3. They Know How To Choose The Right Director
Although they have a notorious reputation when it comes to financial negotiations, there is no doubt that Marvel knows how to choose the right director for their movies despite how left-field the choices may seem. Prior to Iron Man, Jon Favreau's only two directorial efforts were festive comedy Elf and children's fantasy adaptation Zathura, the latter of which bombed at the box office. Despite a lack of big-budget experience, Favreau's two entries in the franchise are directed with a confidence and assurance that proved Marvel's decision was the right one. Although Iron Man 2 has its narrative shortcomings, the direction definitely isn't the movie's problem. After deciding not to direct the third installment (though he remained as executive producer and reprised the role of Happy Hogan) the studio turned to Shane Black, who had only directed one $15m movie (2005's criminally underrated Kiss Kiss Bang Bang) and was more famous as one of Hollywood's biggest screenwriters of the late 80s/early 90s. Being given a budget of $200m for only your second movie (and first in 8 years), this clearly didn't faze the director, who delivered one of the biggest movies of all-time to enthusiastic critical response. After Matthew Vaughn departed Thor in 2008, Kenneth Branagh was hired as director. A respected stage and screen actor with Academy Award nominations for writing, acting and directing seemed an unlikely choice for a $150m superhero fantasy but Branagh's Shakespearean sensibilities were well-suited to the Asgardian material and he brought a lightness of touch to the fish-out-of-water scenes on Earth. He was replaced for the follow-up by Alan Taylor, best known for his work on Game of Thrones, who will take the movie down the tried-and-tested sequel route of 'darker and grittier', with early reviews being highly favorable. Despite a decade spent directing disappointments such as Jurassic Park 3, Hidalgo and The Wolfman, Joe Johnston was hired to direct Captain America and invested the movie with the same enthusiasm and spirit as his previous period superhero movie, 1991's The Rocketeer. A move to the present day for the sequel required a new aesthetic, so Marvel obviously chose the directors of Welcome to Collinwood and You, Me and Dupree... Joking aside, the trailer for The Winter Soldier makes it look like Marvel have made the right choice yet again with the Russo brothers. James Gunn was best known for low-budget horror movie Slither and dark superhero comedy Super before being given the job on the wildly ambitious Guardians of the Galaxy, while Edgar Wright has made three movies since becoming attached to Ant-Man, all of which have received enthusiastic reviews in spite of middling box-office results. And of course, we can't forget about Joss Whedon. Despite his undoubted talent and popularity as a writer, his only directorial effort prior to The Avengers was Firefly spin-off Serenity, which grossed $38m on a $39m budget. 7 years later he was handed $220m and managed to deliver the third-biggest movie of all time to critical acclaim, securing an exclusive contract with Marvel to 'godfather' the Phase 2 movies in the process.