The 'shared universe' concept has been in fiction for decades. Tolkein's Middle-Earth. The various Star Trek films and TV shows. Kevin Smith's Jay and Silent Bob crossovers. And then, of course, there's the Marvel and DC continuities. Crossovers have always been popular, but the implications of creating an interweaving mythology are far greater. It's a concept that seemed to appeal more to nerds than causal film-goers. Then the Avengers became the third highest grossing film of all time. The Marvel Universe now exists on celluloid, and over the next few years it will continue to grow. But as with any popular show or film, success breeds imitators.
Every decade or so, Hollywood experiences a "paradigm shift." When a certain film gains a huge amount of success, it becomes a game changer that influences how movies are made from then on. "Jaws" and "Star Wars" created the blockbuster format. "The Little Mermaid" led to the Disney Renaissance of animation. "Jurassic Park" led to the CGI boom, which Pixar capitalized on to make "Toy Story" the first all-CGI film. "Harry Potter" and "Lord of the Rings" led to the re-emergence of fantasy epics. "Avatar" showed how powerful immersive 3D technology can be. But now we are in the midst of a new paradigm shift, one where the shared universe concept is becoming dominant.
Before "The Avengers," you could make a solid case for Chris Nolan's Dark Knight trilogy causing a new paradigm shift in Hollywood. The dark, realistic take on Batman has indeed influenced other franchises, most notably James Bond and Star Trek. This year, Nolan will produce the Superman reboot, "Man of Steel," which also looks to use the Dark Knight treatment in grounding the big blue boy scout. But while the Dark Knight films may have grossed over two billion dollars, it's slowly becoming old news. Nolan's trilogy is over, and Batman has been cast aside in favor of the Avengers, an entire team of superheroes. How exactly has Hollywood reacted to the Avengers' overwhelming success since its release? Just look at the news.
Besides Disney/Marvel moving full speed ahead with Phase II, the other Marvel projects at Sony and Fox are taking their leads from "Avengers." This year's "The Wolverine" will, in all likelihood, lead in to next year's "Days of Future Past," a time travel story which promises to cross over the original X trilogy with "First Class." The filmmakers at Fox are expanding the scope, fleshing out the X-Men film universe and straightening their continuity. Crossing over timelines and having films build into a larger story arc is the perfect way to build a shared universe. And the fact that Mark Millar has been brought in to shepherd all of Fox's Marvel properties means that at some point, a rebooted Fantastic Four will get to play in this X-Men film universe as well.
Not only that, but the direction Sony is taking with their rebooted "Spider-Man" series looks like they're also expanding their scope. Besides the Green Goblin build up, we know Rhino and Electro will be the villains and there's reason to believe we may get a build up to the Venom storyline and introduced to the Black Cat. If the rumors are true, Venom may actually get his own spin off film and then unite with Spider-Man and Black Cat in a later film, possibly against the Goblin or even the Sinister Six if Rhino and Electro live to see the credits. Just like X-Men, Sony is hoping to use the extensive cast of Spidey characters to create a larger universe, all in the hopes of getting that "Avengers" money.
But of course DC wants in on the action as well. They've been trying to make either a "Superman/Batman" or "Justice League" movie for years, but every attempt has fallen through. When "The Avengers" made bank, a Justice League film was put into production for a 2015 release. Word has it the script's been scrapped and WB is waiting on the results of "Man of Steel" to move forward with the project, but it's clear at some point DC wants to make this happen. They may not have the momentum that Marvel has, but they're smart enough to see the appeal of crossovers, and if Superman is the massive success they're hoping for, expect a Justice League film sooner rather than later.
Then again, superheroes come from shared universes already. How could all of Hollywood possibly be affected by this, instead of just one genre? Well, there's this little thing called Star Wars that's been in a lot of headlines lately. Not only is Disney moving forward with the long-rumored Episodes VII, VIII and IX, but apparently we're also getting spin-off films for Yoda, Boba Fett and Han Solo. It's obvious that Disney doesn't just want Star Wars to consist of three trilogies charting the Skywalker family- they want an interlocking universe of stories, similar to the Expanded Universe, that focuses on different characters that can then unite in the main Episodes. "The Avengers" model is already influencing one of the biggest film franchises of all time, turning the main series into an entire universe of interlocking franchises that build into one mega-franchise. And if "Star Wars" jumps on the bandwagon, what other series will?
"Star Trek" at one point had three different TV shows airing at once, all of them crossing over with each other. Since the reboot, the universe has been streamlined, but whose to say after they finish rebooting Kirk and Spock they couldn't move on to the Next Generation, Voyager and DS9 crews? It would be interesting to see all of those shows get modernized casts then build up for a massive crossover film, maybe involving the Borg or the Dominion War. Even though J.J. Abrams is jumping ship to Star Wars, he's still producing Star Trek. If Abrams leads Star Wars into the shared universe model, he could do the same for Star Trek as well.
Middle-Earth could potentially do this too, if after the Hobbit trilogy WB decides to adapt the Silmarillion as a series of films focusing on the different stories and characters that forge Middle-Earth's backstory. What if Doctor Who and Torchwood ever get feature films, or Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Angel? Will they have interlocking stories that build into a crossover spectacle? If Star Wars does get solo films, Hollywood will see the shared universe concept as more than just world building for superheroes. Any major franchise may get greenlit based on its potential to inhabit a shared universe.
The crossover will be the new paradigm shift, and soon every major franchise will be vying to have its own "Avengers" style event film. Only time will tell if this truly becomes a reality, but given all the news about the future of superheroes and Star Wars, it's not hard to imagine other big franchises capitalizing on the shared universe concept. If it does happen, hopefully the studios will take the time to craft an interweaving mythos that benefits the story and characters, as it did for the Avengers.
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