I’ve enjoyed Marvel films over the years and admire what they had achieved through the Infinity Saga. I also really enjoy documentary-style storytelling with behind-the-scenes insights. This book excels at this type of storytelling.

With plenty of quotes and perspective from the people who were involved with these films over the decades, it’s clear that the authors spent tons of hours conducting interviews with all kinds of folks, from production assistants on 20-year-old films, to directors, set/costume/effects designers, to the major actors, to Kevin Feige himself. There are countless anecdotes about snap decisions made in one era of the studio’s history that directly shape how the movies came together years later.

The book is paced and structured like a documentary, with most chapters focusing on a particular film, or a particular piece of the MCU machine, such as visual effects. It begins in the very earliest days of Marvel’s forays into film and television in the 60s and 70s, with projects and people I had scarcely been aware of, and then really picks up in the early 2000s, when superhero films started appearing in greater numbers.

The authors did a good job balancing fair criticism of various parts of the studio’s process with genuine appreciation of its accomplishments. The chapters on The Infinity Saga are rightfully tinged with admiration at how those films were pulled off, while the chapter on visual effects speaks to the issues that VFX artists have faced in dealing with the tight deadlines, scant budgets, and long hours demanded by their contracts with Marvel Studios.

My one critique is that the closing sections felt a little too concise. If this is a history of the MCU – and it certainly reads like one – then I would have wanted a little more summation on this era of Marvel Studios and what the future looks like.

Still a great read, and definitely worth picking up again to absorb all the nuggets of information spread throughout.

Steve D