Topic: Zach Snyder's Avengers - An Alternate History
I was watching Rebel Moon Part Two, and I decided to grab my timer and find a special parallel dimension. And I did. I present to you Earth 32991.
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2005. Batman Begins is released, starring Christian Bale as the titular character. The movie is a modest success, but it's enough of a success for producer Kevin Feige to get a meeting with the bigshots at WB. He left Marvel after failing to get approval for a vision he had of a shared universe of superhero movies. He wanted to try it at DC, and he was hired to be the architect of that vision. The movie is rereleased for the Christmas season with a brand-new post-credits sequence where Clark Kent shows up at Wayne Manor looking for the Batman.
Over the next few years, the DCU is the star of cinemas. Standalone films for Superman, Wonder Woman, the Flash, and Aquaman are huge hits, alongside the Dark Knight, a Batman sequel. In 2011, Joss Whedon directs a Justice League movie. From there, the hits just keep on coming. From James Gunn's Green Lantern Corp to Justice League : Age of Apokolips, the DCU becomes a hit-making factory.
Marvel, struggling with its film division after the failure of 2006's Iron Man (starring Tom Cruise) and 2008's The Incredible Hulk with Edward Norton decides to go back to Kevin Feige's architecture. After failing to get Feige back, Marvel finds Zach Snyder. Snyder had success with a direct adaptation of Spider-Man: Blue for Sony, and they thought he could tell the right stories for them. Snyder is given a greenlight for a kickoff film and a fast-tracked Avengers movie.
So in 2013, Captain America is released. It tells the story of Steve Rogers (controversially played by non-American Henry Cavill), an optimistic man who is given the super-soldier serum. After defeating the Red Skull and getting frozen in the ice, SHIELD finds Captain America and thaws him out. Steve is eager to get back to work in the red, white, and blue, but he finds the world to be a great deal more cynical than the world he remembers. He's annoyed that he seems to be doing more campaign events for the President than actual hero work, but he does it with a smile. Rogers discovers a plot by Hydra to reincarnate the Red Skull and take over the world. The film climaxes as an inauguration party in Washington DC is attacked. Steve fights the newly reborn Red Skull and his Winter Soldier as they attempt to assassinate the president. With only time to defeat the Red Skull for good or save the president (who Steve doesn't see as idealistic enough), Steve makes the heartbreaking decision to let Bucky shoot the president so Steve can use his shield to decapitate the Red Skull. The Winter Soldier escapes, the new President thanks Steve for doing everything he could, and the nation mourns the loss of its leader.
Captain America is a fairly big success leading to the greenlight of Captain America v Iron Man: Civil War. Ben Affleck is hired as Tony Stark (taking the role from Tom Cruise). Stark is an alcoholic genius who has been Iron Man for over a decade on the West Coast. He's been at odds with Nick Fury and SHIELD for his entire superhero career, and that relationship goes nuclear when Stark is able to find evidence that Rogers let the president be killed. SHIELD won't let Stark release the evidence so Tony takes matters into his own hands. Tony is able to find a secret Hydra sleeper agent program called Captain Hydra, which Tony believes has already been started. Working with Dr. Bruce Banner, Stark works to defeat Rogers. In the meantime, it turns out that Tony's trusted AI Ultron is pulling the strings, and he actually implements the Captain Hydra program, brainwashing Rogers to start working for Hydra. Captain Hydra fights Iron Man and Banner, but Banner loses control and becomes the Hulk. Realizing how he's been manipulated, Stark is able to convince Rogers to fight the brainwashing (using Steve's relationship with Tony's father as a link) and together, they're able to defeat Ultron and calm down the Hulk (with Tony bringing out his Hulkbuster armor). Nick Fury (Joe Morton) appears in a post-credits sequence as he asks Tony to help him understand this mysterious hammer he found.
Civil War made a lot of money, but critics panned the convoluted plot of the film. Comic fans were annoyed at the fact that so many potential story threads were burned in a single movie (Captain Hydra, Ultron, World War Hulk, and Civil War itself). Fans were especially annoyed at the fact that "Civil War" really ended up only being a couple of people and not the wide-stretching story the comics told. People also disliked how cynical Captain America ended up being, going against one of the main tenets of the character. Snyder pushed back that it was a little silly for a guy from the 40s to still believe in today's America, and that of course he'd be cynical now. He continued to fight criticism of Steve both killing the Red Skull and allowing the president to be killed in the first movie.
A Doctor Strange movie, directed by David Ayer, was released after Civil War with middling success. People were starting to get annoyed already with the dour tone of the Marvel movies compared to the fun and bright DCU. Robert Downey Jr.'s Strange was praised and there were some fun cameos of heroes like Ant-Man and Hawkeye, but fans were already starting to bail.
By the time the Avengers movie was ready to come out, the project was starting to flounder. Hulk and Hawkeye solo films were delayed, and even a critically acclaimed Black Widow movie (by Patty Jenkins) wasn't enough to get people excited. Due to the film going overbudget and personal issues in Zach Snyder's life, Avengers was finished by Joss Whedon, hoping to bring some of the DC magic over to Marvel. The film was a modest success but struggled to win over critics and audiences. Tony and Steve work together to assemble the Avengers when Cull Obsidian attacks Earth on behalf of his leader Thanos. Even though Captain America is a little more lighthearted and less cynical, the movie struggles to tell a cohesive story while also introducing Thor (and all of Asgard), Hawkeye, and Ant-Man to the team of Iron Man, Captain America, Hulk, and Black Widow.
Not everyone hated the vision, though. Snyder had legions of fans who loved the darker, more realistic and science-based superhero universe. These were more realistic people who lived in the real world with street-level powers that weren't obscene and godlike like DC. These fans were eager to see Snyder's vision come to light with seeds planted for more Captain Hydra, Tony's demon in a bottle, a greater role for Thor's brother Loki, and even a battle with Thanos himself.
It wouldn't be until years later when Zach Snyder's Avengers was released on streaming platforms. It expands on the Whedon version with much more time spent in Asgard (including additional scenes with Loki), a backstory with Thanos featuring Captain Marvel and the Nova Core, and a premonition from Dr Strange that Steve will kill Tony. It was a bit of a cultural phenomenon, especially with Snyder fanatics, but it wasn't enough to warrant any more Snyder material for Marvel.
Marvel is currently looking to reboot their universe, with James Gunn in the lead. Snyder has moved on to start his own franchise, a mature and new spin on orcs, dwarves, and elves: The Halfling.