Marvel’s Cinematic Universe (MCU) has recently seen huge and crushing success with their latest release, “Avengers: Endgame”. The film was watched by superfans, casual watchers, and everyone in between. It has swept the globe, gathering over $1.2 billion in global sales during the opening weekend. In just 11 days after its release — a new record time — it hit the $2 billion mark and has surpassed the supposedly-insurmountable “Titanic”.
How did all this come about, and how did Marvel find its success in retelling ‘nerdy’ comic book tales and connecting with mass audiences, and what can we learn from all this? First, a little history…
There are 22 films in this saga of storytelling, with four Avengers brand movies in the mix. This huge journey began in 2008 with the first Iron Man film. With a 93% rating on Rotten Tomatoes, it was a smash hit, and the studio kept making the movies and developing other storylines and characters, with all the stories converging for the first time in the 2012 movie, “Marvel’s The Avengers”. This wrapped up Marvel’s Phase One of the movies and story-building and moved into Phase Two.
Post-2012 was the beginning of a new era for superhero movies; Phase Two. Popularity began to soar, with gross incomes increasing with every single movie. Three Marvel TV shows were launched as well — Agents of SHIELD in 2013, Agent Peggy Carter and Daredevil in 2015, all in preparation for the 2015 “Avengers: Age of Ultron”.
Phase Three begins in 2016, with a staggering 11 movies produced during this 3-year period. This can be said to be Marvel’s most prosperous time thus far, with two of the eleven movies being “Avengers: Infinity War”, and the penultimate movie of the decade “Avengers: Endgame”.
Phase Four has been set into motion in 2019 with “Spiderman: Far From Home”.
Along this journey, there were many much-loved side characters, countless villains, and famous cameos. So now we can ask; how did Marvel manage to cater to such a large audience, encapsulate them, and then turn many of them — this writer included — into such dedicated fans?
Under the guidance of great minds like Stan Lee and Kevin Feige, Marvel Studios took great risks to use a lesser known character like Iron Man as the catalyst for the MCU. Everything about the Iron Man 1 venture was a risk; the funding came from a risky deal with a Wall Street firm, Merrill Lynch; the casting of Robert Downey Jr. as Iron Man was questioned as he had been in and out of rehab and prison a few years prior; even the choice of writers and directors was risky, because there were no big directorial names, no famous screenwriters. Perhaps the biggest risk was their chosen storytelling technique. Marvel wanted to release standalone movies of all their primary superheroes (think back to Captain America and Thor’s first origin movies), and then a joint movie. In contrast, the rest of the superhero industry was doing something else: Fox started with a huge joint X-Men movie, and then later went on to develop singular characters in movies like the Wolverine series, and more recently, Dark Phoenix.
Buying into Anticipation.
In one way, they dipped into the substantial comic book collector demographic of the 1980s and 1990s, and then some; they sought to reach new generations and inspire them with historic fan favourites like X-Men, Hulk, and Spiderman, as well as some characters who hadn’t been so popular until then; i.e. Iron Man, Captain America, and Thor.
Telling the Tale.
But here’s the thing, this risky storytelling tactic may have just been the factor that shot Marvel into success. It shone the spotlight solely on Robert Downey Jr. and the Iron Man story, and created a cultural icon, as well as an anchor for the rest of the movies. After all, they do say that the higher the risk, the higher the reward.
As they were able to tell more stories, more people were able to watch them, and vice versa is true.
Take Risks.
This storytelling tactic allowed an easy entrance for moviegoers to immerse themselves into the vast and complicated world of comics via a single movie. To many patrons, in the beginning, these characters were not known, and a simple introduction tactic that gave us a new superhero every few years was not only digestible but left us wanting to know more. There was not only an increase in comic book sales, but also online searches for these characters, signaling success and big potential opportunity.
Quality over Quantity.
Kevin Feige, the mastermind behind the cinematic MCU, recently stated that it was never about creating a cinematic universe, but rather about “making sure that they created a great Iron Man movie, Thor movie, or Captain America movie”. Marvel’s planning of movies years in advance is a demonstration of their efforts to focus on quality over quantity. By focusing on the quality of each story, it allows moviegoers to develop a deeper connection to the characters — enhancing the overall value and meaning of each film, and recapturing audiences’ attention every time, building a bigger and more loyal fan base over time.
Less is More
Accumulating over 100 million views in only three months for the Avengers: End Game trailer, it is evident that movie trailers pose as a powerful marketing tool to build anticipation and increase viewership. Marvel employed an effective tactic in this specific trailer that not only sparked interest in its fans but also in those who’ve never watched a Marvel movie. Rather than showcasing the film’s climactic scenes in the trailer, Marvel held off on spoilers and instead focused on casting light on the overall story and characters. The ‘less is more’ approach they undertook was effective as it left viewers wanting to know what happens next — leaving them with only one option remaining; to go watch the movie.
Over the past decade, Marvel has crafted a series of iconic comic films that has amassed a community of fans stretched from across the world. It is through their unconventional tactics such as risk-taking, focusing on producing quality over quantity, and valuing the notion that less is more, which has catalyzed their journey to great success.
Taking strategic risks with a brand, based on market research, is now encouraged, and with more brands willing to give audiences sneak peaks of new projects to keep up interest, the less is more tactic will become second nature to marketers. While there is no boilerplate formula that can achieve Marvel-level success, marketers can adopt these strategies to build stories, build messages, and subsequently, build their brands.
Written by: Marzia Abdulla
Edited by: Annie Limbana, Jenny Bang