Before the year 2008, the term MCU never stood for anything and would just be a series of letters randomly combined. But, after May 3, 2008, those three letters came to mean something even bigger. The MCU, or also called the Marvel Cinematic Universe, is one of the biggest franchises that has been created in Hollywood and this is no exaggeration. Since the first Iron Man in 2008, the MCU has made a total of 22.55 billion dollars at the global box office and that is 23 films in total that has earned that much money. Now, how did the MCU become so popular over the years? I believe that one reason that the MCU has gotten to this popularity is because the MCU has a cult following. There is plenty of evidence to support this and all of this evidence is obvious if you are looking for it.
The MCU has been around since 2008 with the film Iron Man and ever since the first film, it already had a cult following. This cult following that I am talking about is comic book fans. Everyone has read a comic book at some point in their life, but there is a group that has red about every comic book possible. These people know everything there is about comics and pull random knowledge out of their head about a comic book that is twenty years old. This brings me to my first way that the MCU has a cult following, and that is that these films give people nostalgic feelings from these comic books and also from a few other things as well. As stated in the reading “Outsider Nostalgia in Dazed and Confused and Detroit Rock City” by Carey L. Martin, nostalgia is used in films and can especially be found in cult films. A quote from the reading “A sociology of nostalgia…is concerned with tracking down the sources of nostalgic experience in group life… ” and most of these nostalgic experiences can come from people’s past with Marvel comics or it could even involve other factors of nostalgia.
This past with comics could involve panels that people remember reading when growing up or even iconic lines popping up in the MCU. These nostalgic panels could involve Thanos using the infinity gauntlet to snap away half of the universe from “The Infinity Gauntlet” comic book or even seeing Iron Man and Captain America battle each other just like from “The Civil War” comic book. When a comic book fan sees these panels come to life on film, they will usually remember these moments even more than other moments in the film, and this is because they bring nostalgic memories with them. I also mentioned iconic lines popping up in the film and there are plenty of lines comic book fans would love to hear in the MCU. But, there is one line that everybody who has ever been a fan of The Avengers has always wanted to show up in the MCU and that is Captain America’s line “Avengers assemble.” When this line came up finally in the MCU, it was a moment every fan was waiting for, but it also brought back those memories to people who read the comics and would remember that one line, because when you read it in the comics, you knew it was time to battle.
Bringing nostalgic vibes through iconic lines and also through bringing iconic comic book panels isn’t the only nostalgic weapon the MCU has. It also has music. One of the MCU’s biggest franchises, The Guardians of the Galaxy, is based off a Marvel comic that had a cult following and these films have gone on to become some of Marvel’s most successful franchises. What makes the Guardians franchise have nostalgia vibes in it is that the film has a ton of music from the 80s and this music brings a lot of nostalgic vibes when it is played during the film, and this leads to the film gaining a large following because of how iconic the soundtrack becomes. Other films include some music from iconic music eras like the first two Iron Man films using ACDC and Thor: Ragnarok using Led Zeppelin, but none of them come close to the nostalgic vibes the Guardians films have. All of this stems from the fact that the music in the film brings people back to their childhoods, teen years, or even adult years. Which leads to people remembering the films more and also generating a cult following based off of nostalgia.
This allows me to move onto my next way that the MCU has a large cult following and that is the music that accompanies any film. Now, I know I already mentioned the soundtrack of a few of the Marvel films, but a film’s musical score can lead to people remembering the film and developing a following based on the score alone. In the reading, “Cult Cinema and Music” the author states in the conclusion “…that music is an important contributor to many a cult film’s appeal. This can work on a number of levels: the music used on the sound-track; the ways in which music (especially the music industry) can become the subject matter of the film; or through actual musical artists appearing within the films.” This shows that music can play an important part in a film’s cult status based upon the soundtrack of the film and also through what artists appear in the film. In the MCU, this is very much apparent and also helps to make the films gain cult followings.
An example of this in the MCU is all of the theme songs that appear during the film. When you hear certain music in film you know where you are going and what is going to be happening next. The theme songs for Wakanda, Guardians, and even the song for Doctor Strange has become iconic that when you hear the music play, you know you are either going to Wakanda, or getting ready for the Guardians to go into battle, or are going to see some strange stuff with Doctor Strange. But, there is one theme that has become so iconic that it alone can basically confirm that the MCU has a cult following. The theme that I am talking about is Alan Silvestri’s Avengers’ theme. When the audience hears the Avengers’ theme, the audience knows the real battle is about to begin and that the Avengers are ready to fight. The theme gets the audience pumped up and allows the audience to know that the battle is about to begin. The theme is so iconic that a person can easily hum it in their head and that people use it as ringtones, alarms, or anything that they can put music to. In fact, the Avengers’ score has become so iconic that Marvel is releasing a collector’s edition of the Infinity War and Endgame score for the diehard fans.
Speaking of a collector’s edition, that is another reason that the MCU has a cult following, that there are collectors editions of props. Memorabilia is a major contributor in what fans of the MCU are attracted to. When a certain iconic prop appears in the film, the diehard Marvel fans do whatever they can to get that object in their collection. The reason why I mention this is because a lot of cult followings have an envy to get props or even get replicas from the cult film. This can be seen with the MCU and the props that everyone wants. Some examples of props that fans want is either one or both of the infinity gauntlets that appear in Infinity War and Endgame. Another prop that fans want to have is the arc reactor from any of the Marvel films or even the Iron Man mask that appears in the films. Some more props include the Eye of Agamotto, the orb the power stone is held in, Captain America’s shield, Mjnoir, stormbreaker, Star Lord’s mask, the Tesseract, a sling ring, and Ant-Man’s helmet.
All of these props and some more are on the lists of diehard MCU fans and even some fans have whole walls and bookcases dedicated to these props. There is also the fact that last year, Marvel Studios released the Infinity Saga as a box set that featured every MCU film and was produced in a very limited quantity. This box set also had the films in 4k and featured deleted scenes that have never been seen before. This box set was the ultimate collector’s item and if you had this, you were a diehard fan. This idea of collecting props, memorabilia, and even box sets is another reason as to why the MCU has a cult following.
Now my final major reason as to why the MCU has a cult following and that has to deal with something that we have talked about quite a bit this semester. That thing is the cinema of attractions. We talked about exploitation films and films with gimmick as being two types of the cinema of attractions. But I think that the MCU is a cinema of attraction on its own and there is plenty of proof. First of all, the term MCU stands for Marvel Cinematic Universe, which really means that each film is connected to one another and all lead up to one major event. There is nothing in the cinema that has 23 interconnected films that rely upon each to build a single narrative. This alone is a major example of the cinema of attraction because there is nothing like this and even if there is another studio doing this, no one is doing it at the scale that Marvel is doing it at.
Another example in the MCU that proves it is a cinema of attractions is the audience reaction and engagement in each film. Whenever a new MCU film is released, the diehard fans go to see the film on opening night, the audience is a hundred percent engaged in the film. The audience claps, laughs, and even cry at the appropriate times during the movie. This kind of experience can’t be experienced in almost any other movie. The reasoning for this is that the audience feels connected to these characters that they have watched for a certain amount of films. Also, on opening night you have people wearing their graphic t-shirts, costumes, and also sweaters that relate to the film. This is just like some cult screenings that happen. I can say this though, the audience experience for Avengers: Endgame, I have never seen or experienced anything like that on opening night. For some scenes it was like being at a rock concert and the excitement for the film was through the roof.
Another thing that is very unique to Marvel film’s for the audience that no one does for any other film is the after credit scenes.When a new MCU film comes out, there is usually a mid credit scene and an after credit scene. The true MCU fans always stay around until the very end of the film and one major proof of that is the film Avengers: Endgame. When the film was released, everyone said that there was no mid credit scene or an end credit scene. But, true Marvel fans stayed until the very end of the film and they were treated to a little surprise. Instead of the usual end credit scene, the fans that stayed until the end were treated to the sound of an anvil being hit six times.
Now some people wouldn’t know what this means, but the diehard fans know that this is Tony hitting the anvil in the cave he was in from the first Iron Man film and the six hits is supposed to be for each of the original six Avengers. This was meant for the diehard fans that stay until the end of each film and this idea of staying until the end of each MCU film is something that only the MCU has popularized in recent years. This could fall under the category of a gimmick, because the studio is making you watch all the people that worked hard on the film and it is a gimmick for the people. But I just think this falls under the cinema of attractions in general because there is no other studio that makes you stay until the end of the film to see what is coming next in the universe or even to see a funny gag that is from the end of the film. All of this is proof that the MCU has cult following because it follows the cinema of attractions because each film is basically an attraction for people to get together and just to have fun time at the theater. Also, Marvel advertises each Avengers film as a big spectacle that can’t be missed and has to be experienced in the theater.
With the uses of nostalgia, music and even the cinema of attractions being three major reasons as to why it has a cult following. But to really sum this up, I will use the cult film checklist to prove that the MCU has a cult following. It checks off marginality because it isn’t normal for there to be a cinematic universe of interconnected films. It checks off cult following, especially with individual films within the MCU and most of the fans are diehard fans that will see any film Marvel releases. It most definitely has a community based on the fact of how much money the whole MCU has made in total and also how much interaction there is on social media for MCU films. The MCU has tons of quotations like “I am Groot”, “I am Iron Man”, “Avengers Assemble”, “Language”, “Dormammu, I’ve come to Bargain”, and “I can do this all day”. And finally it passes iconography because there are plenty of icons in the films like the superheroes in the films and also it establishes certain fanbases for each of franchises in the MCU. In the end, it got a total of five out of eight on the checklist, but the proof that the MCU has a cult following is overwhelming.
So, I believe that the MCU has a cult following based on the evidence I presented, plus there is so much more evidence that proves that the MCU has a cult following. I could talk about how the MCU has many different genres and that there are always screenings of the MCU movies before a new film releases. But, if I were to wrap this up, tie it with a bow or whatever, I want to say that the MCU most definitely has a cult following.
Cult Movies 