About a week ago, on August 22, Marvel posted — and quickly deleted — a minute-long video celebrating 85 years of the company. The promo was notable not just for the anniversary, but also for officially showing off footage of Thunderbolts*, Daredevil: Born Again, Ironheart, and Harrison Ford as Red Hulk in Captain America: Brave New World. Well, the Marvel 85th Anniversary promo is back online, in HD, and not only is it now nearly three minutes long, but it has a whole lot more footage of the X-Men.
Before you freak out, it’s not the MCU (Marvel Cinematic Universe) X-Men. But it is footage from the Fox movies, including X-Men: First Class and others. There are also looks at the classic X-Men: The Animated Series, and of course Deadpool & Wolverine. While it isn’t a surprise reveal of the MCU’s X-Men lineup, it is a clear indication of how the former Fox properties are now part of the MCU proper.
And on that note, the full Marvel 85th anniversary promo is… Interesting. It does show off some comic books, as well as a younger, hatless Kevin Feige, and Stan Lee saying “Excelsior!” But it seems to frame Lee as having been around the whole time, when 85 years ago, Lee would have been 16 years old.
In fact, this 85th anniversary celebrates the publication of Marvel Comics #1 in October of 1939. At that time, the company was run by Martin Goodman and was named Timely Publications. The company wasn’t formally changed to Marvel until 1961, around the publication of Fantastic Four #1 — which did involve Lee.
Are they gonna put all of that in an online promo, with Feige coming out to say, “Well, actually, the first 22 years of this 85th anniversary are not what you think.” No, of course not. But it also points to the second bit of weirdness here, where the comics are barely shown off, the animated shows get scant screentime, and it seems like the real pinnacle of Marvel’s evolution is the MCU.
Arguably, I guess from a financial perspective, it is. But as a comic book fan, it’s a real bummer to see 85 years of Marvel all building up to Harrison Ford painted in CGI red with his nipples out roaring in front of the White House.
Anyway. Watch the promo below, now with more X-Men, and a lot of other footage and interviews. And fingers crossed we get the Goodman cut of this promo, some time soon (we won’t).
Watch The Marvel 85th Anniversary Promo, Below:
…and if you’re curious, here’s the original, minute-long version of the promo:
