The plots of the Marvel movies follow a formulaic pattern without creativity

The argument

Marvel - and Disney - are movie-making machines. They churn out movie after movie to stay on top of the film industry, and a release schedule built to keep something always in cinemas is a schedule that rewards repeating whatever worked last time. But machine-made products in any industry tend to all look the same. And the same goes for all the movies in the MCU. All of Marvel's movies follow the same basic formula. Their plots always loosely follow Joseph Campbell's "hero's journey:" the call to adventure, meeting a mentor, conflict with the foe, a "darkest hour," and eventual triumph. On its own that would prove little, since the hero's journey underlies a great deal of storytelling. But there are also other similarities specific to Marvel movies, and it is this second layer that turns a shared structure into a formula. There's always an "emotionally-distant antihero," a dead mentor, a token "strong female character," an internal pep-talk revelation, and an anticlimactic final battle — the same components, arriving in the same order. Look past some of the specific aesthetics and character names and you'll see the same story told over and over again. What changes between the films is the surface: the costume, the setting, the powers. What does not change is the shape underneath, which is where a film's meaning would have to live if it had any of its own. Sure, it might be an entertaining watch in itself, the first time around. But such a surface-level hero story told over and over again just wears on an audience, and the repetition of a proven formula is the opposite of the risk that distinguishes a work of cinema. It certainly doesn't merit praise as good cinema.

Premises

Counter-arguments

There are certain story beats common to the Marvel movies. But anyone taking a cursory glance at the plots of these movies can see that the differences are quite substantial. Does Guardians of the Galaxy, a space action-comedy about surrogate family, really resemble Black Panther, a story about political competition and oppression? Is Captain America: The First Avenger, about Steve Rogers gaining the strength to fight for his country, really the same as his succeeding films in which he becomes disillusioned with his country and fights against it? There is much more variety in the MCU than critics give it credit for.

Rejecting the premises

[Rejecting P1] The analogy to manufacturing does the argument's work for it. Volume of output does not entail sameness of product, and the premise offers it as though it did. [Rejecting P2] The hero's journey is a description broad enough to fit most popular narrative, so finding it in these films distinguishes nothing. The counter-argument disputes the more specific list too, naming films in the series with markedly different subjects, settings and tones. [Rejecting P3] That repetition wears on audiences is a claim about reception, and the argument concedes the films are entertaining. Neither point reaches the conclusion, which is a judgment about whether the works count as cinema — a standard the argument never states.