Surprisingly, Guardians of the Galaxy gets a bit of a shaft in the special, though there are some great behind the scenes shots that we haven’t seen before. Seeing as James Gunn’s upcoming film doesn’t tie in as closely to the universe as some of the studio’s other properties though, it’s understandable that the special doesn’t give the Guardians much screen time.
Unfortunately, the screener that we received for review purposes did not include any of the Avengers: Age of Ultron footage that’s been advertised, so we’ll have to wait until it airs on Tuesday night to see what’s in store for us. My guess though is that it’s nothing more than a few interviews, some concept art, and maybe the Ultron teaser they showed last summer at Comic-Con.
Edgar Wright’s Ant-Man is also briefly shown but it’s nothing more than test footage. The clear focus of this special is on what’s been accomplished so far, with a heavy influence on Phase One. Phase Two gets a bit of attention because we’re currently in it, but Phase Three, which Ant-Man will kick off in July 2015, is still a long ways off and the studio isn’t ready to reveal too much about it just yet.
Another area that the special chooses to focus heavily on is the Marvel One-Shots, specifically the first two (A Funny Thing Happened On The Way To Thor’s Hammer and The Consultant). Both shorts focus on Agent Coulson, who actor Clark Gregg has jokingly referred to as the “glue” of the MCU for some time now. He’s got a few great interviews here and Gregg seems like a genuinely great guy. He talks about how worried he was that he would wind up on the cutting room floor in Iron Man, since his character wasn’t a necessary part of the story at the time, and overall he looks incredibly pleased and humbled to be a part of the studio’s cinematic universe.
One of the biggest things the special managed to do was connect a few of the dots of the MCU, while showing us what’s been going on behind the curtain. When talking about Captain America, they cut over to The Incredible Hulk to show that Cap’s super serum makes an appearance there. They also show that a few S.H.I.E.L.D. agents have shown up time and again, and give nods to characters like Howard Stark and Bucky Barnes.
As the MCU expands and more films are released each year, the continuity becomes a little bit muddied, so I appreciate the call back to a few old references that remind us that there is a lot of intricate planning when it comes to tying these things together. What Marvel has done is incredibly impressive, especially when you think about how easy it would have been to screw up. If any of the Phase One films had failed, like Iron Man or Thor, this could have all unravelled quite quickly. Thankfully, they’ve been able to take these interconnected stories and team-ups, something that’s been happening in comics for decades, and translate them to the big screen, providing fans with a living, breathing, thriving universe to explore.
As a hardcore DC fan, I have to admit that this special did get me quite excited about the Marvel Cinematic Universe. There’s just something so magnetically appealing about the work that Marvel is doing and it’s hard to deny the infectiousness of their popularity. It’s also very clear, especially from Marvel Studios: Assembling A Universe, that people like Feige and Whedon are in this for the fans, and because they genuinely love these characters. Scenes like the ones from Comic-Con where we see crowds going nuts for various Marvel films show that the studios knows exactly how to please their ever-expanding fanbase.
Overall, I highly recommend checking out Assembling a Universe when it airs Tuesday night on ABC at 8pm. On the surface it may just be an ad for the MCU and a collection of press junkets with a bunch of DVD special features, but it’s an enjoyable watch for casual moviegoers and diehard fans alike, and a much deserved high-five for a studio that started with almost nothing, came out shooting, and wound up on top.