Why Star Wars will Succeed as Marvel Declines

In the last few posts, I’ve talked about the challenges with superhero movies because they all follow the same trope, what I’ve come to call the Secret Ninja. The protagonists hide their true identity until faced with danger, which is when they reveal their Secret Ninja skills to the world.

I’ve also written about Disney’s near catastrophic handling of the Star Wars universe since acquiring the rights of the franchise years earlier.

Today, I want to talk about why I think, despite a miss ratio far outweighing the hits, Star Wars will outlast Marvel as a successful franchise.

The first reason is a combination of competence and closure.

Marvel pulled off an extraordinary feat, one never accomplished in cinematic history. They told a sweeping epic tale of good vs. evil over 21 films with three main heroes (and tens of their buddies) fighting one powerful villain that threatened the existence of the universe as we know it.

Look at that sentence. Does the stakes get any bigger than that? How do you top that?

The fact that they made 21 movies to tell that tale, none of which were bad (though some were average), is astounding. It’s difficult to make a single movie well. To make 21 that each have their own individual story arcs that also fit within a mega story arc is incredible.

And that’s the first hurdle Marvel will have to overcome to remain relevant, because their greatest success is also their greatest challenge.

They provided closure.

Yes, they’ll try to keep the Marvel Universe alive, but I don’t think it will work. Harry Potter is a perfect example. After Harry’s story came to a satisfying conclusion, they tried to expand the Potter universe by making the Fantastic Beasts films, which, by comparison, were hardly a blip on the Potter World radar.

After watching Marvel’s Infinity War and Endgame, I felt no need to watch another Marvel film. They told their stories and kicked ass doing it. Done and done.

But, that didn’t stop them. They’ve already released the surprising WandaVision and disappointing The Falcon and the Winter Soldier. They’re going to release the Loki series next. But, what else can they do? Take back X-men and start making films with those characters? What’s more that needs to be said with them after their three original movies and all the subsequent prequels made by other studios?

But that’s not their only problem. A lot has changed in the years since Iron Man was first released. The world is divided into two incompatible views of the world. If Marvel picks sides (which they did in The Falcon and the Winter Soldier – see my post on preaching in films), they will lose 50% of their audience. It’s a bad choice. (See Kathleen Kennedy’s handling of Gina Carano).

But, Marvel’s worst enemy is that their stories are all founded on Secret Ninjas. Even a show like Jessica Jones (on Netflix), about a young female private investigator, can’t escape the superhero trope. It can’t. It IS what Marvel is about.

And that is why it will eventually fail, because its universe must be led by the same basic character in every film, the Secret Ninja.

It’s equivalent to making every Star Wars film about a Jedi. Eventually, there are no new Jedi tricks to reveal and the only new challenge is creating spectacular visual climaxes to cover up for the fact that you’re telling the same story over and over.

That’s why I think Star Wars, if handled properly, will eventually succeed where Marvel can’t. Because the Star Wars universe is an open one without constraints. It can be expanded over time and space to include every type of trope. The Bounty Hunter (Mandalorian), the Charming Thief (Solo), the Broken Hero (Rogue One), etc.

Star Wars stories don’t HAVE to be about Skywalkers or Jedis. They can be about anything. Where, on the other hand, Marvel has to tell the equivalent of Jedi stories in every film. It’s their brand.

And because Star Wars films have missed the mark more often than not, it has left its fans yearning for more because they appreciate, perhaps more than Lucasfilm, just how much unrealized potential still waits to be tapped. And, if done right, stories in the Star Wars universe, and the franchise, could last for decades to come, while Marvel will fade into oblivion, remembered as that studio that provided the superhero stories we needed in the 2010s, when the world seemed crazy and broken.

Star Wars has everything still in front of it.

Marvel is already looking in the rear view mirror.