I was recently asked a difficult question, possibly one of the toughest I’ve ever been asked. I’ve tried to give it much thought to come up with a good answer, but thought that writing out my thoughts here might help me reach an answer.
The question? If I had to pick one movie, of the two major movies I’m looking forward to this year, that I could watch, with no hope of ever seeing the other one, which would I choose? The two movies are the upcoming Avengers: Endgame and the December release of Star Wars Episode IX: The Rise of Skywalker.
The Avengers movie is the culmination of 10 years of movies from Marvel Studios, which started with the first Iron Man movie all those years ago. As a lover of comic books and super heroes, I have eagerly looked forward to each of the over twenty movies that have emerged and found joy in each one. There are things that happened a decade ago in these movies that will finally reach a resolution in the new movie that comes out April 26.
The Star Wars saga started way back in 1977, though it has been a different journey. The epic space opera was originally thought to be just one movie. When the first one smashed the box office, two more followed and had what fans thought was a finite ending. Then George Lucas brought his prequels to the screen between 1999 and 2005. And even then we thought it was over.
However, once Disney bought out Lucas and the Star Wars franchise, new movies soon followed. Thus, we are at the end of the latest trilogy (and by all reports, the last Star Wars movie for a little while) and supposedly the very end of the story of the Skywalker family, which has included Luke and Leia, Anakin and Padme, and a couple more characters (maybe) from the new set of films.
I’ve loved Star Wars every step of the way, even the much-abused prequels. I can’t wait to have my questions answered about whether Kylo Ren can be turned to the side of good or who Rey’s parents are or how they’ll send off Princess Leia since Carrie Fisher died since the last film.
So how to determine which film I would skip, if forced to? This is, indeed, an impossible question.
Which hanging plot threads would bother me the most if I never knew the outcome? Could I be content with never knowing the full backstory of Rey in the new Star Wars film? Would I sleep at night if I didn’t know how Thanos might finally be defeated by the Avengers? Could I assume a bad guy will turn good, just like Darth Vader did all those years ago? Which of the characters who were snapped away in the last Avengers movie will return?
In this regard, I think I could miss the Avengers movie and be okay. The reason for this is I’ve read the comic books from which this movie took its inspiration. I have a pretty good idea of what might happen. That doesn’t mean it will happen the same way. In fact, I’m counting on plot twists that weren’t in the comics.
Star Wars is all-new material, with no source from which to draw. I have no idea what will happen, though the parallels between this latest trilogy and the original trilogy give a keen observer some theories. But as far as what could I do without if I absolutely had to? In that case, I could miss the Avengers movie.
How about the quality of the previous movies? When I look at that, it seems like the Marvel movies have been consistently good all the way through. Granted, some of them like Captain Marvel, Iron Man 3, and The Incredible Hulk have been subpar, but that’s really in comparison to the simply amazing flicks like Captain America: Winter Soldier, Guardians of the Galaxy, and Black Panther. Compared to other movies I’ve seen, they’re still not too bad.
The storytelling from Star Wars has been less amazing at times. The prequels are not nearly as good as the original trilogy. The latest movies have been uneven, though still enjoyable. While there seemed to be an overall plan from the start with the Marvel Studios offerings, Star Wars has stopped and started enough times that it seems forced together at times.
The quality alone would make Avengers hard to miss. Marvel hasn’t really had a swing and a miss lately, whereas Star Wars has started to make people question the sustainability of the franchise. They certainly can’t release 1-2 movies a year like Marvel and make people happy. In this instance, I could miss the Star Wars movie.
Things like special effects are basically equal between these two gigantic franchises. The music from all these movies is iconic, though John Williams’ Star Wars music is probably more recognizable to the average person. The future of both Disney-owned groups is a bit unclear, although one could guess that both will pump out many more movies before the next decade passes.
At the end of the day, if I had to pick, which movie would I miss? I would probably pick the Avengers to miss. My Star Wars loyalty is just a smidge higher. Luckily, I don’t have to find out. I plan to see both of them and enjoy both of them. The bigger question might be which one will win my best movie of the year award when all the dust settles!
Word of the Week: This week’s word is bibliotaph, which means one who hoards books, as in, “The fan of Marvel and Star Wars movies turned into a bibliotaph when friends noticed many book based on those movies stacked around his house.” Impress your friends and confuse your enemies!