Can Ryan Reynolds Save the MCU
A year ago, you could go to any party and within minutes of meeting someone you’d end up discussing how Taika and co had got it so wrong in Love and Thunder after getting so right in Ragnarok. Yet, if you go to a similar gathering this weekend and have the temerity to utter the syllables; ‘Marvel’ you’ll discover it is a surefire way to sentence yourself to a long evening out on the deck alone in the cold air nursing your Long Whites.
How did that happen? How did Marvel become so uncool so quickly? Surely that movie behemoth Avengers End Game that bulldozed its way through cinemas all over the world on its way to earning $2B and the title of Most Successful Picture Ever wasn’t that long ago? Are we really THAT fickle?!
But there’s hope!
Ryan Reynolds is back reprising his ultra successful 2016 turn as Deadpool and, around the increasingly disgruntled Marvel fan traps, there’s a bit of a buzz about how Mr Wrexham/Mint/Aviation might be able to single-handedly save the MCU.
But Ryan Reynolds is just an actor signed on for a single movie, how can he possibly turn around the fortunes of a mega corporation? Have we collectively lost our ability to differentiate fantasy from reality?
Not necessarily. If there is one person on this planet who could make an actual difference here, it is Ryan Reynolds – but precisely what problems he’ll be solving are less clear:
The Marvel Rubik
Part of Marvel’s current problem is that it isn’t an ‘underground’ secret anymore. Now it is a corporate superstar which, naturally, has killed off any inherent mystery ‘cool’ it once had – just as Nike learned in the Noughties. Marvel’s success is the author of its issues too – although not just because of the fans’ sniffy Tall Poppy tendencies. The Marvel Cinematic Universe’s marvellous USP is just as much at fault here – as it has unwittingly created a very nasty rod for the Studio writers’ backs and a giant Don’t Argue fend for their fans.
Having created a world where every character’s actions and story told is reflected in every other tale is cute and admirable – for a while. But the more stories you add to that canon, the more difficult it becomes for the writers of new sagas to retrofit their stories into what has happened before – and what will happen after. The whiteboards in the writer’s story table rooms at Marvel Studios must be filled with complex quadratic equations as they grapple with how to insert a Black Widow appearance into someone else’s story – before her alleged birth.
Worse, it also becomes off-putting for the fans as you can no longer just rock up to your local Rialto to check out the latest Marvel epic purely for entertainment’s sake. You are now expected to slavishly attend every screening just to keep up with all the latest MCU twists and turns in order to understand the copious references in subsequent stories. It’s becoming more and more like University every day; miss one lecture and you’ll be scrambling to pass the final exam.
How can Ryan fix this?
Well Marvel can certainly scoop up a bit of ‘borrowed cool’ from having an awesome guy like Ryan Reynolds associated with their brand. But TBH it’s nothing new as Reynolds has already done Deadpool before – so all Marvel can realistically hope from his return is for fans to say; ‘Yay! Ryan’s back – and at least his career hasn’t outgrown the MCU!’
What would be far more effective in this particular case would be for Marvel to bring in someone completely new to play a character way outside of their normal canon; like how a Japanese canned coffee brand brought in Tommy Lee Jones to make a legendary series of surreal ads for Boss. Tom Hanks as Ultron perhaps?
But no one should try and ‘fix’ the ever-changing MCU character lore as that’s the best bit of it! If we ever slip off the pace of keeping up with all the latest twists and turns, what’s to stop us catching up on fan forums online? That’s what the internet is for isn’t it?
Too much of a good thing
Still, the days of an annual Marvel movie release are long gone, as the studio is pumping out the product at an astronomical rate. But it’s understandable as the money men at parent company Disney see the financial returns of recent Marvel movies and cry; ‘Hey, let’s have more of that!’ And more of that is exactly what we’re getting with a rollcall of; Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania, Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3, Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse and The Marvels hitting our cinemas alongside a line-up of Marvel’s Moon Girl and Devil Dinosaur, Secret Invasion and second seasons of; I Am Groot, Loki and What If…? all coming out on Disney+.
And that was just last year alone! Little wonder then that our previous feverish ardour for Marvel is being dissipated…
How can Ryan fix this?
Bringing back Ryan Reynolds as Deadpool alone won’t fix the volume issue but it certainly does break up the monotony as he’s more than just an actor – he’s the absolute perfect embodiment of the Marvel character! His off-screen life is like a continuation of Deadpool in that he’s funny, eccentric and his personal life is so ridiculously successful it’s virtually cartoon-like.
Ryan Reynolds buys into Aviation Gin, two years later it sells for $610M; he buys a 20% stake in Mint Mobile, a year later it gets bought as part of a deal worth $1.35 billion – and Ryan is kept on because he is so good at marketing. Even during his announcement, Ryan couldn’t help but offer a Deadpool-like comment saying he was relieved; ‘T-Mobile beat out an aggressive last-minute bid from my mom Tammy Reynolds.’
Mega business deals get cut every day but only those involving Ryan Reynolds get noticed in the mainstream – but that any surprise when he promotes his own gin by pretending to be his own twin and describing it as; ‘like a sunrise had sex with a feather duster’?
No further questions, Your Honour.
2018 and all that
Then there was 2018, a major turning point in the MCU for two reasons:
AVENGERS END GAME
In any story there’s a beginning, a middle and an end – and just before the end comes the ‘Climax’. Or the most exciting moment of the tale when the goodie defeats the baddie and rescues the princess so they can live happily ever after. Similarly, the Avengers series of movies culminated in a climax where the surviving Avengers – spoiler alert! – defeated the evil Thanos so the world could live happily ever after.
Having wrapped up the Avengers saga so adroitly may have been satisfying – but it did leave fans musing to themselves; ‘Now what?’ And that, unfortunately for Marvel, has also subsequently led to the burning question; ‘So what?’
Stan Lee
It is almost impossible to think of Marvel without thinking of Stan Lee too. The primary creative force at the Studio for decades, he was the inspiration for all the heavy hitters like Spider Man, Iron Man, Hulk, Black Widow, Doctor Strange and the Black Panther to name but a few. Is it any wonder he was regarded as Messiah-like to the fans? Though he stepped away from comic duties at Marvel way back in the 90s he remained their figurehead for the rest of his life with his regular cameos in Marvel movies giving them the unofficial tick of approval, i.e.; ‘if Stan is willing to appear in it, it must be legit.’
But Stan’s death in 2018 changed everything as there is also the lingering feeling, whether it be true or not, that Stan Lee = Marvel. Without him around anymore, how can Marvel be anything other than a phony imitation of his genius?
How can Ryan fix this?
Ryan, along with The Rock and Arnie, is one of that rare breed of superstar whose personal life is so detailed – and basically superhuman! – it is virtually impossible to separate them from any screen role. Which is why we struggle to ever tolerate them as any sort of loser onscreen.
But in Ryan’s case, he has been so damn successful in his business career, it feels like he is slumming it by taking time out to bother acting in a movie. Which is very flattering for us fans – it’s like he’s giving us a Stan Lee-like nod to say what we’re watching is actually worth our time.
Fumbling the baton
The struggles with losing your talismanic leader is a phenomenon not limited to Marvel with Stan Lee. Disney was – finally – able to overcome the death of its own creator Walt in 1966, although there were some seriously lean years between then and the studio’s triumphant return with Beauty and the Beast in 1991. In between times there was an awful lot of bean-counter-inspired dross like; The World’s Greatest Athlete and Herbie Goes to Monte Carlo to tarnish the brand.
It is a similar story with tech giant Apple. Since Steve Jobs’ death, what had been a brand synonymous with innovation in design and just plain coolness, overnight became a lawyer’s paradise with the brand suddenly becoming more associated with lengthy terms and conditions updates than dazzling new sexy design. Innovation also went into the bin as Apple ceased Steve Jobs’ signature of releasing stunning new products the like of which the world had never seen. Instead, came a seemingly endless series of disgruntled ex-employees appearing online cynically advising Apple-ites how remarkably similar the new phones were to their predecessors.
How can Ryan fix this?
Well, Marvel Studios CEO Kevin Feige would argue that Marvel doesn’t need ‘fixing’. He can rightly point to the over $2B Avengers End Game took and say we created the highest grossing movie of ALL TIME. Since he has been in charge, Marvel Entertainment has become an all-conquering money-maker raking in a scarcely-believable $30B over 17 years making him the most successful movie producer ever. And then some!
What he hasn’t been so good at however, is inspiring his fans/customers the same way Stan Lee, Steve Jobs and Walt Disney were able to.
But if there is one guy capable of doing both jobs – it would have to be Ryan Reynolds. The man is a bona fide legend! Looking at the results of Ryan Reynolds’ business ventures it’s obvious he’s capable of making serious money. But it is his work with Wrexham F.C., the Welsh football club he and It’s Always Sunny In Philadelphia star Rob McElhenney, bought to save them from extinction that is the real kicker. Not only did they take on a deadbeat team and bring them back into the professional leagues – but they got involved personally as well. Reynolds turned a fifth level kickaround on the other side of the Atlantic into a Hollywood A-List party as star after star started showing up at Wrexham matches. This, and the docuseries about the city and football club, Welcome To Wrexham, has transformed not just the club but the Welsh people as well. So much so that everyone is talking about replicating Ryan’s ‘Wrexham Effect’ for other clubs, regions and even for different sports! If that’s not inspirational CEO behaviour, I don’t know what is.
The Diversity Problem
This isn’t actually a Marvel issue, it belongs to a section of its fans – although Marvel vice president David Gabriel did fan the flames by blaming poor sales on a lack of fan appetite for female and non-white characters.
So what kind of person is a MCU consumer? If your first thought was something along the lines of; Comic Book Guy from The Simpsons, you’re not completely wrong. Demographic research has showed that most Marvel consumers are lower income, straight, white Millennials although, somewhat surprisingly, there is a near equal gender split.
Single Green Female
A classic case Mr Gabriel was talking about is; She-Hulk: Attorney at Law. The eighth TV series put out by Marvel rated pretty well with viewers racking up a pretty reasonable median score of 8/10. Yet it was targeted online by a section of fans who seemed determined to kill it off by gaslighting about how the show was terrible and had bombed with fans.
Huh? What? Sure, the show certainly sounds like a crass cash-in as it features a lawyer – who just so happens to be related to Bruce Banner – specializing in cases involving superhumans. Amazingly, she also turns out to become a green superhero herself – but we are talking about the Marvel Cinematic Universe here, so being grounded in reality isn’t really any sort of pre-requisite at all. (Luckily!)
The facts of the matter are; the character was created by Stan Lee and first appeared way back in 1979! Plus, She-Hulk was also the first character to break the fourth wall – well before Deadpool gave his first over-the-shoulder wry aside. Thus, if any character has a right to having her own TV show – and the support of true Marvel fans, it’s She-Hulk.
So obviously there are other issues at play here, and points to a split in the Marvel audience between the hardcore comic fans and those who only watch the TV shows and movies. The comic fans have long known about She-Hulk and will have been running sweepstakes for years betting on when she would get her own show too. The TV/movie crowd on the other hand just see She-Hulk as a quick cash-in by Marvel using diversity as a way to scoop up new fans.
But even if they did, is that so wrong? Surely, the goal of any business is to expand your customer base in order to sell more product? Should Apple, Disney, Coca Cola or Nike ever go; ‘Hey, we’ve got all the male, straight, white Millennial customers we’re ever going to get, so let’s stop marketing now’?
A ridiculous suggestion, so Marvel Studios are not wrong but they obviously have an image problem.
How can Ryan fix this?
For a start; he’s white, straight and male. Phew! Triple tick for the majority fanbase there. But expecting Ryan Reynolds to be anything other than what he is – is wokeness gone mad.
Surely we’d all be better off just enjoying what Ryan brings to the table – that inimitable sense of humour we’ve seen from his interviews and roles – including his second turn as Deadpool back in 2016. And for Marvel that is crucial – because comedy is the one thing they definitely haven’t mastered, as their skills at action, characterisation and sex appeal have not been matched by light tones at all. The Studio’s often ham-fisted efforts at humour have usually fallen flat with a few notable exceptions like the Taika/Chris Hemsworth double act of Thor: Ragnarok.
While Marvel has developed a few problems in recent times, it is debatable to claim they’re in trouble at all. The issues many of us may have with the MCU are self-inflicted. We’ve grown up feeling like we’ve had Marvel to ourselves – and now we have to share them with everyone else. It’s like going to your favourite bar that everyone else has recently discovered – and getting irritated now that that hot waitress you always used to chat up always seems to be busy with these other new customers.
Ryan Reynolds would be an incredible addition to any movie – or, indeed, any boardroom! – let alone just to Marvel movies. He is a genuine inspiration to everybody not only for his multi-faceted skills but because he’s shown us that despite what the World keeps telling us; Good Guys can win after all!
Ryan is also wise beyond his years as the future is looking grim for actors with the rise and rise of AI, so his diversifying off into other business ventures is extremely prudent. Marvel themselves will likely be an early adopter of AI as it suits them down to the ground as they will no longer need to dress an actor to play a character; they can just use AI to generate characters to match the page.
But, no matter how good AI gets, it will struggle to come up with a character as entertaining and just plain unpredictable as Ryan Reynolds. So let’s just enjoy him while we still can – without heaping any unnecessary extra baggage on him.