We’ve reached peak Marvel mess

In a DVD featurette for Sam Raimi’s 2002 film “Spider-Man,” one of the first handful of films to ever be adapted from a Marvel comic, star Tobey Maguire was not particularly effusive about playing a superhero. “First I heard about ‘Spider-Man,’ it sounded interesting to me, but only if it was done the right way,” Maguire said. “Done in a way that would excite me; in a classy way, with a good filmmaker, a good story and a good cast.” In the soundbites from Raimi and Kirsten Dunst that follow, the film’s co-lead and its director echo Maguire’s sentiments, adding that they were attracted to the script’s “humanistic” elements, emphasizing that the film’s story was just as good as its web-slinging action. For everyone involved in “Spider-Man,” it seemed as though making a good superhero movie was the second priority; the first was making a movie that had the bones of a great film.

Twenty years later, Raimi helmed another Marvel movie, this one jammed inside of the sprawling, intentionally confusing Marvel Cinematic Universe: “Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness.” In the two decades between Raimi’s first and latest Marvel movies, almost everything had changed about the way superhero movies were made and subsequently promoted. It’s far rarer to hear the stars of a Marvel movie speak in-depth about their characters and the film itself, let alone hint at any hesitation toward being part of the MCU. (Unless you’re Gwyneth Paltrow, in which case you’re afforded a free pass on the basis of not giving a damn.) The mealy-mouthed title of Raimi’s “Doctor Strange” sequel itself references one of the biggest problems with contemporary superhero filmmaking: Everything exists within a universe, and inside that universe, anything is possible. If a character dies, they can be resurrected, or the story of a subsequent film can be retconned for viewers to meet their favorite hero in another universe. Scripts are even tailored to conceal plot details from actors so nothing gets leaked — not that a leak would matter in a universe where there are no stakes. Everything part of this franchise’s existence is designed to keep the Marvel Cinematic Universe pumping out films and raking in cash for as long as possible. It will outlive you, me and every tortoise on Earth. When movies are treated as malleable, disposable world-building over actual filmmaking, it’s no wonder that the stars of MCU movies don’t seem to care about the films they’re in at all.

Even if a Marvel Cinematic Universe star did give a hoot about their character, they won’t be afforded the time to make it known. Press junkets and red carpet interviews for superhero movies have been condensed to five-minute timeslots and two-question interviews, respectively — and that’s if a journalist is lucky. Enter “The Fantastic Four: First Steps.” The film is Marvel’s third try at establishing a successful “Fantastic Four” sub-franchise, and one of the summer’s biggest tentpole blockbusters. By all measures, this is a movie that needs to do well, even for a studio that prides itself on the impermanence of its properties. But that expendability is also the movie’s biggest issue. “The Fantastic Four: First Steps” boasts one of the MCU’s most nefarious villains, yet has no stakes; its characters are the most dimensional they’ve ever been, yet, in interviews, the movie’s stars seem to have very little investment in them at all. By making its universe larger than ever, Marvel has dwarfed its cinematic integrity to an ant-sized speck, resulting in the press tour for its big summer blockbuster devolving into a mess far more epic than the film itself.

That’s not to say that Marvel doesn’t have an interesting product on its hands with “The Fantastic Four: First Steps” — the movie is decent fun, with admirable commitment to its retro-futuristic design and ’60s-set timeline — only that it is, make no mistake, a product. Like most MCU films, “First Steps” is a multi-million dollar springboard to the next thing, always highly aware of a future purpose it must serve. Who could have possibly guessed that such relentless, constant focus on remaining prescient would distract from making this film feel like a self-contained story, entertaining all on its own without having to tailor its narrative to fit upcoming plot points? Perhaps that’s why the film’s very talented cast is having a difficult time sinking their teeth into each character’s motivations, beleaguered to find much to say other than the same talking points that have likely been parroted to them while acting in front of a blue screen.

Julia Garner, who plays one of the film’s primary villains, the Silver Surfer, shockingly has some of the meatiest character writing in the entire film. In a relatively small amount of screentime compared to the titular foursome and the main villain — a giant, planet-gobbling God named Galactus (Ralph Ineson) — Garner’s Silver Surfer stakes a memorable place in this oft-rebooted franchise. She emotes, she has a developed backstory, and she delivers some of the film’s most compelling dialogue with confident gusto. When she first makes contact with Earth, hovering above Times Square, the Silver Surfer’s robotic voice cries out, “I herald his beginning, I herald your end, I herald Galactus.” As one of the film’s most momentous scenes, it’s no surprise that the audio soon went viral on social media, becoming a widely used sound for trending TikTok videos.

(Marvel Studios) Julia Garner as Shalla-Bal/Silver Surfer in “The Fantastic Four: First Steps”

But when asked about the line’s virality, Garner was taken aback. “I didn’t [expect it to blow up],” Garner told Entertainment Tonight at the film’s London premiere. “I was just, like, acting and prepping and, no, I didn’t expect anything with that. My friends were sending me all these TikToks and I couldn’t even open it.” Both the question and Garner’s response point to the larger problem with the way MCU films are written and subsequently promoted. Lines are plucked out for their potential virality, but the actors themselves — conceivably people who are just showing up to do their jobs — aren’t thinking about what could be a single, buzzy line. This leaves the actors ill-equipped to actually talk about the movie and their characters, at little fault of their own. Viewers want stars to regurgitate their notable dialogue or react in shock or veneration for the viral sounds, but that’s not what they’re being paid to do. But because press outlets are often looking to capitalize on existing virality to draw the eyes of viewers who are so hyper-focused on one tiny bit of dialogue, red carpet questions and junket slots become almost entirely about these banal moments that are typically inconsequential to the filmmaking process.

The follow-up on the red carpet was just as much of a nonentity, asking Garner what fans should know about the Silver Surfer. “She’s very complex, she has a lot of feelings,” Garner responded. While that’s not untrue, it’s also nothing sizeable to chew on for fans or curious viewers who want to know more about this mysterious villain. Who knows, maybe Garner took this role for the fat paycheck and doesn’t care about her character much at all. But I’d wager that it’s the Marvel machine’s reluctance to make films that, as Tobey Maguire said, are made the right way. Stars are so chained to their spoiler lists, and the press are often so discouraged from seeking real depth from actors in superhero films, that the MCU has created a self-destructive ouroboros that keeps the money rolling in while great filmmaking stays at a distance.

(Jay Maidment) Ebon Moss-Bachrach as Ben Grimm/The Thing and Pedro Pascal as Reed Richards/Mister Fantastic in “The Fantastic Four: First Steps”

But, frankly, it’s unfair to expect the stars of these movies to do all the work. As a critic, it’s my humble hope that an actor is going to have some level of personal investment in a movie that isn’t solely driven by money. But how much investment can one have in a movie where the script is, allegedly, constantly changing? In a damning statement, Ebon Moss-Bacharach, who plays the Thing in “The Fantastic Four: First Steps,” told Variety, “I don’t think the script was fully ready at the time we started [rehearsing], so we were sort of workshopping the movie in a way.” It’s long been rumored that Marvel greenlights films without finished screenplays, but Marvel’s CEO, Kevin Feige, denied that rumor (while simultaneously confirming it), with another recent quote to Variety. “We’ve never started a movie without a full script, and I’ve never been satisfied with a script that we’ve had,” Feige told the trade.

With so much in flux, it’s no wonder that Marvel press tours are often disorderly, and “First Steps” is no exception. Granted, actors tire of repeating the same press-ready soundbites about their characters throughout these exhaustive tours, and that’s where the interviewer should ostensibly come in to save the day, asking something thoughtful that will probe an actor to deliver an equally considerate response. To put it lightly, that has not been the case with “First Steps.” A 10-minute-or-less junket slot isn’t much time, but it’s certainly not nothing. And yet, the latest Marvel press tour has seen an influx of strange press moments, plucked from interviews that seem as though they’re seeking the same virality as Garner’s Silver Surfer line. In an interview with Australia’s Pedestrian TV, star Pedro Pascal had to jump in to teach his co-lead Vanessa Kirby what a “c*nty” expression was, after the interviewer startled Kirby by telling her she had — here we go again — become viral for her “c*nty, snatched face.” Weird, maybe. Unprofessional, sure. But the worst thing is that the question has nothing to do with the film at all.

Start your day with essential news from Salon.Sign up for our free morning newsletter, Crash Course.

And that’s just the tip of the iceberg. Last weekend, MCU fans, Pascal punks and journalists alike spent their afternoons lambasting the millionth time Pascal has been asked about the “Daddy” title the internet hoisted onto him. Pascal is, unfortunately, no stranger to these questions, which seem to follow him on every press tour. He knows how to play them off, but Kirby looked confused and bored, almost like she was hoping the question might’ve actually been something thoughtful about Pascal’s role as a new father in the film. Throw in another junket slot where an interviewer admitted to using AI for his research, and you’re looking at a train that not even the Fantastic Four’s Sue Storm could use her forcefield powers to keep on the tracks.

While Marvel certainly isn’t the most esteemed studio in contemporary filmmaking, it’s turning into the messiest. “The Fantastic Four: First Steps” is supposed to break new ground for Marvel’s next phase, but instead, it has revealed the quickly spreading cracks weakening the MCU’s once solid foundation. From start to finish, production to press, both actors and journalists can’t seem to figure out what exactly it is that they’re supposed to be promoting. Is it a movie, or a collection of viral soundbites? Is it a contained story, or just a doorway to the next “Avengers”? Marvel might not be hurting for cash, but it doesn’t mean that audiences can’t hit the studio in their pockets and demand something better, some literal bang for their buck. Until then, every messy new MCU entry makes the long line of Marvel movies look more like a shadow of what it once was: a refined, genuinely enthralling way to make superheroes into super movies.