漫 威 的电影宇宙
2019-07-19宋云峰
∷宋云峰
一、美国漫威漫画公司和漫威影业(About Marvel Comics and Marvel Studio)
Marvel started in 1939 as Timely Comics, and by the early 1950s, it had generally become known as Atlas Comics. The Marvel branding began in 1961, the year that the company launched Fantastic Four and other superhero titles created by Steve Ditko, Stan Lee, Jack Kirby and many others.
Marvel counts among its characters such wellknown superheroes as Spider-Man, Iron Man, Captain America, Thor, the Hulk, Captain Marvel, Black Panther, Deadpool, Doctor Strange, Wolverine, Daredevil, Ghost Rider and the Punisher, such teams as the Avengers, X-Men, Fantastic Four, Inhumans and Guardians of the Galaxy, and antagonists(反派)including Thanos, Doctor Doom, Magneto, Red Skull, Green Goblin, Ultron, Doctor Octopus, Loki, and Kingpin.
美国漫威漫画公司(Marvel Comics)是与DC漫画公司(Detective Comics)齐名的漫画巨头,创建于1939年,于1961年正式定名为Marvel(漫威),旧译为“惊奇漫画”,曾用名有“时代漫画”(Timely Comics)、阿特拉斯漫画(Atlas Comics)。
1939年4月,公司在《电影连环画周刊》创刊号上创造出了世界上第一位变种人超级英雄——海王纳摩,这是漫威的第一位超级英雄,他比公司的成立还要早半年。同年10月,公司在《惊奇漫画》第1期上创造出世界上第一位生化人超级英雄——初代霹雳火,并将纳摩引入其中,这水与火的双重合作,打出了漫威历史上的第一拳。漫威旗下拥有蜘蛛侠、钢铁侠、美国队长、雷神托尔、绿巨人、惊奇队长、黑豹、死侍、奇异博士、金刚狼、超胆侠、恶灵骑士、惩罚者、蚁人、黄蜂女、黑寡妇、鹰眼、杰茜卡·琼斯、卢克·凯奇、铁拳、刀锋战士、野蛮人柯南等超级英雄,复仇者联盟、X战警、神奇四侠、异人族、银河护卫队、捍卫者联盟、光照会等超级英雄团队,以及灭霸、毁灭博士、万磁王、红骷髅、绿魔、奥创、章鱼博士、邪神洛基、金并等超级反派。
Marvel Studio was established in 1993. In 2009, The Walt Disney Company acquired Marvel Entertainment, Marvel Studio's parent company. Marvel Studio has brought the stories of their comic heroes on the screen again since 2008. So far, Marvel Studio has created dozens of heroes, big and small, as well as charming villains. Marvel Universe has formed a very grand IP network, and its business model has become the role model of many f ilm and television companies to emulate.
漫威影业成立于1993年,是漫威娱乐的子公司,在2009年后成为迪士尼公司的子公司。自2008年起,漫威影业开始拍摄漫威电影宇宙系列,将漫画中的故事再次搬上荧屏。至今,漫威影业已打造出大大小小几十位英雄和充满魅力的反派角色。漫威电影宇宙已经形成非常宏大的IP网,商业模式成为很多影视公司效仿的对象。
二、灵魂人物斯坦·李(Stan Lee)
In 1941, Stanley Lieber, 16, a cousin of Marvel's founder Goodman's wife, joined Marvel. He is now well-known for his pen name, Stan Lee. Most of Marvel's heroes were written by Stan Lee alone, and such a heavy workload was unimaginable. Sometimes even Stan Lee himself didn't remember the characters he wrote. For the convenience of memory, he deliberately chose the same initials for the names of his characters—Peter Parker, Bruce Banner, Matt Murdock.
1941年,漫威的创办者古德曼的妻子的表弟——16岁的斯坦利·利伯——加入了漫威。如今他的笔名更加有名——斯坦·李。漫威的大部分英雄都靠斯坦·李一个人来编写,这样繁重的工作量是常人难以想象的。有时甚至连斯坦·李自己都不记得写过的人物,为了方便记忆,他在为笔下人物取名时故意把姓和名都选取相同的首字母——彼得·帕克、布鲁斯·班纳、马特·默多克等。
Stan Lee has invented the “Marvel style of creation”:
Step 1: Writers and editors discuss the story outline;
Step 2: When the artist receives the outline, he decides the pace and focus of the story and draws a comic with a specif ied number of pages;
Step 3: After the writer gets the pencil sketch of the artist, he uses it as a guide to write the f inal script, including character dialogue and title;
Step 4: Type, line and color the comic.
In this approach, writers only provide ideas, while artists have enough space in creation, and then the editors add script to comics. It relieves the work of the writers, and increases the work of the artists. Therefore it is particularly important for artists to cooperate with writers.
With a large number of outstanding f igures, by 1968, Marvel had caught up with or even surpassed DC, becoming another giant in the comic industry. At the same time, the comic industry had f inally come out of the predicament and developed at a high speed.
斯坦·李发明了“漫威式创作法”:
第一步:编剧和编辑讨论,提出故事梗概和大纲;
第二步:画家接到大纲后,决定故事的步调和重心,画成指定页数的漫画;
第三步:编剧拿到画家铅笔稿后,以其作为指导,撰写最终的剧本,包括人物对话和标题;
第四步:描字、上墨线和上色的工序。
这种做法相当于编剧们只提供创意,由画家们发挥自己的创造性进行创作,然后编剧再来“看图说话”,减轻了编剧的劳动,而增加了画家的工作,所以画家同漫威的编剧们配合好就尤为重要。
靠着这一大批出色的人物角色,到了1968年,漫威已经追上甚至超越了DC,成为漫画业的又一巨头。同时,漫画行业也终于走出了困境,迅速发展起来。
三、重要英雄团队(Major Heroes)
漫威创造了包括X教授、镭射眼、金刚狼等在内的X战警,美国队长、钢铁侠、雷神等在内的复仇者联盟,星爵、格鲁特等在内的银河护卫队,神奇先生、霹雳火等在内的神奇四侠。下面就简要介绍一下这些主要的英雄团队。
1. 神奇四侠(Fantastic Four)
As Marvel's pioneering work in the revival of the 1960s, the story tells that four scientists acquired four different superpowers due to the variation of radiation. From then on, a team was formed to f ight crime, to carry out scientif ic exploration, and to solve all kinds of strange problems. This team was actually a family with open membership and it was widely welcomed by the world. The couple was the f irst mainstream heroes who got married and had children. Fantastic Four created a period of prosperity for modern heroes with good images. Other heroes, including the Avengers, regarded them as role models.
《神奇四侠》是漫威在20世纪60年代复兴时的开山之作,讲述了四位科学家由于受到宇宙射线辐射而变异,获得四种不同的超能力,从此成立了一个团队,既打击犯罪,也进行科学探险,解决各种离奇的问题。这支队伍实际上是一个家庭,成员身份公开,广受世人欢迎。他们中间的一对恋人是主流英雄中最早结婚并有孩子的。神奇四侠以良好的形象开创了现代英雄兴旺的时期,其他的英雄,包括复仇者联盟这样的队伍,都视他们为楷模。
2. 复仇者联盟(The Avengers)
Labeled “Earth's Mightiest Heroes,” the Avengers originally consisted of Ant-Man, the Hulk, Iron Man, Thor, and the Wasp. Ant-Man created the Avengers. Then the original Captain America was discovered trapped in ice. He joined the group after they revived him. A rotating roster has become a hallmark of the series, although one theme remains consistent: The Avengers f ight “the foes no single superhero can withstand.” The team, famous for its battle cry of “Avengers Assemble,” features humans, mutants, inhumans, androids, aliens, supernatural beings, and even former villains.
复仇者联盟最初由蚁人、绿巨人、钢铁侠、雷神和黄蜂女组成,被称为“地球上最强壮的英雄”。联盟最初由蚁人建立,随后美国队长被发现困在冰中,被救活之后他加入了这个联盟并成为了领袖。虽然复联的成员一直在变更,并且这已成为该系列的一个标志,但有一个主题始终保持不变:以团结之力对抗单个英雄无法抵御的重大威胁。这个团队以它的战斗口号“复仇者集合”而闻名。复联成员包括人类、变种人、异人族、机器人、外星人、超自然生物,甚至以前的反派。
3. X战警(X-Men)
Professor X established the Mutant School to train young mutants to use their abilities correctly and to protect the world from the evil mutants. The story began with the arrival of the new student Jean Gray at the school. The original team of X-men had other four members including Cyclops, Beast, Angel and Iceman. Their f irst opponent was Magneto.
At that time, X-Men were all very young and wore uniform. However, compared with other teams, their biggest feature was that their leader did not participate in the actual combat. Professor X always sat in the wheelchair. The story introduced the idea of “learning and controlling superpower,” which was different from the consistent concept of other superheroes.
由X教授建立的变种人学院,一方面是为了训练年轻的变种人正确运用自己的能力,一方面也是为了保护世界不被邪恶一方的变种人侵害。故事从新生琼·格雷来到学院开始。除她之外,X战警最初的队伍还有镭射眼、野兽、天使和冰人,一共五名成员。他们一开始的对手便是万磁王。
那时的X战警成员都非常年轻,身着统一的制服,不过比起别的战队,其最大的特色是有一位并不参与实战的领导——轮椅上的X教授。漫画引入了“学习和控制超能力”的思想,这与其一贯的超级英雄概念有所不同。
4. 银河护卫队(Guardians of Galaxy)
In 2005, Marvel launched Annihilation, a major event, followed by a number of derivative cartoons and sequels, which packaged a number of original roles of Marvel cosmic system, such as Star Lord, Drax, Camorra, Rocket Raccoon, Groot, Ronan and Nova, with a more contemporary sense.
The father of Star-Lord was the king of Spartacus, but before he succeeded, his spaceship had landed on the earth. He had an affection with a woman on Earth and had a son, Peter Quill, the Star-Lord. He was rather awkward, a bit ruff ian and humorous.
漫威在2005年推出大事件“星际湮灭”(Annihilation),其后陆续出了若干衍生漫画和续集,把星爵、德拉克斯、卡魔拉、火箭浣熊、树人格鲁特、罗南、新星等一批漫威原有的宇宙系角色包装得更具时代感。
星爵的父亲是外星球“斯巴达克斯”的国王,但在尚未继位的时候,他的飞船曾迫降在地球,他和一个地球上的女人产生了感情并有了儿子彼得·奎尔,也就是星爵。他的性格比较别扭,有点痞气,又有点搞笑。
四、漫威电影宇宙发展历史(Adapting Comics to Movies)
1. 早期的一些漫改影视剧(Earlier Movies & TV Series)
The Marvel f ilms we know now are not the presentation of the original images of these superheroes. Because of the limitation of special effects technology, the early movies and TV plays were more like a cosplay show.
我们现在所熟知的漫威电影其实并不是这些超级英雄的最初形象。由于特效技术有限,早期的影视剧更像是一场大型化装舞会。
In this period, some of the comic movies were more inclined to heroes' individual show. And the chosen heroes were random. Although movies like Daredevil, Ghost Rider and Blade had gained good box off ice, there was obviously no special inf luence.
这个时期的一些漫改作品更倾向于以个人为中心的英雄单人秀,人物选择上也很随意。《超胆侠》、《恶灵骑士》、《刀锋战士》等虽然也收获了不错的票房,但显然没有什么特别的影响力。
2. 发展时期(Developing Period)
During this period, Marvel began to sell some of its comics to f ilm and television companies. Some well-known and box-buster mature f ilms were made, such as Spider-Man series, X-Men series and Fantastic Four.
在这个时期,漫威开始打包出售自己的一部分漫画给影视公司,一些叫好又叫座的成熟电影进入市场,如:《蜘蛛侠》系列、《X战警》系列、《神奇四侠》等。
The problem expansion brought about was confusion of copyright ownership. Marvel therefore decided to set up its own f ilm and television company, hoping to unify the superheroes in the same universe.
扩张带来的问题是版权归属混乱。因此漫威决定成立自己的影视公司,希望将超级英雄们统一在同一个宇宙中。
3. 成熟时期(Mature Period)
During this period, Marvel Studio was acquired by Disney Company. With abundant f inancial support, it successfully developed a series of movies, including The Avengers series, X-Man new generation, and Guardians of the Galaxy. They have made Marvel Universe gradually complete.
在这一时期,漫威影业被迪士尼公司收购,在充沛的资金支持下,成功开发了系列电影,包括《复仇者联盟》系列、《X战警前传》、《银河护卫队》等。这使得漫威宇宙逐渐扩大。
五、漫威电影宇宙构建的成功经验(Factors Behind the Successful Marvel Cinematic Universe)
漫威影业如何后来者居上,取代了DC在漫改影视作品里的霸主地位?
1. 漫威宇宙的统一性(Characters Are in the Same Universe)
Most of Marvel's f ictional characters operate in a single reality known as the Marvel Universe, with most locations mirroring real-life places; many major characters are based in New York City. Such an approach makes the characters cordial and humane, and at the same time facilitates the interaction of roles in different works.
大多数漫威的人物角色被安排在同一个时空里,也就是和我们现实世界相仿的漫威宇宙。其中的很多角色都驻扎在纽约市。这样的做法使得角色亲切而富有人情味,同时也方便不同作品中的角色之间进行互动。
2. 剧情改编简洁明了(Good Story Adaption)
As comic works, there is a lot of space to describe characters and background in detail. However, the f ilm needs to tell a concentrated story in a limited two hours. Marvel Studio therefore has made great changes when adapting the original stories to f ilms. Therefore the movies are smooth, compact in rhythmic, and have nonstereotypical characters.
漫画作为原作有很多空间可以对人物刻画、故事背景进行详细描绘,然而电影却需要在有限的两小时内讲述浓缩的剧情。漫威影业因此对电影剧情进行了大刀阔斧的改编,使得电影剧情流畅,节奏紧凑,角色刻画不死板。
3. 演员魅力(Charm of the Actors)
Marvel movies have created many successful roles because of the correct casting and the personal charm of the actors themselves. For example, because of Hugh Jackman, the original supporting role of Wolverine has become very popular. Therefore Marvel even launched Wolverine's personal f ilms.
漫威电影塑造了很多成功角色,这离不开正确的选角以及演员的个人魅力。比如狼叔休·杰克曼,其个人魅力使得本来是配角的金刚狼人气大涨,漫威因此推出了金刚狼的个人电影。
4. 电影特效(Special Effects)
Marvel studio uses a variety of special effects technologies, including previsualization, motion capture and 3D printing techniques to present the comic world vividly.
漫威影业使用了包括动画预览、动作捕捉、3D打印等多种特效技术,逼真地还原了漫画世界。
5. 暗藏彩蛋(Hidden Easter Eggs)
Marvel Studio likes to hide Easter Eggs in its movies. These eggs imply the existence of other superheroes in the Marvel Universe and they are important parts of the plot. In addition, Stan Lee also likes appearing in his movies.
漫威影业非常喜欢在电影中暗藏彩蛋。这些彩蛋暗示漫威宇宙中其他超级英雄的存在,是衔接剧情的重要部分。另外,斯坦·李也非常喜欢出现在自己的电影中。
以上这些都是漫威电影宇宙构建成功的重要因素。