 40% female (and the MCU's female audience has grown since then). That's why there are toys. That's why there is action. That's why there is romance (as I can guarantee you a lot of kids don't wanna see that). They are going for broad appeal.

They aren't kids movies that aim to be tolerable for adults like Disney animated films. They are 4 quadrant films that are aiming for everyone.

well said, flickchick... this is exactly right...

 

[Silvermoon]

Being family-friendly is NOT the same thing as being aimed at kids. Marvel aims for the 4 quadrants with the MCU movies. Adults, kids, males, females. Audience breakdown for The Avengers had 50% over the age of 25, 21% teenagers, and that last 29% would've been made up of both kids under 13 and adults 18-24. 60% male, 40% female (and the MCU's female audience has grown since then). That's why there are toys. That's why there is action. That's why there is romance (as I can guarantee you a lot of kids don't wanna see that). They are going for broad appeal.

They aren't kids movies that aim to be tolerable for adults like Disney animated films. They are 4 quadrant films that are aiming for everyone.

Well said.... if only some of the morons on IMDb would get this (I know, I know... it's IMDb so one shouldn't expect too much from them )

 

[Mjölnir]

The MCU movies are absolutely aimed at a family audience at the very least. Why do you think there's a legion of toys and Lego kits with every movies? Heck why do you think they plug the movies on Cartoon Network and the Disney Channel? Why do you think we got that annoying ass kid sidekick palling around with Tony in IM3?

The MCU does a good job of making the movies entertaining enough that parents and teenagers aren't embarrassed to go see them but children and teens still absolutely make up a significant portion of the audience.

I'd reply but I can't get more spot on than flickchick85 so I'll just refer to that post.

I'll just add that The Dark Knight trilogy has toys etc as well.

 

[OcStat]

Every comic book movie will have toys.

Marvel is just making films that are in the same vein as their comics, a variety of tone, humor, action...DC seems to cater to the specific group of fans who clutch The Dark Knight Returns thanking the stars that the "children's" medium has been given credibility.

I'm exaggerating of course but there's some truth to it. For a kid that loves Batman there's a short list of movies appropriate for their age as opposed to the kid who loves Iron Man.

 

[metaphysician]

Oh, FFS, really?

I think the "too much humor" meme is basically immortal now. Nothing that Marvel could do other than go out of business will ever kill the meme. Even WB doing a farce comedy DC movie wouldn't do the trick, not against this level of cognitive dissonance.

 

[T"Challa]

I think the "too much humor" meme is basically immortal now. Nothing that Marvel could do other than go out of business will ever kill the meme. Even WB doing a farce comedy DC movie wouldn't do the trick, not against this level of cognitive dissonance.

Its so blown out of proportion that its not even funny. People out here saying movies like IM3 and AOU were 'basically comedies'. I couldnt tell u how many times i rolled my eyes

 

[MbJ]

I'll just add that The Dark Knight trilogy has toys etc as well.

And a metric ton of kids went to see those too.
I've never understood why people try to tell me the Batman movies are too much for kids, but that's a whole other discussion.

 

[Mjölnir]

And a metric ton of kids went to see those too.
I've never understood why people try to tell me the Batman movies are too much for kids, but that's a whole other discussion.

If you understand that I don't know why you would use that as evidence for the belief that the MCU is targeted specifically towards kids, which is of course untrue both in intention and in result.

 

[Lord]

I actuay do agree with you though AVEITWITHJAMON, MCU clearly has a problem with their villains and a lot of fans brought up the issue. Heck there's a thread for it. The obly time I found the humour to be too much was in IM3 and Thor 2. They needed to dial it down Jesus. In Thor 2, it bothered me in the final battle. It lessened the stakes. Yeah it was funny but was too much.

In IM3, it was just I'll conceived situational humour. Like the armour being hit by the truck or when it came to the final battle and just crumbled. I laughed sure, but looking back at it, I could have done without those.

Meh, still find Iron Man's situational humor much funier than Star-Lord dancing or acting like an idiot when he's caught in the beginning of the film. Shane Black has a sense of fun that i believe fits very well with the MCU, still hoping to see his Doc Savage and Predator films.

 

[Flint Marko]

Its so blown out of proportion that its not even funny. People out here saying movies like IM3 and AOU were 'basically comedies'. I couldnt tell u how many times i rolled my eyes

Those are people with a chip on their shoulder, stretching for any sort of criticism.

 

[MbJ]

If you understand that I don't know why you would use that as evidence for the belief that the MCU is targeted specifically towards kids, which is of course untrue both in intention and in result.

Well it's a good thing I never said it was targeted specifically for kids, I said they were aimed at family audiences.

The Batman movies were dark and more "adult" but there was nothing there that would be too out there for children anyway, which is why they only ended up with PG-13 ratings.

I feel comic fans sometimes embellish how dark and "mature" these movies supposedly are.

 

[OcStat]

In TDKR there's Marines hung off a bridge, sorry but that's a big step up from a room full of smile faced joke poisoning ala TAS from my childhood. I'm just saying, you know there's kids that are like 6 or 7 being brought to the super hero films. I was around that age when I saw Batman Returns which some might think pushed the bar. At the time I just thought it was weird due to Tim Burton's style I could probably say as a child Batman deliberately setting someone on Fire with the Batmobile's thrust was a weird moment. Nolan's more realistic style makes the aforementioned scene seem more unsettling to me, through the eye's of a child that age.

 

[SirStrangefolk]

I like the humour in the Marvel movies, but I do think it has to be somewhat limited. What I think is especially important is to have a contrast there. Jokes often need a "straight man" to work. I know people who actually thought Ronan was the funniest character in GotG, because he was so serious all the time, even though everything around him was completely ridiculous. That's an important reason why "i can't physically throw up in my mouth"-"people create... smaller people"-Ultron didn't work for me (and it also made him less threatening imo).

 

[Dark Raven]

Meh, still find Iron Man's situational humor much funier than Star-Lord dancing or acting like an idiot when he's caught in the beginning of the film. Shane Black has a sense of fun that i believe fits very well with the MCU, still hoping to see his Doc Savage and Predator films.

You seem to have forgotten about Iron Man dancing at the beginning of Iron Man 3 which isn't that different from Star Lord's antics:

[YT]VdcUfXnMd6E[/YT]

I thought that was rather cringe-worthy and wondered if that was a sign of things to come in that movie and the tone, and sure enough it was.

 

[AVEITWITHJAMON]

You seem to have forgotten about Iron Man dancing at the beginning of Iron Man 3 which isn't that different from Star Lord's antics:

[YT]VdcUfXnMd6E[/YT]

I thought that was rather cringe-worthy and wondered if that was a sign of things to come in that movie and the tone, and sure enough it was.

I liked the movie first time I saw it, but it got worse and worse for me the more I watched it due to moments like this.

 

[Mjölnir]

Well it's a good thing I never said it was targeted specifically for kids, I said they were aimed at family audiences.

The Batman movies were dark and more "adult" but there was nothing there that would be too out there for children anyway, which is why they only ended up with PG-13 ratings.

I feel comic fans sometimes embellish how dark and "mature" these movies supposedly are.

You said "family audience at the very least", which is indicative of that the original quote I responded to might be right, and if it isn't then family audiences. Your post was also written in the style of an argument against what I had written, and I was stating that it's wrong to say that the target audience for the MCU are kids. If it wasn't your intent that wasn't clear as I, and several others, took it to be the intended message.

I do agree that people exaggerate how dark and mature some superhero movies are though. Any big movie that puts itself in the PG-13 area is definitely aiming to get the younger people in there as well.

 

[First Avenger]

You seem to have forgotten about Iron Man dancing at the beginning of Iron Man 3 which isn't that different from Star Lord's antics:

[YT]VdcUfXnMd6E[/YT]

I thought that was rather cringe-worthy and wondered if that was a sign of things to come in that movie and the tone, and sure enough it was.

You don't like IM3,DR?

 

[Dark Raven]

You don't like IM3,DR?

Nope. Quite apart from the Mandarin twist, I didn't like the tone of the film or the fact that RDJ seemed to spend so much time out of armour. I hated the armours falling apart which seemed like a plot device just so that at the end he could be in and out of armour and you could get maximum RDJ time. Didn't like Guy Pearce's villain, and I didn't like the whole Trevor Slattery over-the-top humour which made the whole thing spoofish. The dancing scene at the beginning seemed to herald that RDJ would be even more acting up than usual and is precisely the same thing that people don't like about Starlord with his antics in GOTG.

 

[hitmanyr2k]

You seem to have forgotten about Iron Man dancing at the beginning of Iron Man 3 which isn't that different from Star Lord's antics:

[YT]VdcUfXnMd6E[/YT]

I thought that was rather cringe-worthy and wondered if that was a sign of things to come in that movie and the tone, and sure enough it was.

I didn't find it cringe-worthy at all. In fact I've had the same kind of demeanor when doing something I like, especially when I don't have an audience lol.