Why The Shared Universe Plan Has Helped Marvel Fresh off the news of Thor: The Dark World passing the $500 million milestone, Marvel Studios continues to prove the lucrativeness of a shared universe. 10 years ago, few would have believed that an Iron Man or Thor film could have outgrossed a Wolverine film. But in 2013, that is the reality.
Currently, Marvel Studios has placed six of it's eight movies into the top 25 films adapted from comic books. The two that have not broken the top 25 are The Incredible Hulk, which is not far off at the 31st spot and Thor: The Dark World, which hasn't been released a full month yet and will easily end up in the top 25 when all is said and done. Furthermore, two of their films, Iron Man 3 and Marvel's The Avengers are among the top 5 highest grossing films of all time.
The biggest advantage of the shared universe strategy is the notion that the whole is greater than the sum of it's parts. Because the films within the MCU are connected, they are each more successful than they would be on their own. Through no other means could Iron Man, Thor and Captain America have movies that contend with the likes of Batman, Superman, Spider-Man and The X-Men who have long been pop culture icons.
If more proof is needed, you can look at Captain America specifically. The Sentinel of Liberty has been the focus of his own films before in 1944, twice in 1979, and in 1990. None of those movies neared the success of Captain America: The First Avenger. Yes, Marvel Studios committed more resources into the making of that film, but Captain America is far more intriguing in the context of The Avengers and as the catalyst of a super-hero arms race. Though not on the level of the Bat emblem or Superman's “S”, Captain America's shield is becoming more and more of an icon than ever before. This recognizability is largely attributed to Captain America: The First Avenger's success through the shared universe strategy.
To the credit of Marvel Studios, a shared universe concept does not guarantee success. Even though we haven't seen a film universe as expansive and ambitious as the MCU, we have seen failed attempts at spinoffs (see U.S. Marshals, Scorpion King, and especially Elektra and Catwoman.) These films prove that a connection to a more successful film does not guarantee the success of a spinoff. Not all of the MCU films' success can be credited to the shared universe strategy. Obviously, they have done a great job making each of their films independently viable.
Needless to say, I am a huge proponent of the shared universe concept and I am very excited to see how it effects the future of CBMs. All the evidence points to DC/WB hatching out a similar plan for it's future films. And the executives at Sony and Fox have expressed a desire to do the same with the Spider-Man characters and X-Men & Fantastic Four respectively. Hopefully the shared universe trend will be around for a while and spread into other film genres as well.
As always, I welcome feedback. I want to know other fan's opinions. Thanks for reading and if you enjoyed the article please thumbs up.