whats with Marvel's movie scores?

[Steyin]

Out of all the Marvel films, the only songs/themes I can remember/hum are Star Spangled Man and the Avengers Theme. Sad really.

 

[Mace Dolex]

Same here! Though it was only used for 2 films (x2 and DOFp).

And those were by John Ottman who in my opinion the only good thing he gave us were the main theme.

John Powell's score for X3: The Last Stand was far better.

 

[The Endless]

I really like "can you dig it" from IM3 actually.

 

[raw manga]

I just wish each character had their own theme and that those themes were subtlety spliced into the Avengers films. The only character that has one is Cap and they use it a bit in each Avengers movie. The soundtracks for the first and third Ironman movies are really good but there's no consistency between them.

 

[Doctor Octopus]

The only memorable tracks for me in all of the MCU are The Avengers theme by Alan Silvestri, and Into Eternity by Brian Tyler.

Agreed. Star spangled man is good too.

 

[NotNickFury]

I just wish each character had their own theme and that those themes were subtlety spliced into the Avengers films. The only character that has one is Cap and they use it a bit in each Avengers movie. The soundtracks for the first and third Ironman movies are really good but there's no consistency between them.

That could ALMOST apply to Tony since The Avengers reused Shoot to Thrill after it appeared in Iron Man 2, but that's a major stretch.

 

[kguillou]

Brian Tyler teased Ironman and Thor's themes in AoU.

 

[TheVileOne]

They were hard to notice though, weren't they? Plus, Age of Ultron had a pretty patchwork theme anyway between Tyler's music and Danny Elfman.

 

[AVEITWITHJAMON]

THIS IS IT.
I couldnt agree with the other videos cus THIS is the real issue, i love Driving with the Top Down and i would kill for it to be the theme throught all the Iron Man movies. Hopefully Marvel takes notice of this.

So much this, would be so much better if each character had their distinct theme, it can make a huge difference to some scenes, especially in sequels. Look at the Raimi Spiderman movies and see how many good moments are made great from the characters theme blaring in the background.

I just wish each character had their own theme and that those themes were subtlety spliced into the Avengers films. The only character that has one is Cap and they use it a bit in each Avengers movie. The soundtracks for the first and third Ironman movies are really good but there's no consistency between them.

Yeah, but they then abandoned the Cap theme for CW and made something new instead. It's incredibly annoying at times.

 

[Abudefduf]

Yeah I really don't understand why they keep changing the characters' themes either. It seems like it would be far more convenient for everyone's involved (especially the composer) to just reuse the same ones, but nope.

 

[fancyarcher]

I don't know if it's that he wasn't available or wasn't up for it...but I mean, why not get Alan Silvestri back for Age of Ultron? I mean I would say he did the best job out of any of the composers for Marvel Studios. He created some great music for Captain America and we got actual scores and motifs for those films and Avengers. Why not bring him back for Age of Ultron?

Instead of Age of Ultron felt like this quasi-score that never really got going.

Silvestri didn't come back for AOU, because Perlmutter had to be a cheapo, and choose Tyler over him, and Tyler didn't even end up finishing the score, because they hired and paid Elfman ironically more because Tyler breached Marvel's contract.

And a lot of AOU's music (some of which personally I thought was very good), got blocked out by sound anyway.

 

[fancyarcher]

To be fair though, i dont think this is a Marvel exclusive problem though. I bet if that guy who made that youtube video went around asking people to hum the Nolan Batman movie themes they wouldnt be able to either, or Pirates of The Carribean...or the Raimi Spiderman theme...etc. I think that movie composition has changed so much over the last two decades where iconic themes are just not made anymore.

I think they'd actually be able to hum the Gladiat... er Pirates theme, since that's been consistent throughout the series, and actually has a melody, but they probably wouldn't be able to hum The Dark Knight theme, since it's really not technically designed to be hummable. It's very non-melodic in nature.

 

[fancyarcher]

I don't know if it's that he wasn't available or wasn't up for it...but I mean, why not get Alan Silvestri back for Age of Ultron? I mean I would say he did the best job out of any of the composers for Marvel Studios. He created some great music for Captain America and we got actual scores and motifs for those films and Avengers. Why not bring him back for Age of Ultron?

Instead of Age of Ultron felt like this quasi-score that never really got going.

You can probably thank Perlmutter for why Silvestri didn't come back to do AOU. Apparently Perlmutter had to be a cheapo and hire Tyler to do the music (he agreed to do for it cheap), it backfired though when he still wound having to pay Elfman more money after Tyler breached Marvel's music contract.

Good thing Silvestri's back for Infinity War, maybe Marvel is starting to care about music continuity.

 

[raw manga]

When you think of Marvel movies, you don’t necessarily think of the score. Sure, they have fantastic visual effects and cohesive plot elements, but the music doesn’t really stand out.

 

[MbJ]

On Reddit yesterday, Taika Waititi said he specifically went with an unorthodox composer for Thor 3 because he wanted to avoid it having generic music.

 

[MydnightPhoenix]

Marvel just fails when it comes to the music. Only memorable music in any of the MCU movies was in AOU. Its surprising seeing as how they are owned by Disney and how many amazing songs have they given us?

 

[TheVileOne]

You can probably thank Perlmutter for why Silvestri didn't come back to do AOU. Apparently Perlmutter had to be a cheapo and hire Tyler to do the music (he agreed to do for it cheap), it backfired though when he still wound having to pay Elfman more money after Tyler breached Marvel's music contract.

Good thing Silvestri's back for Infinity War, maybe Marvel is starting to care about music continuity.

Just seems like a weird decision when you are already spending so much money on Age of Ultron. How much more would it have cost to get Silvestri again?

 

[kguillou]

I listened to Dr Strange's soundtrack and....eh, its ok, but it continues the trend of uninspired sounding scores from Marvel films. Its better than Jackman's phoned in attempt for CW but it sounds very generic sounding. There are some standout pieces for sure but on a whole not the trippy, psychedelic throwback to the 60's sound I was hoping for.

I almost wonder if Marvel has a mandate that their composers are not allowed to go too creative with their sound for fear that the score will overshadow the scenes the score is used in.

 

[jihado86]

Best Tracks I remember :

Iron Man (Ramin Djawadi)
Iron Man, Gulmira, Driving with the Top Down.

Captain America : The Winter Soldier (Henry Jackman)
Taking a Stand, Captain America, End of the Line, Time to Suit Up

Iron Man 3 (Brian Tyler)
The Mechanic, Can You Dig It

Thor : The Dark World (Brian Tyler)
Thor : The Dark World, Origins, Thor, Son of Odin

Guardians of the Galaxy (Tyler Bates)
Sacrifice, Black Tears

Captain America : Civil War (Henry Jackman)
Cap's Promise

X-Men : First Class (Henry Jackman)
Cerebro, X-Men, X-Training, First Class, Frankenstein's Monster, Let Battle Commence, Sub Lift, Coup d'état, Mutant and Proud

 

[jihado86]

Jackman disappointed me in CW, his score was really similar to the fanfaric usual **** done by the outdated old school composers.

I loved his work in Kick-Ass, First Class, Winter Soldier, Kingsman because it was fresh, daring, un-orthodhox.

 

[Mace Dolex]

I almost wonder if Marvel has a mandate that their composers are not allowed to go too creative with their sound for fear that the score will overshadow the scenes the score is used in.

If that's true then that's a stupid reason to not give their composers free reign, to me for any action movie especially I get pumped when the music to it is exciting and riveting, without an impactful score or a triumphant "hero" theme then the movie just doesn't click for me.

I'm not saying I'll dislike the movie but rather it won't be as memorable for me because of a lackluster score.

And sometimes a bad movie can have a magnificent score (ex: The Shadow from 1994)

 

[Relugus]

Captain America and Iron Man have distinct themes (Iron Man theme from IM3, I think, was used in Civil War), as do Doctor Strange (it's very distinct), and so does Ant-Man, those four themes reflect the characters well.

Thor had a great theme in his first movie but the sequels and Avengers movies never built on it.

As far as other characters having their own themes in Infinity War:

Vision: Theme has a sound conveying technology, sci-fi, and cosmic.

Wanda: Mystic, ancient, but whereas Strange's is Eastern, Wanda's is East European (think The Witcher soundtrack).

And of course you could have both those themes blend to reflect their relationship.

Thanos. They should build on the sanctuary theme from GotG, and add layers onto that. Should be heavy, imposing, yet also morose.

I hope Silvestri is bold with his work on Infinity War, and does not just churn out a generic safe score.

 

[Kendrick]

You can probably thank Perlmutter for why Silvestri didn't come back to do AOU. Apparently Perlmutter had to be a cheapo and hire Tyler to do the music (he agreed to do for it cheap), it backfired though when he still wound having to pay Elfman more money after Tyler breached Marvel's music contract.

Good thing Silvestri's back for Infinity War, maybe Marvel is starting to care about music continuity.

I hope so. I remember after the first Iron Man being shocked that IM2 kept zero of Ramin Djawadi's themes for even that character (he ended up doing all of Game of Thrones).

The only themes besides that one that I loved were Silvestri's, and of course, Jackman for Winter Soldier.

 

[jihado86]

I think the likes of Elfman and Silvestri are great for making a theme, but when it comes to music which animates and elevates the tension and make scenes even better and more enthusiastic, they are really weak and tasteless, in this area I prefer the likes of Jackman, Djawadi, Tyler and co ..