MovieChat Forums > Avengers: Infinity War (2018) Discussion > Here is my problem with comic book movie...

Here is my problem with comic book movies I started having after seeing this film

posted 6 years ago by LucasCorradi (87)
18 replies | jump to latest

Guys. One of the issues for reading comic books for me (casual comic fan here) is that for most of the time, even though I enjoy and understand the main story, i find myself kinda lost on certain characters because either I don't know where they are coming from or their secondary purposes. I took mu sister to the movie theater to watch Infinity War (she likes super hero movies). She didnt understand anything in it.. so my qustion is.. are movies becoming like the comics themselves, that if you dont have at least an averege prior knowledge you'll be lost in the picture?

[–] AP (5291) 6 years ago

For the big team-up movies, yeah, you kinda need working knowledge of what came before. But Marvel still puts out a lot of standalone solo movies. For instance, you have to see Avengers to appreciate Iron Man flicks.

That said, I see this movie a lot like Empire Strikes Back. ESB is probably the best Star Wars movie ever made. Now, the only way you can appreciate that movie is if you watched A New Hope before it so that all the twists have a proper context. Additionally, you have to watch Return of the Jedi to have the pay off form all the subplots and cliffhangers form the previous film. Infinity War is the same way.

[–] LucasCorradi (87) 6 years ago

But wouldn't you agree that you have to see too many movies to appeciate Infinity War? I understand the conparison to Star Wars. But to enjoy ESB you only have to see the original SW... and of course if you want to conrinue then watch the rest.

[–] AP (5291) 6 years ago

I'd say you would have to watch both A New Hope and Return of the Jedi to enjoy Empire Strikes Back but yeah, you obviously have to watch at least half of the MCU movies to appreciate Infinity War with is in the double digits. That's pretty unprecedented. As a fan of these movies, I loved the payoff but I get it if a casual MCU fan gets a bit frustrated with it. Seeing Bucky evaporate into thin air was heart-breaking for me because I know what Cap has gone through in order to protect him but you had to have seen one of the Cap movies to begin with in order to feel that emotional impact.

AS for movies following suit, I'm not sure they're going to. Most movie universes failed right out of the gate. DCEU tried (twice) but never quite got off the ground, Universal tried to recreate the monster movie universe (also twice) and failed. Sony wants to have a Spider-Man movie universe, even if it means it won't have Spider-Man, and they seem to be destined to fail as well. There are reasons why the MCU is succeeding where others are failing, but I suppose that is for another thread. To answer you're question, I wouldn't expect this sort of thing to happen outside Marvel movies.

[–] Master (1494) 6 years ago

You can watch Iron Man 1 and two by themselves You just need to watch Avengers for Iron Man 3

[–] DarthRoger (867) 6 years ago

Well here's a couple of salient points:

Anytime you see a comic book movie, especially Avengers: Infinity War, you need to have seen the previous movies that were involved in the world building. There's been 18 movies previous to the one you took your sister to see and at least 7 of those were pertinent to Thanos being the big baddie in a future movie.

Another thing would have been to look up specific characters online, if you had no previous knowledge of the MCU. Any of these character's bios can be accessed at any number of sites. If you weren't sure about the stories, you could have started this way.

But seriously, it isn't as if this was some kind of surprise going in. The MCU has been building towards this moment since the post credit scene from the first Avengers movie in 2012. Even a casual comic book fan should have know this part. There's been 13 movies of character development since Avengers, so if you didn't know that going in then what else is there to tell? Do the homework man.

[–] LucasCorradi (87) 6 years ago

Oh no! The issue is with my sister only in this case. I did my homework and watched all of the films. But my questioning is there's a point where you need to watch practicaly every marvel studios movie that comes out. Just as an example: she had seen The first Iron Man, the fist Thor, and I believe the first Avengers. Now, thats clearly wasn't enough. And since she is just a casual movie goer, I dont think she would ever go out of her way to look for a character on wikipedia.

[–] DarthRoger (867) 6 years ago

Yeah, by the time Avengers: Infinity War hit the theaters, the back story involved multiple characters and their individual stories all coalescing in the big payoff.

I seriously tell anyone who asks about Infinity War (and who aren't really comic book fans) that they either need to commit to watching the movies that come before or just not see the movie at all. There's too much to explain to the casual/uninformed viewer if they haven't made the effort to watch the previous entries of the MCU. And I'm not taking time to explain everything while I'm trying to watch and enjoy. It's really cheating for people who do that anyway.

No shortcuts, you gotta commit!

[–] Otter (24464) 6 years ago

Yeah, Marvel now requires you to have seen the previous films, and they're STILL making money!

I really think they ought to make more of an effort to make the films comprehensible to people who haven't seen all the prior films, but since they're making money by the truckload with their current policies I don't think they're motivated to change.

[–] LucasCorradi (87) 6 years ago

Yes they are still making money. But isnt this a statement on the movie finantially? Now she doesnt want to watch anymore superhero films because of that. I wonder how many people think like her and that will be less money for marvel/disney.

[–] Otter (24464) 6 years ago

Yes, Marvel is making SO much money that they can literally afford to ignore the people who are seeing their first Marvel movie.

All I can say is that "Infinity Wars" is far worse than other Marvel movies in this respect. I'm pretty sure you could watch "Captain America: Civil War" or "Ant Man and the Wasp" without having seen any previous Marvel films and have a good time, but "Infinity War" is different. It's the wrapup of many different stories from many different films all mashed together, and as such it really is being made for fans of the series and not newcomers. You can tell your pal that, if she wants to skip any other Marvel films.

[–] ManToTrust (1660) 6 years ago

Yeah. They can make all the money they want. The infinity war movies just won’t hold up well in history with a bad user experience such as “you must watch 18 films to understand this one”.

What is your 8.5/10 on IMDb will be a 5.8/10 in 20 years from now.

[–] Otter (24464) 6 years ago

Probably true, but then I actually like getting invested in a Fantasy world and understanding all its ins and outs, and I'm not the only one in that. Look at the "Game of Thrones" board some time, and all the insanely detailed comments about the politics of the fictional land of Westeros!

So yes, I think the mainstream will enjoy "Infinity Wars" and then forget about it, and idiots like me will continue to enjoy seeing it in the future. Because we like all the characters, or at least most of them.

[–] GreenGoblinsOck8 (7801) 6 years ago

I just gotta say if your sister doesn't want to have to watch all the previous films then she might as well not watch any of them. Cause without all those films she won't know what's going on.

[–] LucasCorradi (87) 6 years ago

Yes but isnt this a statement on the movie finantially? Now she doesnt want to watch anymore superhero films because of that. I wonder how many people think like her and that will be less money for marvel/disney

[–] faqbaby (54) 6 years ago

Yeah but maybe the number of people that went to see and appreciate iw because of how well it connected to other movies far out weights those that will fail to see it because they couldn't see other movies... i for loved it more because i had watched all their movies and was glad they could focus on other things instead of trying to make it self contained... it also makes re-watching the solo movies more enjoyable

[–] GotWood84 (384) 6 years ago

Ok this dude is a troll. He repeated this exact same comment.

Dude nobody cares about you or your sister, there have been plenty of movies where I didn't know all the lore but didn't bitch about it and still enjoyed it....and its financially not finantially.

[–] billbrown7071 (3195) 6 years ago

IMO this is completely An Avengers IW Alone Problem....

due to the Scope of this film, due to the Historic Cast and Specifically due to the fact that This film was conceived,written and directed to be A COMPLETION of The MCU so far....

Avengers IW is a film that you kinda need to see Most of the MCU films to fully understand....

I completely agree that this isnt Ideal and Wouldnt work with every CBM....But In this 1 case in does work because Marvel Studios made their intentions known from the beginning...

They did not hide the fact that Avengers IW was a film being a made a Scale never done in Hollywood history and They didnt Hide this film and Its follow up was going to be A CONCLUSION to The 20 + MCU films that have taken place over the last decade....

I find almost all other MCU films are perfectly fine on thier own, where you can understand and enjoy them with having seen all other MCU films....Even The first 2 Avengers and Civil War team up films are made self contained and you dont need to see all or even many of the MCU films to understand them....

You have a very strong point and concern when it comes to Avengers IW....But IMO you dont need to worry about it the future, because Theres not going to be another CBM like Avengers 3 and 4 that concluded A 20 + film franchise....

Avengers 3 and 4 is simply kind of a ONE OFF....In order from another movie like it to exist, you would need a studio to spend A decade making 10 to 20 films in a cinematic universe that was planned from the beginning to concluded with 1 giant Movie event....

and lastly, I see no other movie ever in historic having 30 + superhero's come together in 1 film from at least 5 different franchises....

Theres just no way This could be a problem for future CBM's....This is A Problem limited to 1 film(or 2 if you count Avenger 4)....You will never have another CBM combining so many characters and storylines again in a single film

[–] rnmboon (437) 6 years ago

Very recognisable problem. I am not really into comic books but I did like the Marvel movies. But after Age of Ultron I am finding it harder and harder to follow the overall plot. Too many characters and too many plot lines that aren't always that interesting. I am no longer enjoying these movies as much as I did any more. And it must be even harder for anyone who hasn't seen all of the previous movies before.