Marvel has experienced almost unparalleled success in the movie industry over the past half decade or so. At this point, the juggernaut isn’t losing any momentum either, but that doesn’t mean there aren’t a few warning signs: like arrogance. Marvel went from churning out movies about Iron Man and Captain America to trying to making billions off character most of us have never heard of. Saturday Night Live has noticed. So, with Guardians Of The Galaxy star Chris Pratt hosting this week, the writers decided to take aim at Marvel, as well as sideswipe Star Wars…
The key here, beyond the basic idea, is that killer use of the soundtrack. "Hooked On A Feeling" was such a key part of the Guardians Of The Galaxy trailer, and it was a major reason why so many people got on board before they even saw the movie. Despite the song being decades old, it almost became interlinked with Marvel. SNL was able to play into that, as well as use the ragtag nature of GOTD to make their point.
You might think it’s hard to make fun of success, but as anyone who has ever watched Saturday Night Live and its political sketches will tell you, the best material sometimes comes from pointing out and teasing arrogance. Whether that means Bill Clinton being able to talk his way out of any situation or Barack Obama crushing every debate question, perhaps because they were too easy, SNL is really good at sneaking in jabs. This is a great reminder of that.
Bonus points go to SNL for the Star Wars angle too. The powers that be already admitted they’re going to take a page out of Marvel’s playbook to try and build a larger world. Right now, it’s definitely just a little rough advice, but if Episode VII somehow fails, we could actually see Marvel’s Star Wars at some point in the near future. That’s a weird world to think about.
