Three films, three lying dads, three worlds built on lies.
A son finds out his father lied about everything.
The only way forward is destroying everything backward.
Credit: Chuck Zlotnick/© Marvel Studios; Jasin Boland/©Marvel Studios; ©Marvel Studios 2018
Does he yet live?
Kill him: Hooray!
2,Thor Ragnarok, andBlack Pantherarrived as Marvel Studios normalized billion-dollar grosses and achieved triple-yearly feature debuts.
Increased quantity meant annualized characters, so Tom Holland already holds the record for most movies as Spider-Man.
Success can eradicate, or enervate.
Phase 3 of the Marvel Cinematic Universe ends this weekend, somehow, withAvengers: Endgame.
(Read our critic Leah Greenblatts review here.)
There were bad or indifferent Marvel movies this era, phony-sweet comic capers dripping brainwashed good cheer.
Far-flung variations on a theme, no doubt.
James Gunn sequelized his cosmic sitcom into a storefront of music-video set pieces full of tossed-off ensemble banter.
The common threads are there, though.
Chris Hemsworths Thor finds out his lying father Odin (Anthony Hopkins) revised Asgards violent history.
Chadwick Bosemans TChalla uncovers his own monarch-patriarchs secret history of fratricide.
Black Pantherdoesnt require its hero to destroy Wakanda, the way Thor unleashes Norse Hell.
But defeating Killmonger means absorbing his message.
Thoralsosubsumes Helas villainy into his own heroism.
Actually,hesthe extremist.
She only wanted to seize Asgard.
Russells performance is great, and invites all nostalgia.
You see him first in a prologue 1980, with period-appropriate long hair out of his John Carpenter phase.
Ego also killed Peters mom, and dozens (millions?)
Burn it down and start over: Were these three films communicating something essential about Marvels route beyondEndgame?
The MCU has feinted this way before.Captain America: The Winter Soldiertore down S.H.I.E.L.D.
You could throwCaptain America: Civil Warinto Phase 3s breakdown symphony.
And last yearsAvengers:Infinity Warended with a main-character death toll no one believes will last this upcoming weekend.
You wonder ifallthis righteous destruction was an empty act, like that time Skywalker died before rising.
AfterEndgame, there will be anotherGuardians, anotherBlack Panther, quite possibly anotherThor.
A new generation of humans and filmmakers has only really known superhero dominance in Hollywood.
That fact keeps slipping into movie fiction.
The kids inShazam!worship Superman merch.
The new teen Spider-Men learn Spider-Manity from franchise elders.
Guardians 2,Ragnarok, andBlack Panthertold another, freakier story.
AndRagnarokhas a moment thats either an all-time dumb joke or an sacred piece of self-deprecation.
Hela finds Odins Infinity Gauntlet, a piece of 2011 fan service made nonsensical by ensuing continuity.
Is Hela nudging us toward a deeper revelation?
Worth remembering, as the studios second decade begins.
