Monster Problem: Dark Universe Is The Anti Marvel

The monsters are coming, whether you like it or not.

Universal’s Dark Universe, a franchise rebooting the monster movies of the 1920s to 1950s, launches on June 9th with the release of The Mummy. And before audiences even see Tom Cruise get a faceful of sand, Universal has already given the go-ahead to nine more movies! Hope you like The Mummy, because the Bride of Frankenstein, the Creature from the Black Lagoon, the Invisible Man, Van Helsing, the Wolf Man, Frankenstein, Dracula, the Hunchback of Notre Dame, and the Phantom of the Opera will be haunting theaters for the foreseeable future. This slate wouldn’t seem so monstrous if those films were intended to stand alone. Instead, they’re part of a massive monster mash-up, yet another cinematic universe for audience members to keep track of. Marvel pioneered this form of modern moviemaking, but everything about Dark Universe feels off.

The Marvel Cinematic Universe launched in 2008 with Iron Man and includes 15 films with another 9 scheduled for release between now and 2019. It’s sprawling, yes, but Marvel Studios took great care with the MCU’s foundation by prioritizing character over celebrity, creating a unique world, and taking its time. If the MCU is the Shake Shack of shared universes (steady expansion, solid ingredients), then Dark Universe feels like a Burger King (all flash and aggressive expansion).

It’s easy to forget now that Robert Downey Jr. is a legend, Scarlett Johansson is a headliner, and the Chrises are megastars, but the MCU was not built on celebrities. Before suiting up as superheroes, Downey was known mostly for his ’80s work, Johansson was an indie fave, Chris Evans had yet to have a breakthrough role, Chris Hemsworth was totally unknown, and Chris Pratt was a goofy sitcom star. Even Marvel’s most recent additions (Tom Holland, Paul Rudd, Benedict Cumberbatch, Brie Larson, Chadwick Boseman) are either unknowns, totally unlikely superheroes, or able to disappear into roles. We’re almost 10 years into the Marvel machine and the studio is still prioritizing character over celebrity. Universal, on the other hand, is swiping right on every A-list actor not in a committed relationship with another cinematic universe. Tom Cruise, Russell Crowe, and Johnny Depp are way bigger names than anyone Marvel has put in one of their movies. In a recent interview, franchise architect Alex Kurtzman revealed that he wants to add Michael Fassbender, Jennifer Lawrence, Angelina Jolie, and Charlize Theron too.

These actors are bigger than the material, and that’s a trouble for a shared universe. When you cast a big name actor, you risk turning the movie into Big Name Actor’s Latest Action Movie. Just look at The Mummy. With Cruise’s involvement, it looks more like Mummy: Impossible than an update of a classic monster movie. Tom Cruise–because he’s Tom Cruise–is the star of that film, not the titular mummy (Sofia Boutella) or the mummy mythology. Pretty much everyone assumed Marvel would recruit fan-favorite Charlize Theron for Captain Marvel. Marvel didn’t. They went with Brie Larson, another Academy Award winner with way less name recognition. If Marvel had gone with Charlize, they would have run the risk of people comparing Carol Danvers to the characters Theron’s already played (Aeon Flux, Furiosa, Atomic Blonde’s badass spy). Universal wants your attention, and they got it by casting Tom Cruise, but this isn’t a Tom Cruise shared universe. Dark Universe is about the monsters, not the big names playing the monsters (or, in The Mummy’s case, the characters tormented by the monsters). The material, be it superheroes or outer space family drama, should be front and center.

One problem is that the Universal Monsters aren’t just Universal’s monsters. Pretty much every major movie studio (and definitely hundreds of minor ones) have made their own movies starring versions of these characters. So, does the Invisible Man have a defined personality? Does the Wolf Man? Is there any consistency to how Frankenstein’s monster is portrayed? While some Marvel characters weren’t massively popular before their film debuts (Iron Man and Thor, particularly), their personalities were well-defined from decades of consistent storytelling (teenager and frog replacements aside). These monsters have become watered down over almost 100 years worth of films, meaning that audiences don’t really have anything to grab onto going into The Mummy. What makes Universal’s versions of them special?

Unfortunately, it doesn’t seem like Universal wants to answer that question. Instead of doubling down on the original monster movies of the ’30s and ’40, Universal has dressed their universe in the generic shades of action movie blues and grays. The original Mummy, set in 1921, featured a team of archaeologists being tormented by a resurrected Egyptian priest. The new Mummy features a roguish Tom Cruise, epic battles in London, and seemingly has a vibe that’s more bombastic than creepy. What makes this Universal’s Mummy? Who knows?! The Marvel Cinematic Universe feels unique because it feels like the Marvel Universe. The early Marvel comics emphasized that sense of community between heroes, as they’d literally pass each other in the skies of New York. After decades of heroes isolated in their own franchises, the MCU tapped into a key component of what makes the comics feel like Marvel comics. Universal could have gone for something truly unique by remaking the original monster movies as period pieces, because that’s what you think of when you think of Universal’s monsters. They could have amped up their inherent creepiness by enlisting horror helmers like Ti West (The House of the Devil), Adam Wingard (You’re Next), or Jennifer Kent (The Babadook). That didn’t happen.

Dark Universe just feels forced. No other studio had really tried what Marvel set out to do back in 2008 and Marvel wasn’t even sure they could pull it off; that’s what made Samuel L. Jackson’s now iconic post-credits appearance as Nick Fury such a lightning-in-a-bottle moment. Marvel didn’t rush into its shared universe. Incredible Hulk opened a few months after Iron Man, and then the rest of the shared universe expanded over the course of four years, culminating with 2012’s Avengers. Now Marvel puts out two or three movies every year, but they earned that pace because they initially took their time. There’s a presumption to Dark Universe, as if Universal is telling us we’re going to love these films because they’ve already got them lined up through 2020.

Of all the sins, this is probably the biggest one. It’s the only one that’s really plagued the DC Extended Universe. As a superhero universe, the DCEU reaps the same rewards (recognizable characters in a recognizable setting) the MCU does. The DCEU even follows Marvel’s trend of casting for characters instead of celebrity (Batfleck aside). The DCEU stumbles when they rush things; Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice was cluttered with too many cameos and YouTube videos.

Studios can’t just wish shared universes into being just because they’re jealous of Disney’s Marvel and Star Wars money. These cinematic feats are hard to pull off, as Warner Bros. has learned over the last few years before Wonder Woman’s course correction. Like any healthy relationship, you can’t force it. It has to grow, organically. Universal ain’t playing it slow; they’re about to go out on date #1 with the audience and the studio’s already scoping out wedding venues. It doesn’t help that Universal’s trying hard to please by turning their monsters into a supernatural superhero franchise. Dark Universe really needs to do its own thing in order to stand out because otherwise, it’ll just be the true anti-Marvel.

Where to watch The Mummy