I
took the family to see Marvel
Universe Live
this past Monday and it was exactly as fun as I was hoping it would
be.
If
you don’t know, Live
is a huge stunt show featuring a cast of Marvel’s highest-profile
characters, as well as Cyclops and Storm.
Haha!
That’s just my little joke. I love the X-Men. Apparently a lot more
than whoever scripted this production, but I’ll get more into that
later; as well as delving into potential conspiracy theories about
said X-Men.
The
show pulls from the best-known elements of the current Marvel
Universe – both comics and Cinematic. The characters all have a
slightly more comic-booky feel, but are recognizably derived from
their Hollywood interpretations. For instance, Tony Stark has his
movie look and Avengers Tower is the one from the films, but the Iron
Man costume is much more comic-based. Carol Danvers as Captain Marvel
is one of the main characters and she hasn’t been introduced into
the MCU yet. Lizard looks like he does in the comics, which looks
very silly in real life but still better than he looked in Amazing
Spider-Man.
Same goes for Rhino.
The
story is that Thor has shattered the Cosmic Cube (at no point
referred to as “The Tesseract”) and that Loki has recovered a
piece of it and intends to cause havoc and chaos or take over the
world or turn all of the superheroes’ underpants inside out or
whatever. You know – mischievous stuff.
Iron
Man and Spider-Man are the main heroes of the show, but they are
joined by Captain America, Bruce Banner (who is amusingly un-Hulked
for most of the show, leading to a “hot tag” of a reveal at the
climax), Black Widow, Hawkeye, (not Red) Falcon, Wolverine, the
aforementioned Captain Marvel, Nick Fury, Maria Hill, and to a much
lesser extent Cyclops and Storm. There’s also a brief appearance by
Pepper Potts at the beginning.
The
villains they face aren’t so much working together as they are
inhabiting the various set pieces of the show. Representing the side
of naughtiness are Loki (portrayed as the main heel), Red Skull,
Green Goblin (who gets the best scene), Madame Hydra, Aldrich
Killian, Lizard, Rhino, a strangely five-limbed Doctor Octopus, and
scores of HYDRA and AIM Agents and Chitauri (aka cannon fodder). The
villains are all involved at various levels of Cosmic Shard stealing
chicanery, with Skull, Goblin, and Killian being the second-tier
baddies.
Oh,
I almost forgot Electro. Electro is in it, too. He’s a weird
combination of movie and comic book Electro in that he’s a black
guy with movie powers and a sort of hybrid of the movie and comic
costume. And also he sucks because I think at one point he is
defeated by shocking himself in mid-flight and falling out of the
sky. He doesn’t even really do anything. He shows up in the midst
of the battle between Spidey and the Green Goblin and just sort of
floats around for a minute. The other two characters sort of pause to
look at him, then he short-circuits and they’re like, “Whatever”
and keep fighting.
That’s
how I remember it, anyway.
My
recollection may not be the best because there was a
lot
going on most of the time. The show had several major set pieces, but
the crew was very efficient at switching between them. My son is
seven and he barely had the opportunity to get antsy between acts.
Granted, I think he has a very slightly better attention span than
other kids his age, but Live
definitely knew who its audience was and to move things along.
The
show consists of two forty-five minute sections separated by a ten
minute intermission. Each section has a few different scenes
(possibly three? Four?) with the various heroes and villains
splitting up to fight one another on their home turf. Spidey and Thor
square off against Goblin, Rhino, Lizard, and Doc Ock (oh – and
Electro) at the Statue of Liberty. Cap and SHIELD face Red Skull and
HYDRA in a Swiss castle.
I
just remembered that Black Cat is in this, too. She – like most of
the characters – is played broadly (no pun intended) but well, in
her usual gimmick of not-totally-bad-girl. Until the end where she is
straight-up kung-fu fighting Black Widow.
I
mentioned that the show was aimed at the kids and it is. Parents be
ready – the acting is way
over the top and the dialogue is cheesier than Pallookaville’s mac
and cheese with Cheez-Its on top. Don’t get me wrong, it’s not
all bad. Bruce Banner actually has some pretty good lines. He might
have even been my favorite character, with a portrayal taken directly
from Mark Ruffalo’s in Avengers.
He’s self-deprecating in an oddly intense way. There’s one scene
where the heroes are all arriving somewhere, zooming up and doing
stunts on their motorcycles (motorcycles are a HUGE part of the
show). When Banner arrives he just put-puts up and parks, much like
Ruffalo at the end of the movie. It’s a hilarious moment that plays
well.
Another
thing to be prepared for is the characters’ general chunkiness.
Many of the performers are wearing padded stunt suits, so they look
almost like the Superhero Squad versions. Iron Man is downright
chunky.
While
Banner is the most endearing of the heroes, each of the rest has
their own gimmick to get them over in the show. Captain America does
motorcycle tricks, Hawkeye’s arrow gimmick is really cool, Black
Widow does the most interesting hand-to-hand combat, Falcon flies,
Spidey does lots of acrobatics, Iron Man is constantly zapping stuff
with his repulsors – represented by light beams shot from the
ceiling rigging, and Wolverine… well, he slices dudes up. A
lot.
Dozens of AIM and HYDRA people and tons of Chitauri get “sliced
up”, only to get up and run back to battle once the spotlight has
moved off of them and to another area, creating the illusion of
Wolverine taking on dozens of foes.
Timing
is everything in this show, and it’s incredible to watch in action.
From the scenes of battle changing to the actual movements between
combatants to lighting interacting with various components of the
story. Lots
of illusion and misdirection are used to make use of the constraints
of the arena floor and the necessary reuse of sets and props. If you
look for these things you will see them, but if you just sit back and
enjoy the spectacle – as you should – it all works amazingly
smoothly.
The
bottom line is that from beginning to end the audience is being
treated to a unique, action-packed experience that is unfolding LIVE
right before their eyes in a way that is so much more dynamic and
immediate than any movie. While the script of Marvel
Universe Live
will never compare to the films of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, it
doesn’t need to. This live event has action and an immersive
quality that the films can never match. We had a fantastic time
watching the talented performers and crew putting on an amazing show.
It was worth every penny of the ticket price.
Before
I go I have to mention the inevitable souvenir stands, packed with
overpriced, low quality tchotchkes plastered with images of the
Marvel superheroes and the event logo. It’s all the stuff you would
expect – obnoxious light-up items, clothing, dog tags, character
heads full of colored ice – marked up to the highest limits of
reason. We paid twenty-five bucks for a light-up SHIELD gun that has
probably been repurposed for everything from the Ringling Bros. Circus
to Disney’s Frozen on Ice (Elsa’s Song Blaster), but in this case
had two Marvel Universe Live stickers on it. I felt lucky.
We
also bought a plastic Spider-Man head that was overfilled with shaved
ice covered with colored sugar water. It was fifteen dollars and I
would have been just as smart to pay the guy five bucks to punch me
in the groin. That stupid sugary ice melted all over the place and
got on my son, our souvenir bag, my wife, and – most dismayingly –
me. I absolutely cannot tolerate being sticky. I thought I was going
to lose my mind until Mrs. Troublemaker handed me a wet wipe.
The
item me and Lil’ Troublemaker were both most drawn to initially was
this light-up wrist thing. It looked cool but not as cool as the gun
we then noticed. What we did not know – and it was not indicated
anywhere – was that the wrist thing was actually a part of the
show. SPOILER ALERT – there’s one part where Iron Man has to draw
from a different energy source because his armor is jacked and
everybody with a wrist thing is supposed to turn it on and hold it up
to give him power. I think this should have been mentioned before the
show because I probably would have caved and bought the gun and
the wrist thing.
And
possibly avoided the sticky Spider Head of Doom.
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