Blu-ray Review: ICONS UNEARTHED: MARVEL

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Jan 11 Posted by Kyle Nolan in DVD/Blu-ray, Reviews | Comments

Mill Creek has released another season of the Vice TV series Icons Unearthed on Blu-ray. Each season of this documentary series delves into the behind-the-scenes drama of a different popular TV or movie franchise. This fourth season originally aired in March 2023, and takes an in-depth look at Marvel. (We previously reviewed the Blu-ray releases of the first three seasons—Star Wars, The Simpsons, and Fast & Furious.)

Over the course of the season’s 8 episodes, Icons Unearthed: Marvel explores Marvel’s origins in comics, its rough initial attempts at adapting its properties into TV and movies, its financial issues and selling off of rights to its most popular IP, and eventually launching one of the most successful and first-of-its-kind cinematic universes. Icons Unearthed: Marvel follows Marvel from its origins through Phase 2 of the MCU…

The documentary series makes use of clips, photos, behind-the-scenes footage, concept artwork, and new interviews with the cast/crew of the films and other pop culture experts/authors/journalists, to uncover new behind-the-scenes stories about the company and its productions.

Here’s a rundown of the topics covered in each of the 8 episodes:

Phase 0
A look at the origins of Marvel Comics and its characters, its struggles to get into the TV and movie business, the company’s many takeovers and financial issues, and the selling of of various rights, its bankruptcy and emergence with its first film success in 1998 with Blade.
Taking Control
A look at the making of Iron Man, a big gamble on a relatively unknown property outside of comics fans, as the launch of a new MCU. Bringing on Jin Favreau as a director, casting the movie, the constant rewrites, and the post-credits scene to set up the larger universe.
Growing Pains
At the same time as Iron Man, Marvel begins production on what was supposed to be a sure thing…The Incredible Hulk. After looking back at the character’s comic origins and previous TV and film adaptations, the episode explores the troubled production which saw a clash between the visions of the film’s star and director who wanted something more cerebral, and Marvel Studios who wanted the movie to be more action-forward. After the success of the first Iron Man film, Marvel moves up production on Iron Man 2, but the rushed schedule finds the studio and creatives once again clashing over the direction of the script. A surprise acquisition by Disney throws everything into question.
Building a Universe
Marvel undertakes its riskiest movie yet, which would bring a Norse God to earth, mixing the supernatural with the scientific world set up thus far. A look at the development of the Thor script, bringing in Kenneth Branagh to direct, casting the movie, designing Asgard, and setting up elements of the future MCU, such as a Hawkeye cameo. The future of the MCU (if there is still one after the Disney acquisition) depends if audiences buy into this new integration of Gods and magic.
No Turning Back
A look at the comic origins of Captain America, casting the movie, taking on the massive scale and challenges of making a period piece, reshoots, and more. Plus figuring out how to shoot skinny Steve.
Avengers Assemble
A look at the comic book origins of the Avengers, bringing in Joss Wheaton who was primarily experienced in TV to write/direct, adding the characters of Black Widow and Hawkeye, and reinventing The Hulk. As production gets underway on The Avengers, Thor and Captain America are still unproven and unreleased. But the film proves to be a success, and Disney looks to launch a Marvel TV division with Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., and starts to plan Phase 2 of the MCU.
Testing the Limits
With Iron Man 3, Thor 2, and Captain America 2 all in the works, Marvel sets out to expand the universe with its riskiest, most unknown property yet. A look at the comic origins of The Guardians of the Galaxy, bringing in James Gunn to write/direct, casting the film, its soundtrack, and more.
Creative Differences
Bringing things back down to earth for the end of Phase 2 with Ant-Man, a film that was first mentioned during the initial MCU announcement at Comic-Con in 2006. A look at the comic origins of the character, the clash between writer/director Edgar Wright and Kevin Feige that almost led to the.collapse of the project, finding a new writer and director, filling out the cast and crew, the challenges of filming the macro world, and shooting on Marvel’s new Atlanta studio.

Like the previous seasons, I found this fourth season of Icons Unearthed to be quite entertaining and informative. It comes from The Nacelle Company, who also created The Toys That Made Us, and they have this great ability to get some great stories out of the participants while also keeping things humorous and light. The season goes into a lot of depth for each of the Phase 1 movies, though feels a bit rushed in the final 2 episodes on its coverage of Phase 2 (and never even gets to Phase 3). The series delves into some of the behind-the-scenes drama, and also talks about the comic-book origins of the stories for many of the films. It also looks into some of the issues faced at the executive level, though there is no participation by Feige himself.

The series utilizes some clever wordplay in the narration and editing of the clips and interviews to inject a lot of humor. It also makes use of a nice cross-section of participants including pop culture experts, movie/comic wristers, directors and other film crew, a few Marvel execs, and a handful of actors. This series doesn’t usually get the A-list stars to participate, but this season it was still great to hear from Lou Ferrigno (TV’s original “Hulk”) and Clark Gregg (“Agent Coulson”). I always find it amazing how much raw footage gets edited down into these small sound-bites that ultimately provide an interesting narrative that flows nicely across the season’s episodes!

This season is narrated by actor Joseph Culp (“Doctor Doom” in Roger Corman’s Fantastic Four movie), and across the 8 episodes, those interviewed include CEO Marvel Productions Margaret Loesch, comic book writer/head of Marvel TV Jeph Loeb, co-founder New World Pictures Roger Corman, author/pop-culture librarian Rob Weiner, author/Marvel expert Sean Howe, correspondent Victoria Bennett (Den of Geek), entertainment writer Adam B. Vary, entertainment writer Adam Chitwood, illustrator Wayne Arthur Murray (Spider-Man Magazine), comic book writer J. Michael Straczynski (Thor), comic book writer/artist Todd McFarlane (Spider-Man), comic writer/artist Andy Lanning (Guardians), concept designer Charlie Wen, comic writer/artist Bob Layton (Ironman), comic book writer Mark Millar (Ultimates), comic book writer Joe Casey (Hulk), comic artist Val Mayerik (Howard the Duck), documentary filmmaker/comic book editor Marty Langford, comic writer Dan Abnett (Guardians), cctors Lou Ferrigno (“Hulk”), Joseph Culp (“Doctor Doom”), Clark Gregg (“Agent Coulson”), JJ Field (“James Montgomery Falsworth”) & Tip “T.I.” Harris (“Dave”), stunt performer Mike Lambert, director Oley Sassone (Fantastic Four), miniature & optical effects unit Phil Tippett (Howard the Duck), puppeteer Tim Rose (Howard the Duck), production designer Shepherd Frankel (Ant-Man), writers Zack Stentz & Ashley Miller (Thor), art director Suzan Wexler (Iron Man), 1st AD Lars Winther (Avengers), director of photography Shelly Johnson (Captain America), writer Mark Fergus (Iron Man), editor Rick Shaine (The Incredible Hulk), set decorator Carolyn Loucks (The Incredible Hulk), VFX supervisor Betsy Paterson (The Incredible Hulk), editor Fred Raskin (Guardians of the Galaxy), director of photography Harris Zambarloukos (Thor), art director Maya Shimoguchi (Thor), and director of photography Russell Carpenter (Ant-Man).

Mill Creek’s Blu-ray release provides a clean picture and clear stereo sound that is more than sufficient for the interviews. It’s quite impressive to see the raw footage they started with compared with how the final product looks in the series. The release includes 3 Blu-ray discs, placed on either side of a standard HD keepcase (two discs were stacked on the right side). Our copy did not include any slipcover. The first disc contains the first 5 episodes, the second disc contains the final 3 episodes plus 2 of the bonus interviews, and the third disc contains three more bonus interviews. The bonus material consists of over six hours of raw interview footage with actors Clark Gregg, Lou Ferrigno & JJ Field, and comic book writers Mark Millar & J. Michael Straczynski.

I hope that Mill Creek continues to release additional seasons of Icons Unearthed on Blu-ray as I’ve been really enjoying this series!

What’s Included:

Episodes: (5:52:20)

All 8 episodes of the fourth season:
“Phase 0”, “Taking Control”, “Growing Pains”, “Building a Universe”, “No Turning Back”, “Avengers Assemble”, “Testing the Limits”, “Creative Differences”
1080p / Widescreen 1.78:1
Audio: English 2.0 DTS-HD Master Audio
Subtitles: English

Extras:

Bonus Interviews (6:20:18)
The bonus material consists of the full-length interviews with several of the participants, provided in raw form, without any additional color-timing or picture enhancements. Play All, or select from:
- Mark Millar (Comic Book Writer) (1:01:07)
- Lou Ferrigno (Actor) (1:40:39)
- Clark Gregg (Actor/Director) (1:02:08)
- JJ Field (Actor) (39:33)
- J. Michael Straczynski (Filmmaker/Comic Book Writer) (1:56:51)

Final Thoughts:

My Rating

Episodes:

Video:

Audio:

Extras:

Recommended

Icons Unearthed: Marvel provides an interesting and entertaining look at one of the most successful and groundbreaking film franchises, The Marvel Cinematic Universe. The series maintains a light and humorous tone while looking at some of the behind-the-scenes drama with the studio execs and cast/crew of the films. Mill Creek’s Blu-ray release offers a solid audio/video presentation as well as over 6 hours of raw interview footage as bonus material. The series primarily covers Phase 1 of the MCU, though delves quickly into Phase 2 in the final 2 episodes. This is definitely worth a look for fans of the MCU. I quite enjoyed this fourth season of Icons Unearthed, and hope that Mill Creek continues to releases additional seasons on Blu-ray.