The Marvel Cinematic Universe may sit at the top of the mountain when it comes to film franchises, but other multimedia properties did precede it. One franchise with a vocal and loyal fanbase is Harry Potter, with fans growing up on the J.K. Rowling novels and transitioning to the live-action movies.
According to Marvel Studios President and Marvel's Chief Creative Officer Kevin Feige, the MCU's storytelling approach has a lot in common with the Harry Potter films.
Feige was a guest of the New York Film Academy, where he participated in a Q&A session with NYFA’s Director of Industry Lecture Series, Tova Laiter. When asked how Marvel Studios goes about making a film that can appeal to all audiences, Feige said, "I always default to my experience watching Harry Potter movies. I never read the Harry Potter books. My kids aren't old enough, not into it yet, and I didn't read them when they first came out, but I went to see every Harry Potter movie opening weekend. I saw it, and I enjoyed it, and then I forget all about it and I didn't think about it again until the next Harry Potter movie came out."
"Those movies were so well made, because I could follow it all. I could follow it, I could track it," he added. "Occasional, I had to go, 'Who was that? Oh, right...' but for the most part, I could totally track it. Now, if I had watched every movie 10 times, if I had read every book, I bet there are dozens of other things in there that I would see and appreciate, but they never got in the way of me just experiencing it as a pure story. So that's kind of what we try to navigate, is if an Easter egg or a reference or something is so prevalent that it gets in the way of the story you're telling, so the people who aren't aware of it go, 'What is this? What's happening?', then we usually pull back on it."
It appears to be a delicate balancing act between making an MCU film filled with Easter eggs for the most hardcore fans, while also making the movies accessible for the casual moviegoer. Feige recapped his history of only watching the Harry Potter movies while skipping the books, and still appreciating the story being told on screen without the entire backstory. In this example, the MCU and Harry Potter films share a common storytelling approach.
Next up in the Marvel Cinematic Universe is Black Widow. Directed by Cate Shortland, the film stars Scarlett Johansson as Natasha aka Black Widow, Florence Pugh stars as Yelena, David Harbour as Alexei aka The Red Guardian and Rachel Weisz as Melina. The film opens May 1, 2020.