Nothing But Trouble
"And there came a day, a day unlike any other, when Earth's mightiest heroes and heroines found themselves united against a common threat."
"Avengers: Age of Ultron" turned out to be a portent of darker themes to come. An artificial intelligence (A.I.) was found within the scepter previously wielded by Loki, the adoptive brother and archenemy of Thor. Tony Stark (aka Iron Man) thought of using it to complete his global defense program. He asked Dr. Bruce Banner (aka Incredible Hulk) to help him, and they did it without telling Thor and the other superheroes, all members of the Avengers. It turned out that this intelligence was capable of handling itself. Human extinction was its mission.
Stark had a bleak vision; the rest of the Avengers were killed and forces from other parts of the universe overtook Earth. (He thought that a good defense program would be enough to protect the planet.) Stan Lee and Jack Kirby, who wrote and drew "The Avengers" comics respectively, may have their source of inspiration. Apocalyptic literature.
Apocalypse means "to uncover" in Greek. There have been written records about the end of the world since the dawn of civilization. When Cyrus the Great conquered Babylon, there have been predictions coming from the Jews. There was another interpretation after the Greek Empire was overthrew by the Romans. Let's not forget every coming of the new millennium. All of these revealed what was troubling mankind. It would make interesting reading.
Bleakness, then and now
“Poetic Edda” is a major store of Scandinavian mythology, believed to be written by Snorri Sturluson. Scholars were intrigued by the Ragnarök, a series of future events that described the occurrence of natural disasters, culminating in the great deluge. A number of Norse deities won't be spared, and only Líf and Lífþrasir would survive the catastrophe. This had been a subject of intense scholarly discourse, and one of the reasons was its similarity to Noah's Ark.
The Bible's final book was the Revelations, which would describe the different kinds of grisly finales. It would be futile to debate on it, unless if the discussion veers off to the source of these grim prophecies. (There have been too many records that described the struggles of the Jewish people.) The Book of Revelations would never cease to fascinate readers, even filmmakers. (Who have seen "The Seventh Sign?") The turn of the 20th century would witness paranoia and anxiety, which could be read in H.G. Wells's novels. It didn't take long for humans to substitute bleakness with another, even refining the genre.
Are we pessimistic? Can't we believe in a happy ending? Events that led to World War I would reveal sheer folly. This was what viewers saw when Stark's plan went awry. Fans of the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) must expect more of this in the coming years. (The second sequel to "Thor" would be about the Ragnarök, while the third installment of "The Avengers" will revolve around Thanos and his diabolic plan of annihilating the universe.) It's going to be a bumpy ride.
