[Chapter 37. An Assembly of Marvelous Creators. (I)]
Last Time on Chapter 036 of [From Shadows To The Spotlight] —
"It's about their humanity, their struggles, triumphs, and relationships. The cape and mask are just the wrapping paper. What's inside is what matters most." He said, tapping at his chest, right above his heart.
There were murmurs of agreement and nods from a few senior writers.
Alex's gaze shifted to Richard Warren, seated at the far end of the table. The older man looked at him with a mix of curiosity and approval, his notebook already open, pen poised.
It was the first time Richard was working with a story adapted from a comic series, and Alex was eager to see how his mentor would react.
Now Continuing —
"Now, to set the tone, I want to make something very clear from the very beginning." Alex spoke sharply; his tone couldn't be any more serious.
"This," he gestured to the timeline behind him, "is a shared universe that will be made up of these movies, TV shows, and also any other works from other mediums as well."
"Sir!" It was a younger comic book artist that raised his hand.
"Yes, Kennan." Alex said while gesturing for him to stand.
"Does that mean.. that later the studio could also produce a video game and its storyline will be part of the MCU and have an impact on the greater narrative as you claimed the movies and TV shows would." He asked skeptically while also vibrating with excitement, as it meant they would get the opportunity to branch out into other lines of work.
"If we claim that it is a part of the MCU, then yes, I can't see why not." Alex replied nonchalantly, but the statement had its intended effect, and it was immediate; it could be seen on the faces of most of the creatives and producers present.
To them, it meant that the ways they would be able to tell stories would be undergoing a kind of evolution they hadn't even dreamt of before.
The creatives were salivating at the kind of creative freedom, challenges, and opportunities they would be getting by participating in the creation of something so unique that it had never been attempted or even thought of before.
"Now, what does this mean? Well, the simplest example of it is right in front of you. In that folder you'll find a newspaper." Alex grabbed the folder in front of him and pulled out the newspaper in question.
"This is actually a prop that is planned for the first Spider-Man movie, now could someone read the headline please?" He asked politely, turning to see if anyone volunteered.
"Sir?" This time it was an assistant producer of his, Ms. Caceres if he remembered correctly.
"Go ahead." He replied with a nod.
She nodded and then began reading verbatim.
"The Daily Bugle
March 15, 2008
— By Ben Urich.
Hope Amid Despair: Stark Industries' Stock Stabilizes Slightly Following Shocking Developments."
"The world-renowned billionaire inventor and CEO of Stark Industries, Anthony "Tony" Stark, remains in captivity after a shocking abduction last month."
"Stark, who disappeared during a weapons demonstration in Afghanistan, was initially presumed dead, triggering a catastrophic nosedive in Stark Industries' stock value."
"Investors, already shaken by the loss of the company's charismatic leader and creative force, began bracing for the worst."
"That will be enough; thank you, Ms. Caceres." Alex butted in as he gestured for her to take a seat.
"Now, can anyone guess why this is a prop for Spider-Man and not Iron Man, which is directly scheduled to be released next year?" He asked while pointing at the Marvel timeline behind him, where Spider-Man was slated to be released on the 1st of September next year, and after it was Iron Man slated for sometime in June 1999.
Not all projects on the timeline had a date attached to them, and not even all of them were confirmed for production, as a lot of them were still up for scrutiny. The Timeline was credited with the initials 'A.M.' and almost everyone thought it stood for Alex Masters.
But it was actually crediting not just Alex but also his dear friend who first dreamt of creating the MCU in the first place—A.M. actually stood for—Alex & Michael.
"Anyone?" He asked again.
It was a young Kevin Feige who raised his hand, and upon hearing the "yes" from Alex, he got up as he replied, "Is it to set up how the different heroes all live in the same world? Or maybe even an Easter egg for the keen-eyed audiences."
"Exactly, yes.. to both, actually. I hope for it to even serve as a talking point for the fans of the movie." Alex grinned as he began explaining.
"Just imagine a group of friends; one of them claims to have seen Tony Stark written on the newspaper that Uncle Ben was reading."
"Now, the others might brush him off or disagree, but how do you think they will settle this debate?"
"It's simple.. by watching the film again." A Marvel executive replied without even giving it much thought, but as he replied, his eyes widened as he understood Alex's intent.
It made him realize the genius of Alex's similar "word-of-mouth" marketing tactics that caused his movies to almost always perform well at the box office.
The grin on Alex's face only stretched further. "Bingo."
"But do keep in mind that we don't want to detract from the actual story with these hidden Easter eggs or set-ups. They need to set up the connections and show the presence of the other prominent characters." He turned in the direction where the writers were sitting, as he said towards the end. "But do keep in mind that it is not the main attraction of the show."
"Our first and foremost objective remains the same as it always has been, and that is—" He stopped, and without missing a beat, the room went, "To tell a great story," for it was one of the mottos of Studio MONARCH.
"Good." He gave a satisfied nod.
"Now, while this was supposed to be a writer's room, looking around you'd see writers, producers, directors, casting directors, costume designers, and even comic book creatives."
"And while the later might be self-explanatory, let me tell you why the former are here; it is because this isn't just a simple writer's room but rather an assembly of the creators of the MCU."
"The former will be giving you feedback and suggestions in real time as you pitch your ideas and maybe even show interest in a story and want to pick it up and push it to the top of the pile of future projects for consideration."
"But this doesn't mean that you should just do exactly as they're asking of you; after all, you are the writers, not them."
"But they're also the veterans of filmmaking that know what works and what doesn't. What the general audience will like and not. What the MPA will approve and not."
He nodded as he finished his piece and then kept the newspaper aside as he decided to address a little something before moving on to the next point of discussion he had prepared.
"Mr. Kingston!" He called out one of his ace comedy drama screenwriters.
"Sir?" The man in question got up hesitantly.
"Your pitch for the Deadpool Origin movie was good, but unfortunately, good won't cut it anymore. What I need.. is great. And I know you are the man for the job."
"I will give you this; you were on the correct path, but what I am looking for is something even crazier. I've left you a few suggestions and comments for the treatment; Donna will have them sent to your desk."
"Good job for now." Alex nodded and gestured for him to sit.
"I will not let you down, sir." He let out a sigh of relief and sat down, promising to do even better.
"Moving on, the plan for the first phase is simple." He began as he gestured to the screen as the projector showed the working title cards of the movies.
"We will start with the origin stories of some of our most popular superheroes, but.. mixed in-between those popular crowd favorites will be a few B and C-list heroes." Seeing some confused faces in the crowd, he decided to make it clear why he had decided to do so.
"The idea is to use these movies and TV shows to build up the fan base of these heroes as well, and see how the audience responds to these new faces." The senior rep from the consumer products dept. had a gleam of excitement in their eyes when they heard about new supers of whom they could sell the merchandise.
"And maybe these new favorites can then even get their own spin-off movies or TV shows later down the line if the numbers are in their favor or if a senior creative felt like their story deserved to be told."
"But let's not get ahead of ourselves; after all, we are still testing things out. But if this model works well, then we'll start to slowly integrate more obscure yet interesting characters into the MCU." He said, pointing at a new slide on screen that showed characters like Brother Voodoo, Squirrel Girl, Punisher, Spider Woman, Miles Morales, etc.
{Please write down in the comments what obscure Marvel characters you'd like to see as part of Alex's MCU}
"Moving on, let's address the difficulties that we will most likely encounter while creating the MCU, and while I am doing this, you'll notice that some of these problems I'm going to mention are actually currently faced by the studio as well."
"And while I do have a few solutions in mind, I would appreciate it if we could get our minds together and maybe come up with a couple of more answers to these problems."
"Because if we want the MCU and MONARCH to succeed, then these problems are something we need to fix. If you feel like there are any problems I've missed, then please make a note and feel free to jump in after I am done."
"I hope we are clear." Everyone nodded, ready to help where they could.
"Good." Alex had a smile, knowing that he was working with the right people.
"The first problem is quite obvious.. its Person Centricity." Seeing the blank look on some faces, he patiently explained what it meant.
"Basically, it means is that there is one person in the company who is way too important." Here he points at himself. "So much that it hinders the growth potential of the business, as it considered that they know best, and because of it, most critical decisions need their approval or vote to be passed."
A look of understanding dawned on the previously blank faces. Alex nodded as he scanned the crowd and decided it was time to move on.
"Now, here's how Studio MONARCH grew over the years from its beginning."
Alex quickly pointed to a chart that showed the steady upward rise in market share captured and box office numbers. It can be easily made out that this growth had slowed down in the past 2 years and begun to plateau.
Thankfully, there was still a promising rise in their TV network numbers that had the public investors believing in the brand of MONARCH.
"Now, I know what many of you must be thinking, especially the creatives."
"But Alex, what does this have to do with the MCU?"
"To that, I say. Everything."
"Think about it for a moment.. right now I am head honcho, the key decision maker, and while I do possess a clear vision and goal for this behemoth of a franchise."
"If we always have to wait for me to oversee every single detail, then this dream project will come to a grinding halt before it even has a chance to properly get going."
"Speaking in terms of numbers, we'll basically be capped at producing at most 2 movies a year, along with maybe 2 to 3 TV shows."
"Now that might sound like a lot, but Marvel is just too big, and we can't expect to cast the same actors till they are 90 years old now, can we?" Alex asked jokingly, trying to make light of the situation.
They all shook their heads as they chuckled along, imagining an old actor in spandex fighting CGI monsters.
"Hmm, a few of you still look skeptical. I don't blame you. After all, not everyone's read the comics or follows how it all changed after Archmon took over."
"How about as an example? I will show you the potential list of X-Men movies we'll need to make to finish telling all the major "good" stories that take place in the comics."
"And these are just the good ones that have been published to date. I have faith that a few young bloods in Marvel will come with something that I won't be able to help but include into the MCU."
"Now, I don't want to reveal too much, so these movies aren't in chronological order and only mention the adversaries or enemies the heroes will have to face." Alex explained, and with a press of his button, the slide changed to show a list of prominent X-Men villains that would be the adversaries of their own X-Men movie.
X-Men Villains/Movie List —
1. Magneto/Brotherhood. Mystique. Juggernaut. Sabretooth.
2. Hellfire Club. Sebastian Shaw. Emma Frost.
3. Belasco/Limbo-Hell.
4. Sentinels.
5. Sentinels. (II)
6. Friends of Humanity. William Stryker.
7. Apocalypse.
8. Dark Phoenix.
9. Mr. Sinister.
10. Mr. Sinister. (Pt. II)
11. Mr. Sinister. (Pt. III)
"Yup, 11 movies. A daunting task, right?" He asked the crowd, and almost everyone nodded in agreement.
"And this doesn't even take into consideration the countless solo spin-offs, sequels, and origin movies we will need to make. I won't be surprised if we end up making around at least about 20 movies just on the X-Men characters."
"Then there are also animated and live action shows, video games, and more to tell the nuanced stories exploring the backstory and lore of these characters that just can't be crammed into a 2-hour-long movie."
"And remember, this was just the X-Men; I got a similar slide for Fantastic 4 and Spider-Man; as for the Avengers, it took me over two entire slides just to fit in their entire rogues' gallery."
"So the only solution to film and produce all these movies and TV shows is to do it within the 30-year time limit I talked about before."
30 years. That number had people's eyes widened, and their faces looked like they had just drank a shot of lemon juice, when Alex finally put things into perspective.
"I am in my 30s now. I will be an old man with gray hair and aching bones by the time I finish this dream project of mine."
"And that is assuming that there are no delays like writers or actors strikes or re-casts due to scandals or unfortunate actor deaths or critical injuries or, god forbid, a pandemic that just shuts everything down."
Alex chuckled with a forlorn look. "Dream? This sounds more like a nightmare."
"That's.. what I told my friend, the one with whom I conceptualized the idea for the MCU." Alex closed his eyes, he took a deep breath, and exhaled through his nose to center himself in a moment of silence as Michael's face flashed in his mind's eye.
— To be Continued...
{2464 words}
{TRL: And here we see the first meeting to develop the MCU. Till things had been hush hush, with people working individually on the projects that Alex had assigned to them. Mostly it was to put together the scripts for the movies and TV shows that will make up the first phase of the MCU.
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