Summary

The Marvels is underperforming at the box office, indicating that 2023 wasn’t Marvel’s year. Both Barbie and The Marvels feature female-led casts and explore unlikely alliances and family ties. Both films address cultural and societal issues, using humor and commentary to criticize their own context and acknowledge their status as pop culture products.

As expected, The Marvels is not performing well at the box office. There are multiple reasons for this predictable flop, and not everything is based on the movie’s merits, but as we reach the end of 2023, it is clear this was not Marvel’s year. Whether it’s a lack of direction or superhero fatigue, the MCU’s latest attempt to give the franchise some glory seems far from working.

On the opposite corner, this year saw the release of a different film that managed to shake audiences in the most unexpected ways. Deemed as a cultural phenomenon, Barbie consecrated Greta Gerwig as one of the most innovative filmmakers in the current industry, with people flocking to the theaters in pink to see what the fuss was about. While undoubtedly different films with appallingly different outcomes, there are some interesting points of connection between The Marvels and Barbie. These seem to suggest a new trend in the industry and a formula that, despite not being necessarily effective, is still a new horizon for what’s to come.

What Barbie and The Marvels Have in Common
The Marvels Release Date November 10, 2023 Director Nia DaCosta Cast Brie Larson, Zawe Ashton, Teyonah Parris, Iman Vellani, Samuel L. Jackson, Park Seo-joon Genres Adventure, Action, Superhero Studio Marvel Studios

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There are far too many coincidences between Barbie and The Marvels to think there’s no connection between them. Starting with the most obvious one, both films are led by female characters. This might seem like a random fact at this age, but there’s a catch: the stars are a transgenerational trio. Both Barbie and Carol Danvers team up with a teen and a woman, and there is a family tie in both cases (Carol/Monica and Gloria/Sasha). Both trios are created in unlikely circumstances, with the three characters finally understanding each other after the initial hiccups.

Secondly, both movies hold an iconoclastic idea of their main figures. Barbie starts by questioning the role of this eternal doll in current society, while Captain Marvel faces the consequences of her actions with the Skrulls and the Krees. The issue is addressed similarly in the two films by contrasting Gloria’s admiration for Barbie with her daughter’s distrust and Kamala’s fan crush for Brie Larson’s character in opposition to the inhabitants of Hala calling her the Annihilator.

Related: Oppenheimer vs Barbie: How the Films Rewrote Box Office History in One Week

And if the above seems like fortuitous continuities, the film’s tone and humor are another solid bridge. Barbie’s meta-commentary and self-humor were instrumental to its success, with the movie constantly acknowledging the contradictions of the doll with society’s current views on gender inequalities.

While not targeting the same issues, The Marvels also addresses the context in which it exists: the MCU and Disney. The most obvious and venomous dart to the Mouse’s magical world is the visit to the planet Aladna, a fairytale land where people speak in song. Just like Barbie’s odd musical number of the fighting Kens (a replacement for what otherwise would have been an action scene), these scenes use ironic humor to expose the absurdity of their context and recognize the criticism they are subject to for being pop culture products.

Barbie as a Subgenre

The phrase “cultural phenomenon” shouldn’t be taken lightly. The Barbie Movie drove audiences back to theaters because it successfully captured this generation’s zeitgeist, just like The Matrix did more than two decades ago. These two films also connect with cultural impact, and the effect is noticeable in subsequent media. For instance, The Matrix’s depiction of action scenes can be traced in many films that came after it, redefining the idea of what makes a true action-packed moment in a movie.

While it is still early to say where the Barbie movie’s impact will show up, it is safe to say that The Marvels follows its spirit. These make the similarities mentioned above between the films the start of a new tradition. It is true that some might be homages to Barbie, but just like the Wachowskis’ masterpiece, Gerwig’s production sets the tone and structure for films to come. The structural coincidences prove that when a film is a huge success, it becomes a subconscious example for future moviemakers who mimic certain aspects of these transcendental features without necessarily intending to.

Furthermore, Nia DaCosta, the director of the latest MCU entry, joins the line of female filmmakers who contribute to blockbuster genre films, a silent revolution in the industry that is undoubtedly transforming Hollywood. If viewers pay close attention to The Marvels’ fight scenes, for instance, there are mild yet noticeable aesthetic changes that surface from a new perspective, the logical result of Hollywood being affected by society’s cultural changes.

The Marvels might not have succeeded in terms of box office, but it still manages to be a reflection of its time. It is, in other words, an MCU superhero Barbie movie, honoring this recently-born tradition that Gerwig compiled synergically in her film, and that might continue to grow in the not-so-distant future, with more directors reproducing the Barbie subgenre.