TY - JOUR

T1 - Superheroes or Group of Heroes?

T2 - The Avengers as Multiple Protagonist Superhero Cinema

AU - Bagger, Christoffer

PY - 2020/6

Y1 - 2020/6

N2 - Heroes have often been thought of as singular individuals standing apart from the rest of the world, and the current superheroesare no exception. Even though their comic book counterparts existin complex social networks of supporting characters and relatedcolorful heroes, cinematic adaptations often “kowtow” to singlehero worship (Burke 2008, 101), isolating the hero from a largernarrative world and networks of characters. This changed with thesuccess The Avengers in. This film and series which it was a part of– The Marvel Cinematic Universe - quickly became a trendsetterwithin the larger media landscape. In this article, I present a closeformal analysis of The Avengers and contextualize it within thelarger narrative of the cinematic universe. I argue that the film belongs to the genre of multiple protagonist cinema, yet in a formthat straddles the line between the two usual variations of thatform of cinema. Multiple protagonist cinema is usually either aform often reserved for non-mainstream, experimental narrativesin one extreme or it is just a slight variation on pre-existing mainstream Hollywood formulas in the other extreme. The Avengersfinds middle ground between these extremes, and manages to doso with special consideration to the superhero genre.

AB - Heroes have often been thought of as singular individuals standing apart from the rest of the world, and the current superheroesare no exception. Even though their comic book counterparts existin complex social networks of supporting characters and relatedcolorful heroes, cinematic adaptations often “kowtow” to singlehero worship (Burke 2008, 101), isolating the hero from a largernarrative world and networks of characters. This changed with thesuccess The Avengers in. This film and series which it was a part of– The Marvel Cinematic Universe - quickly became a trendsetterwithin the larger media landscape. In this article, I present a closeformal analysis of The Avengers and contextualize it within thelarger narrative of the cinematic universe. I argue that the film belongs to the genre of multiple protagonist cinema, yet in a formthat straddles the line between the two usual variations of thatform of cinema. Multiple protagonist cinema is usually either aform often reserved for non-mainstream, experimental narrativesin one extreme or it is just a slight variation on pre-existing mainstream Hollywood formulas in the other extreme. The Avengersfinds middle ground between these extremes, and manages to doso with special consideration to the superhero genre.

U2 - 10.5278/ojs.academicquarter.vi20.5847

DO - 10.5278/ojs.academicquarter.vi20.5847

M3 - Journal article

VL - 20

SP - 1

JO - Akademisk kvarter

JF - Akademisk kvarter

SN - 1904-0008

IS - 1

M1 - 3

ER -