The Fundamental Flaw in the MCU and DCEU!!!

[Seth]

This post is by no means an attack on either DCEU or the the MCU, these two have brought a lot to cinema, especially marvel and I am not here to degrade that. I am here to outline the fundamental things both of these juggernauts lack. So consider this as constructive criticism. Here we go!




Introduction: Dull Music.

Read the following lyrics.

“When Captain America throws his mighty Shield,

All those who chose to oppose his Shield, must yiel………..”
Reading these lines, what do you feel?. Well to most people they come off as quirky and quite frankly cringe worthy. It’s almost fit for a Comic Book Cringe compilation, but it does one thing right. It establishes a tone, it has an emotional impact on the person, and it can inspire people to be heroic.

However, all recent movies from both marvel and Dc comics have been lacking in the good music department. In fact, the composed music for all comic book movies except BvS are all generic, they are rip offs of other iconic composed pieces of great music, but with one difference. They are all worse!!. Listen to this clip of Spiderman’s theme song. It’s iconic, emotionally complex, describes the character on a personal level.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SUtziaZlDeE.



You just can’t help but feel like you want to jump around while listening to this. It manages to do what incredible composers fail to capture in today’s world, make an amazing piece of art that stands on its own. If you listen to the soundtrack of any movie alone from both the MCU and the DCEU you will notice how dull it is, you will notice how lacking it is. Granted the Spiderman theme song has lyrics, I mean cammon imagine listening to Cap’s theme song in the middle of an epic action sequence from Winter soldier, it just won’t work.
But great music doesn’t need lyrics. Both the Batman theme song in the 60s and the X Men Opening Theme song manage to capture the same emotion the Spiderman theme song does without any lyrics.
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sAkL2-vh2Sk
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Tell me you haven’t felt the same feeling you did when listening to the Spiderman theme song. A great piece of composed music doesn’t need lyrics to have emotional impact, it needs, what’s the word, YES!! Original composing, I lost the word for a moment. All of these theme songs, also the Star wars theme, The batman etc.. Successfully manage to be iconic, not because of the time they had in pop culture, but because they are original, and hype people up, which is the opposite of every theme song in today’s comic book movies. They just aren’t effective, which brings me to my next point.

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#2: Lack of realism.
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Ok, I think that word has sent the DCEU into an early grave. I mean the poor writers at DC can’t figure out what is real and what not. Superman isn’t real, he is a comic book character, so make a comic hero!! Anyways I digress. So, you ask, why is realism one of my main complaints with these movies if they aren’t meant to be realistic? The answer to that question is,………….. Death!!!!!!!!. Well not exactly Death, but the consequences of Death. You see if a character is given enough development, and is then killed, it has strong emotional impact because the audience know it on a personal level, ya know what that is called? Goooood writing. Quite often in comic book movies someone dies, and do you know what happens next?
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T.A.H.I.T.I happens xD
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Remember Agent Coulson’s death in the first Avengers movie? The impact that had on the audience was real. For a refresher check it!!
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-vK0FPtYTvY
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I was truly happy that comic book movies have come this far. Joss Whedon was praised for such a phenomenal writing, and for such a brave move killing off what seemed a major character at the time. Yes, BRAVE!! Agent Coulson who we have followed for four movies, and has had some character development DIES!! It’s a strong moment that has a powerful emotional impact. BUT, what happens a year later?! He is brought back to life. This completely under-sells everything that has happened thus far. It removes any fear the audience might have for the characters, I mean think about it for a second. If an agent working for an organization DOESN’T die, think about it when main characters like Captain America, Iron man, Thor also die? It will have no impact because people will just say, he/she will be brought back to life via some ridiculous plot like T.A.H.I.T.I in agents of shield. What about the early announcements?
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https://starloggers.files.wordpress....-3-amended.jpg
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The early announcements also do this, but on a much much much much much much much worse level. I mean it’s a straight confirmation that the characters will just be in future movies. Take Civil war as an example, why the hell would you be asking yourself, will any of tony or captain DIE? Why would you be worried for them when you already know they will appear in infinity war? And even if they die before that movie, they will have to be brought back to life before those movies, further fueling this cycle of pessimism.

There are a lot more problems, but I think I have said enough to state a point. I think [Every Frame a painting] covers this with more details i can ever do. Go check his work, it's really amazing. Title: Marvel Symphonic Universe.


Anyways, That’s it for this post. Share your thoughts below, and until my next post, take care, AND marry Christmas for all ya.

[Lightning Rider]

I thought the music for BvS and MOS was great. SS was cool too but it wasn't the original music.

[Seth]

I thought the music for BvS and MOS was great. SS was cool too but it wasn't the original music.

I agree the songs were great, but those are the songs. They took popular songs by singers and overplayed it with the film. What was worse IMO was the fact that the songs they often chose took me right out of the moment. Guardians of the Galaxy used songs, but it was well used and didn't effect the experience. It even added to the experience.

[Seth]

There are a lot more problems, but I think I have said enough to state a point. I think [Every Frame a painting] covers this with more details i can ever do. Go check his work, it's really amazing. Title: Marvel Symphonic Universe.

[Vision]

Not sure if same genre but Pacific Rim had a great music. One of my favorites to date.

[Seth]

Not sure if same genre but Pacific Rim had a great music. One of my favorites to date.

I agree, it was really exciting.

[Lee Stone]

Well... honestly, nothing really compares to the original Star Wars, Star Trek: The Motion Picture, Raiders of the Lost Ark and Superman '78 themes.
Except maybe the Batman: The Animated Series (and the '89 movie from which it borrowed from) and the X-Men cartoon.

The X-Men cartoon theme, especially, was really good because it had a perfect balance of symphonic textures and energy. It felt epic without feeling heavy. And it felt exciting without feeling corny.

IMHO, a lot of the new movies try too hard to be taken seriously and suck all the life out.

[Osiris-Rex]

Well... honestly, nothing really compares to the original Star Wars, Star Trek: The Motion Picture, Raiders of the Lost Ark and Superman '78 themes.
Except maybe the Batman: The Animated Series (and the '89 movie from which it borrowed from) and the X-Men cartoon.

The X-Men cartoon theme, especially, was really good because it had a perfect balance of symphonic textures and energy. It felt epic without feeling heavy. And it felt exciting without feeling corny.

IMHO, a lot of the new movies try too hard to be taken seriously and suck all the life out.

Batman Returns had some great music too. The opening theme, the mewing violins when Catwoman showed up, Penguin's death scene. The music was serious when it needed to be,
goofy when something over the top went on, like Penguin using his umbrella to fly away. The music really set the tone of the scenes instead of just being background noise.

[Outside_85]

I wouldn't bother with opening a post with 'I am not bashing XXX' and then proceed to do so anyways.

However, all recent movies from both marvel and Dc comics have been lacking in the good music department.

Eh... Marvel certainly has this problem since most of the original scores is forgettable at best (it's cheating if you count other people's music). The DCEU does however not have this problem, yet, because most of it has been created by Hans Zimmer who throughout the Pirates movies, Nolan Batman movies, MoS and BvS has shown again and again he knows what he is doing as long has he can have a big drum and a horn.

By contrast, you are comparing movie scores (something thats running in the background during the actual movie) with theme music from ancient TV shows. Which is unfair because movies don't really have theme music these days, unless you count Star Wars which still uses the original score from 1978 or w/e. At best, you have the score that gets played over the end credits when most people are leaving the theater.

As for your examples of superior music... eh, if I was like 9, or had been watching either of those shows during my childhood, then nostalgia would likely have kicked in and made me go 'yes!'. But since I am not I can't help but notice how incredibly dated the X-Men theme sounds... like it's something that's come off from an old Amiga or when rockbands actually thought adding a keyboard to the music was actually an improvement. Spiderman is a classic... but the Ramones did it better

So to properly compare your examples, you have to either dip into DC animation, were you get:
BTAS Intro: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oQVC2zCC5qA
STAS Intro: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oUcKJflBG8Q
JL Intro: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZAsDL7f3veM
TT Intro: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QWaWvQuIVMI

And to be honest... all of them are better than the X-Men theme, since they haven't aged despite how old some of them are. Spiderman of 1960 however is hard to touch because it's reached the same level of recognition as the theme of the old Superman cartoons (the one with the radio speaker) and the Lynda Carter Wonder Woman theme. It's the iconic themes that somehow prevail despite how much cheese is involved.

The other thing we could do is pick and choose from the movies scores and play them clean, without the movie noises, these are my personal favorites mind you:
Marvel:
The Winter Soldier: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HVJGh51wR7k (plays in the background of Bucky's attack on the group on the highway. The piece really does speak to me, sort of telling me of the kind of 'thing' the Winter Soldier is: a precision instrument that moves at a 100mph)
GotG, Sanctuary: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NXWsWZ0YlQk (basically the Thanos theme playing when he's scolding Ronan. Hearing this should leave no one with any doubt who the big dog is.)

DC:
MoS, Flight: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w4OdIOGBW2Q (much like the scene itself, the music gives off first the concern about 'can he do it?', then 'he is going to try' and then lapses into a victory lap of 'yes he can')
MoS, If you love these people: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VTdHU4bMeSI (fight with Zod after he gains flight. It gives off the sense that the fight is actually desperate and that the opponents are equal and the consequences are dire.)
BvS, Is She With You?: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gw_o7XUX3fg (WW theme, I know some people throw poo at the guitar... but I kinda find it fitting because it's played at the right time when 's**** gotten real' and now everything is going to move at a million miles an hour.)

I could list most of the BvS soundtrack, because I think it's brilliant and most importantly it matches the tone and setting on the screen.
Now I will admit that atm most of these are not the easy to remember over in a jiffy intro themes of the old cartoons. But given time and enough repeats, I think people will eventually come to remember the themes played in the DCEU movies as well as their old intro scores.