A Dissertation

Marvel Cinematic Universe: New Phase

of Franchising

by Victor Stroilov

Regents University

24/04/2015

Introduction

There are many successful film franchises in the cinema industry. Many of them are

successful because of different characters, innovative ideas and even weirdness. In order to

stay successful, film companies are trying to make the product that may become available

for everyone. Marvel Studios is the film company that is focused specifically on making films

that are based on popular comic book superheroes. It has created its own cinematic

universe, that slightly moves away from the original comic book stories. The company has

created its own way of telling and developing the stories. It doesn't tell the straight forward

story. The universe is shared with many characters and all of them play their own significant

role in the franchise. The main story is almost built on many other smaller stories that play

the role of some sort of support for the big one. Every single film in the franchise is teasing

another, by giving the audience hints about the future events. The franchise uses a lot of

Easter eggs which is "A hidden item placed in a movie, television show, or otherwise visual

media for close watchers" (Chuck, 2014). Through the use of Easter Eggs and post-credits

scenes in all of the films, the franchise is able to expand the limits of the story. These

features help the franchise to keep the audience intrigued about the events, that are about

to happen. The inclusion of Captain America's shield in "Iron Man" (John Favreau, 2008), for

example, gave the fans hope, that the character of Captain America may be developed in

future instalments and he will be existing in the same universe, among familiar characters.

The post-credit scene in "The Incredible Hulk" (Louis Leterrier, 2008), when Nick Fury asks

Tony Stark to look at "Avengers Initiative" project, has promised the audience that the

franchise will unite all the characters under one specific title.

The purpose of this study is to explore the universe of Marvel Studios. The dissertation will

also outline the examples of other well known franchises. I will try to compare those

examples with Marvel's franchise in order to find out differences and similarities. The key

goal of this dissertation is to find what makes Marvel Cinematic Universe a unique franchise.

Since the launch of the franchise in 2008 and having 10 movies in total so far, Marvel

managed to earn $7.1 billion worldwide (Matsunaga, 2015), making it one of the most

successful film franchises of all time. "The Avengers" (Joss Whedon, 2012) has grossed alone

$1.518 (Matsunaga, 2015) billion and it is the most profitable film in the franchise to date.

The critical acclaim of the franchise allowed the company to spread its ideas even beyond

the film screen. It has also conquered television industry by adding spin-offs and developing

less known characters. The franchise also transmediated into other forms of media such as

comic books based on films and video games. They may tell the untold stories of the film.

I will to analyze the specifics of storytelling, narrative and transmedia. I will try to explain

what makes Marvel's films a successful stories. I will explain how the company brings all

characters from the comic books onto the big screen. Do the developers make their own

unique stories for the cinematic universe? Or do they simply copy the already existing

stories and just put them on the screen. Or maybe a bit of both? I will explain the meaning

of Marvel's so called phases and tell why Marvel decided to divide its series into phases. Is it

the innovative way to tell the story? I will also describe the importance of DVD/Blue Ray

distribution for Marvel. I will explain how they convince the consumer to buy their product.

What do they include in the product. There are also features that are hard to notice at first

screening such as Easter eggs, that may have features in the movie that belong to another.

Scene in Iron Man (2008) that showed Captain America's shield is the perfect example of

Easter egg. At that time the scene teased the inclusion of Captain America in Marvel

Cinematic Universe. Post credits scenes have the same enormous impact on Marvel's story. I

will explain their role as well.

I will explain the idea of convergence in Marvel Cinematic Universe and its great significance

for company's marketing. I will explain how one form of the media becomes another. What

kind of impact does the connection between two forms of media have on the story?

Because of the limited screening time, the company may not be able to tell its story in a full

scale. I will try to give examples on how Marvel is trying to tell its main story through

different forms of media.

Ultimately Marvel Cinematic Universe shares a lot of similarities and differences with

franchises such as "James Bond" or "Twilight". They all have very detailed character

developments and deep storylines, however they don't have the shared universe as Marvel

does. What makes it different from another well known superhero franchises such as

"Spider-Man" or "X-Men"? Is it the inclusion of different stories in one universe, their

connection with each other and then the final conclusion which would be followed with

something new? There are not that many film franchises that may give us the hints about

their future instalments. In my dissertation I will argue that Marvel franchise moves away

from the traditional way of telling the story. I will explain the links between different

characters and what influence do the events of those films have on characters and storyline

in general. I will explain that the franchise allows the fans to already have an information, at

least a smaller portion of it, even before the announcements of future instalments. I will

also explain how and why the inclusion of Easter Eggs and post-credit scenes force the

audience to re-watch the films so we could find more interesting facts about the universe

and also its future. I will also argue what kind of significance and impact all these features

have on the Marvel's storyline in its universe. The main goal for the studio is the same as for

any other, that is the successful distribution of its product. My dissertation, in general, will

outline how the studio decided to distribute its product in order to be successful.

Literature Review

Kristin Thompson describes what the term franchise means in the film industry. She

mentions that "people use the term "franchise" rather loosely in relation to films"

(Thomson, p.4, 2007).

She explains that "essentially it means a movie that spawns additional revenue streams

beyond what it earns from its various forms of distribution, primarily theatrical, video, and

television. These streams may come from sequels and series or from the production

company licensing other firms to make ancillary products: action figures, video games,

coffee mugs, T-Shirts, and the hundreds of other items that licensees conceive of. In the

ideal franchise, they come from both" (Thomson, p.4, 2007).

Thompson points out that "for decades Disney's was the only Hollywood studio that

essentially ran on the franchise principle - not only creating tie-ins but also rereleasing his

classic animated features regularly, so that in a pre-home-video age, audiences could see

them again and again. The merchandising around them remained perpetually current and

desirable" (Thomson, p.4, 2007).

As an example she mentions "Star Wars" series and that "it became the model of how to

create a franchise by linking films and related merchandise" (Thomson, p.4, 2007).

Ultimately, Thompson points out, "franchising allows film companies to create a brand that

carries across multiple products" (Thomson, p.5, 2007). In my dissertation I will argue how

Marvel created its own franchise and how later it has transformed into a brand.

Andrea Phillips describes the importance of storytelling and how it applies to transmedia

and film franchises.

Phillips mentions that people in the advertising business often refer to themselves as

storytellers. She explains that the ad industry uses the word story a little differently from the

way novelists, playwrights , and filmmakers do. In entertainment, it's generally agreed that

a story has a certain key characteristics: characters, a plot, cause and effect. Marketers,

though, often use the word story to mean something subtly different; it refers to a message,

imagery intended to evoke a specific idea or emotional response, a web of quickly

understood tensions and dynamics. For Marvel, marketing plays a very important part.

Marvel has many ways of advertising its product. For example, they may advertise the film

through the trailer. Trailers have their own type of story. Sometimes we may see enough to

understand what the final product is going to look like. Or sometimes we are given with just

a glimpse of the story that is meant to intrigue us so we would consume it in the future.

Marvel does both. In the pre-production stage the company produce short teasers that

don't say much but give a concept of the future product. In the final stages the company is

able to reveal more features. Both stages tell the story, the only difference is the scale and

length. For example the first trailer for "Iron Man" (2008) explain the whole story about the

characters origins. It give a clear message who he is and what he is. However it doesn't tell

the whole story of the film, it certainly create a some sort of intrigue. At that time the was

no such film, and of course the trailer certainly helped to create a hype around the title.

Because Marvel Cinematic Universe is such a well known franchise the audience is curious

about every product that is producing even if they are not familiar with the characters. For

example, "Guardians of the Galaxy" was not a very known comic book franchise until the

release of the actual film. Many people who saw the first trailer knew that this film will not

be an ordinary super hero film but rather a sci-fi film, due to its setting. Features like this

may attract the type of audience that may not even be fond of super hero films, but rather

sci-fi. Those who are familiar with "Guardians of the Galaxy" through the comic books, may

be very curious about how their favourite character may look like in the film adaptations.

For true fans, trailers may help to discover the use of decorations, costumes and, of course,

they force the audience to debate whether or not a certain actor/actress is suitable for its

role or not.

She points out that any number of ads and marketing campaigns can be perceived as ultra-

condensed stories with significant elements only implied and unspoken. She believes that

the author is addressing mostly the basic structure of story as seen through a novelist's or

screenwriter's eyes, because this is infinitely relevant to today's full-blown, narrative-based

marketing campaigns. Trailers may be considered as the stories about the stories. They need

to intrigue the audience so they would consume the product when it will be released by the

company. Therefore the company needs to stay cautious with the details in the trailers,

because too many reveals may lose the audience interest due to spoilers and unnecessary

twists. Generally, all Marvel's trailers provide very balanced key ideas and synopsises about

their products by giving us just a little information about the films' structure.

Andrea Phillips thinks "it is important to have the ability to conjure up a web of tensions and

an emotional response with just a photo and a few words, or with 30 seconds of video.

That's a skill storytellers can put to work. It requires them to develop a keen eye for what

the most important and emotive moments are in the story they're telling, and to pare away

anything extraneous until only the most distilled essence of it remains. Knowing ultimately

where the true heart of storyteller's story lies (and, by extension, what inspires people to

care about it) is important to any storyteller, in any industry, in any medium" (Phillips, p.70,

2012). Marvel has another unique way to advertise their product even inside their own

product. I am talking about the post credit scenes and Easter eggs here. Their role in the

cinematic universe has many sides. First of all they connect the films. But they also give us

the glimpse about Marvel's possible future films, like it happened with Captain America's

shield in Iron Man (2008) which was an Easter egg. Or, also the post credits scene in The

Incredible Hulk (2008), when Nick Fury asks Tony Stark about "Avengers Initiative". All those

features intrigued and hinted the audience about future "Captain America" and "Avengers"

films. It is also important to mention how Marvel does it. It is important for them to know

what the audience expects from them, what characters they want to see in their films.

Disney, that owns Marvel Studios, even purchased rights from Sony to use Spider-Man in

Marvel's films (Lang, Graser, 2015). Things like this mean that the company take the ideas of

storytelling very seriously so it can be accurate in terms of quality and can have an essence

of comic book originality.

Andrea Phillips also points out that building engagement means making people actually care

what it is that you're making. She also describes the meaning of engagement. It means that

people want to know want happens next, or what's happened so far and they want more of

your story. In order to get your audience engaged, you're have to make something they are

going to care about. She believes that brand isn't something that people care about. She

believes that you, as a storyteller, have to give long and serious thought to what kind of

stories are consistent with your brand message.

Derek Johnson described the specifics of convergence in Marvel Entertainment. From comic

books it transmediated into videogames, animation, toys, film and so on. He said that

Disney bought Marvel for $4 billion (Clark, 2009). He explained the connection of the Marvel

products such as videogames and films. Marvel Studios executive Justin Lambros explained

that "logic of the comics was less central to a licensed production" (Johnson, p.2, 2012) such

as film. "The film creatively leads". For example in Iron Man game (Sega, 2008) he explains

that in the game they have an extended storyline that was originally featured in the film.

"We take the lead from where the film is going, then take stuff from the comics for the

game and filter it through the film" (Johnson, p.2, 2012). This means that the film is used as

the base of the main story line, while other forms of media such as videogames or television

series play the role of a support that tell that kind of story which the film could not for

various reasons. Those reasons might be a limited screening time or it might be just another

way to expand the universe so the franchise might earn more money for distributing

additional content that include other sides of the main story and as well as the spin-offs.

Derek Johnson also described an idea of a Modern Marvel Movie Model. He explained that

Marvel Studios has a unique way of using comic book characters in their products starting

with Iron Man 2008. This was the beginning of a new superhero franchise. He explained that

such little details as mentioning the term "Avengers" in the post credit scenes was some

kind of a promise "to unite the cinematic heroes under the same shared narrative banner".

Such little clues eventually leaded to the actual "Avengers" film. Every film that was released

in Phase one before the conclusion that was "Avengers" were in some ways a teasers to it.

Marvel established "narrative interrelationships and limited serial progression across

instalments" (Johnson, p.9, 2012). There was no such thing in earlier Marvel products such

as X-Men, Spider Man, Hulk, Blade and Punisher. As for Marvel Cinematic Universe, the films

are presented as "mere episodes in a larger, cohesive work" (Johnson, p.6, 2012). Marvel

Studios president Kevin Feige claimed in 2009 that "a new idea of the same character

appearing in multiple franchises" has never been done before. Chuck Tryon described that

Marvel relied on the "aesthetics of incompleteness". "Dangling scenes and quick characters

teases in Marvel's films foster not just narrative expansion but also audience participation

that extends the commercial viability of the films into new media markets beyond theatrical

distribution" (Johnson, p.6, 2012). This means that Marvel has found its own way of keeping

the audience and fans. By not ending the story in one of the films, they automatically force

the audience to go to the cinema and watch their next product, because they know that

they want to know what is going to happen next, the audience simply wants more. By Tryon

also mentioned the importance of DVDs. He explains that it "helped to reconceptualise film

narrative in ways that tie together the fictional world of a film with the economic goals of

the studio. The narrative links constituting the Marvel Cinematic Universe thus encourage

careful, repeated, often frame-by-frame viewing". This applies to additional features, Easter

eggs and post-credits scenes because often they might consist of every important

information about the content, however sometimes it is hard to spot them at the first

viewing. Later, the author provides an example of "inserting" Captain America's shield in

the Iron Man film, that was some kind of an Easter egg or a tease for a future Captain

America solo film. Features like this are hard to understand if you are no familiar with the

universe or sometimes they are noticeable in the next repeated viewings. Bonuses in the

DVD releases help to "strengthen" links between films. Derek Johnson provided another

example of links between films such the "alternate opening" in "The Incredible Hulk". It

showed an actual frozen Captain America that was visible only for a second. The scene was

featured only in DVD bonus materials. "The shared Marvel Cinematic Universe thus drew

significantly on digital production and consumption practices.

Analysis

Since year 2000, Hollywood studios started to actively produce films that were based on

comic books. Marvel certainly created its own way of creating films. However, the studio

didn't have its own money to produce films, and of course, the was no a regular investor.

The studio had no choice but to sell the rights for various characters to other major studios.

The success of Spider-Man and X-Men films did good for Marvel in terms of reputation, but

they didn't bring enough money for the studio. Also, Marvel's characters didn't promise the

other studios to bring success, especially after a failure of Daredevil and Punisher. Failures

like this made the major studios to feel unconfident about making films, even about the

characters that they own by rights.

All the films that are based on Marvel Comics, do have the same characters. However

stories in film adaptations are very different from the main comic book storyline (Earth 616).

Marvel Cinematic universe is called Earth 199999. The new chapter of Marvel's story began

in 2008. At that time, the company, that was working with Hollywood studios, only as the

negotiator, took a full creative control over the comic books adaptations and they released

Iron Man (2008).

Tony Stark, who is a billionaire, philanthropist and a superhero, has always played a very

important role in Marvel's stories. However, he has never been a central character. The

rights for the use of the character travelled across many studios, however, eventually Iron

Man returned to Marvel. At the beginning, there were no scriptwriters who wanted to adapt

the comic book character. Sometime after, John Favreau came along who was very

enthusiastic and confident about what he was doing. "He brought a sly sense of humour and

fun to the story of Tony Stark, the billionaire with the bad heart and the weapons-grade

supersuit— both of which set the tone for the rest of the Marvelverse movies (as the films

from Marvel Studios proper are known)" (Rolling Stone, 2014). He left a lot of messages,

hints and references to other comic book features and characters. The scene with the

Captain America's shield is an example, as well as Nick Fury's visit to Tony Stark's mansion in

the post-credit scene. Fury's appearance in the film and the announcement of Samuel

Jackson's contract with Marvel meant that Marvel Studios decided to take this business

seriously so it could create its own cinematic universe.

The film had four elements: not standard choice of the director (at that time John Favreau

did not have a very successful filmography), an unconventional choice of main actor, by that

I mean that studio wasn't looking for a "big star" (after prison sentence Robert Downey Jr.

career was very unstable), a smart references to other films (the final scene of the film is

almost identical to "Robocop") and, of course, the denial of the comic book stereotypes

such as silly costumes, unrealism and of course the denial of secret identity. Unlike Bruce

Wayne (Batman) or Peter Parker (Spider-Man), Tony Stark doesn't hesitate when he reveals

to the public that he is Iron Man. John Favreua was fighting with the studio because, at the

beginning, they didn't approve his choice of the main actor. Favreau said that "it was his

"really special ability" to see talent in other people. And it was the fact that the director

simply saw far too many similarities between the journey the character takes in the film and

what his actor friend had gone through during his time on the big screen" (Eisenberg, 2014).

Favreau also said, and I quote, “Everybody knew he was talented… Certainly by studying

the Iron Man role and developing that script I realized that the character seemed to line-up

with Robert in all the good and bad ways. And the story of Iron Man was really the story of

Robert’s career.”

This formula worked very well for Marvel Cinematic Universe, even seven years after its

birth. And there is no doubt that the studio will forsake it in near future. Even Benedict

Cumberbatch who has been recently announced to play the role of the sorcerer Doctor

Strange, falls into this category. According to his filmography Cumberbatch is famous for

being a detective, hacker or a space villain. It is certainly going to be unusual seeing him as

the mighty sorcerer. But lately people are very fond of him and Marvel certainly found

something in him, despite his unusual look. "With his mop of curly red hair and oddly

angular face, Benedict Cumberbatch hardly has the looks of a typical Hollywood sex symbol"

(Hiscock, 2012).

In the end, "Iron Man" became a very successful film that grossed $585 million (Matsunaga,

2015) in the box office and conquered the appreciation of the audience and critics. Also, the

actor Robert Downey Jr. who played the main role, became one of the top Hollywood actors

and his character became very famous in Marvel Comics as well. Film's success and the

possession of Nick Fury have promised a bright future for the franchise.

But the future became promising specifically because of the enthusiasm of Kevin Feige, who

is Marvel's public figure. According to The Guardian he is also the president of the studio

since 2007 and the producer of all the films. He manages the creative team of the studio

that is responsible for the fact that all studio's films could harmonically connect and interact

with each other. The Guardian also said that "he worked as assistant producer on X-Men,

and was hired by Marvel three weeks after the film's release. From there he worked as a

producer as the company partnered with Sony and 20th Century Fox to build an empire that

included the X-Men, Spider-Man and Fantastic Four franchises" (Godfrey, 2011). He was

observing the process of filming and was learning from the mistakes of the others. "These

were the types of movies I really loved and they simply weren't making enough of them"

Feige said of the pre-X-Men years. While always being a comic book fan, Feige was

responsible for the creation of the shared cinematic universe. When Marvel decided to

unite all the characters on the big screen and show the audience what has been shown in

the comic books for decades, Feige became in charge of the process. After the success of

Iron Man, the studio eventually became a property of Disney. It didn't have the financial

problems anymore. Both studios combined their financial and creative potentials, which

transformed into a strike back to their rivals Warner Brothers, the studio that owns DC

comics.

The future development of Marvel had an enormous success. All the characters that were

still owned by Marvel started to have their own solo films so they could unite later in the

"Avengers" (2012). Before, DC was the first who united all its characters in its comics,

however Marvel was the first who united all its characters on the big screen. Marvel's

confidence and innovations forced all its rivals to radically change their plans and business

models. Marvel also made the audience occupy the cinema theatres for many years. While

DC has proved that comic book is an art industry, Marvel has proved that this art industry

may also be very profitable.

Despite the fact that Marvel belongs to Disney since 2009, Marvel's CEO Isaac Perlmutter

continues to control all the internal spending and all the financial deals. The 71 years old

businessman prefers to stay in shadows and never does interviews. However, "Under his

tightfisted management, Marvel has become one of the most admired, envied and, in some

quarters, resented entertainment companies" (Masters, 2014).

Marvel allows all the directors to add their own unique features and signatures into their

creations. Kenneth Branagh films theatrical dialogues of "Thor" (Kenneth Branagh, 2011) in

"Shakespeare style" (Wilkins, 2011) while Shane Black adds features of "Lethal Weapon"

(Jayson, 2015) into "Iron Man 3" (Shane Black, 2013). But despite all the creativity freedom

of the directors, Kevin Feige always remains as the boss on the set.

According to the rumours, Marvel's decision to decline Edgar's Wright directing services of

"Ant Man", was caused due to the fact that he wanted to achieve a sense of characters'

direct contact with the audience. The studio felt that this was unacceptable for its products,

because in the end it would be Edgar Wright's film, not Marvel's.

Few months after the premiere of "Iron Man" (2008), Marvel decided that releasing

summer blockbusters is not going to be enough. It wanted to create one big universe. This,

for example, was observed in the post-credits scene of "The Incredible Hulk" (2008), where

was the unexpected appearance of Tony Stark himself. Despite the fact that the film did not

lead anywhere, because of Edward Norton's departure from the franchise, who played the

main role, the post-credit scenes became a signature tool of Marvel storytelling. Their chain

have brought the characters in the final instalment of the Phase One which was "The

Avengers". Currently the whole franchise is divided in a three parts that are called phases.

The phases include several solo films and they end with the "Avengers". The film became a

unification point where all four heroes of the Phase One blockbusters became a part of a

one team.

From the commercial point of view, such idea became a real success. The hordes of fans

have filled cinema theatres with their presence and brought the studio $1.518 billion

(Matsunaga, 2015). Despite the inflation, it was the third most successful film in the history

of cinematography.

"The Avengers" helped people to understand that films produced by Marvel Studios are

some kind of an imitation of television series. Each episode is a blockbuster, therefore it is

important to watch all of them. This concept had a strong impact on sequels of Iron Man,

Thor and Captain America. Every single sequel has grossed a lot more than the originals.

When "Guardian of the Galaxy" (James Gunn, 2014) was released, the importance of films'

titles and cast members have stopped to have a great significance. The audience were ready

to see whatever Marvel Studios was producing.

In order to keep the fans even outside the cinema screens, the studio started to explore the

environment of television. "Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D" (2013-present days) is not,

commercially, a very successful TV show. But it certainly gave the viewers a sense of going

deeper into the universe. For example, one of the key characters has died in "Avengers". But

the studio decided to resurrect him and even give his own show. The was no such level of

cross media before in the industry.

Marvel Cinematic Universe does exist outside the big screen. As I mentioned before, in

order to expand its influence, currently it explore the television sphere as well. It has

created more stories about less well known characters or the characters that were new in

the universe. So far, Marvel has three television shows: "Agent Carter" (ABC, 2015-Present

Days), "Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D" (ABC, 2013-Present Days) and "Daredevil" (ABC/Netflix 2015-

Present Days). But the studio doesn't plan on stopping here either. Despite the

development of already existing titles, the company plans to create more titles. Its goal is to

achieve the same effect as they did with films. The creation of the solo titles would be

followed with crossovers and spin-offs. The television series are connected to the actual

films as well. The events that happen in the films may have a great impact on the events of

the shows. Also, the major characters of the films as well as the shows may have their guest

appearances. Features like this strengthen the link between the stories even more.

Sometimes, the film or a television show are not able to tell its story in a full scale. There

may be a missing detail that connects the events or a missing key character. Video Games

and Comic Books help to solve issues like this. Marvel does publish comics based on the

events of the films. Usually videogames and comic books based on the films don't consist

with stories that reflect the big events. However, they play the role as the prequels or they

tell the story about the character who was present during the main events, however his

origins are unknown. Features like this help the audience to get to know their favourite

character a little better.

DVD and Blue Ray features do pretty much the same jobs as video games and comic books

based on the films. Their role is to expand the narrative. The features on the DVD include

more Easter Eggs that could hint on the future projects of the company. "Ever since "Iron

Man" (2008) dropped a copy of Captain America’s shield in Tony Stark’s workshop, Marvel

has prided itself inserting Easter Eggs that only the fans will catch right away" (Holmes,

2015). For Marvel Easter Eggs became as some sort of a signature move. Marvel Comics has

a long history and the films do references to other characters and events for different

reasons. First, as I mentioned before they may hint for the future projects, but they also do

that as some sort of a tribute to the comic book giant. Certainly, it may be hard to notice

them for a regular viewer, but "a hardcore comic book fan will always get something extra

recognizing Easter Eggs" (Holmes, 2015). They may not reference for the future projects, but

at least they may be concepts that may or may not be developed in the future, or they

might reference that something will be created in the another form of medium. They may

also have alternate opening and endings that would make the audience to see the other

perspectives of the openings and the finales of the films. They also include interviews with

the creators that may explain the unexplained, more features and details about their

universe and so on.

Also Marvel develops short films called "Marvel One Shot" as the bonus for pretty much

every instalments. For example "The Avengers" Blue Ray include the short film called "Item

47". It is the biggest Marvel's short films so far and which is twelve minutes long. It offers

the audience to look at the other side of the Chitauri's Invasion, that we could observe in

"The Avengers". The film is the reference to "Bonny and Clyde" (Moore, 2012). It tells the

story of a New York couple who possess the alien weapon and who decided to rob a bank.

With the help of the short films, Marvel wanted to develop its universe in a more deeper

way so it could be more clear and understandable for the casual viewer. It is not an

exception that most of Marvel's characters may have their debuts in the short films like this.

There is no doubt that Marvel is very successful in building its own franchise empire. Many

other studios, including those who own the rights for superheroes, have the temptation to

experience the same success as Marvel has. Some of them also announced to build their

own cinematic universes.

The duo of Warner Brother and DC Comics are confident to repeat the success of "Man of

Steel" (Zack Snyder, 2013) with the production of the Zack Snyder's crossover "Batman vs

Superman: Dawn of Justice that is set to be released in spring 2016. Other characters such

as Wonder Woman and Aquaman are also going to have a part in the film. This film will be a

starting point of another eight instalments, including two "Justice League" films that is a

DC's version of "Avengers". Their plan is set until year 2020.

The same plan Disney is willing to use with Star Wars franchise. The studio plans to release

one film per year. The main episodes will be accompanied with spin-offs that will tell the

stories of specific characters.

Sony also planned to developed its own franchise in the cinematic universe of Spider-Man.

They had plans to release the film "Sinister Six" that should have told the story of the group

of super villains. They also had plans for a couple more films. Disney recently acquired the

rights from Sony to use Spider-Man in Marvel's films, which make the future of Sony's

Cinematic Universe unclear (Lang, Graser, 2015).

Conclusion

As for the conclusion, Marvel certainly became a giant in the franchising sphere. There are

not that many smaller studios that can show the impressive number such as $7.1 billion

(Matsunaga, 2015) from making just one universe. Despite the fact that the studio is mostly

focused on the big screen, it managed to spread its ideology across many forms of media,

such as videogames, television, literature, toys, fashion and so on. The studio showed the

innovative way to tell the stories that would stay trending for many years. It showed that in

order to keep the franchise interesting, it is not necessary to stay focused on one particular

story or character. Showing different sides of the story would make a great profit, but there

has to be special way to do so. And Marvel certainly keeps one of the top positions in

modern film industry due to its quality control and unconventional ways of making its

product, by hiring specific staff, developing specific stories and linking them all together.

Marvel is very serious when it comes for the franchise development. The last film that was

announced as part of the franchise is "Avengers: Infinity War". The film is divided into two

parts for the release in May 2018 and May 2019. The film will close down Phase Three, but

the company isn't planning to stop there. The company develops every single detail in the

franchise and connects their films into something more, one gigantic story. There is no one

who did the same before. Currently, Star Wars (also owned by Disney) is trying to repeat the

same as what Marvel is doing with its franchise development. Star Wars also announced a

specific number of films including new trilogy and few spin-offs. But the result of its success

is still unknown because the revival of the franchise is in early stages. While Marvel

Cinematic Universe is existing here and now before our eyes. We are the witnesses of the

creation of the biggest media empires and franchises in the history of cinematography.

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