Working With Marvel Is Like Whispering In Church, According To Composer Henry Jackman

Even still, Jackman credits the directors of many of these projects for giving him the extra leeway:

"It's a great positive force when you get the chance to work with imaginative directors who create this lightweight umbrella without you realizing it, but also give you the freedom to operate within and push it wherever you want, which I would say is very true, for example, for Joe and Anthony [Russo] and, in many cases, for Matthew Vaughn."

It makes sense that he specifically mentions Matthew Vaughn, as Jackman's score to "First Class" is probably one of his boldest and most memorable scores, at least of all his superhero scores . His work on the "Captain America" ​​movies doesn't feel particularly limited either. But for Marvel as a whole, non-Jackman-produced scores seem to be a bit lacking. This was something highlighted in the 2016 video essay "The Marvel Symphonic Universe", which began with people on the streets being asked to sing along to the theme from franchises like Star Wars, Harry Potter and James Bond. For each of them, people could instantly remember the score, but for the Avengers? Most people had nothing.

The reaction on the streets today would probably be a little different, but that's only because the Avengers theme has forced itself into our memory through mere repetition, whether we like it or not. And while most of us know what the Avengers theme looks like, even die-hard fans have to admit it's a bit generic. None of these Marvel movies have ever scored on the level of "Pirates of the Caribbean" or "Indiana Jones," and maybe Jackman just gave us a key reason why.