If you’re a film score nut like me,one area where Marvel Studios has badly dropped the ball is in the music department. I grew up in an era where films about iconic characters were loaded with powerful themes and motifs that helped tie the whole experience together. Whenever a particular character entered a scene, or a certain kind of situation was taking place, the score would immediately help to identify exactly who/what we should be focusing on, or how we should be feeling.

Composer Alan Silvestri comes from that era, and his scores for films like the BACK TO THE FUTURE trilogy, FORREST GUMP, ROMANCING THE STONE, and FATHER OF THE BRIDE have withstood the test of time. His work on the Marvel films has been a little more anonymous, though. He scored CAPTAIN AMERICA: THE FIRST AVENGER and THE AVENGERS. Both were fine, and he created themes for both, but neither one- I would say- became particular iconic or became synonymous with anything. And that’s seemingly fine to Marvel, since none of their characters seem to have one main, singular, recurring motif.

They’ve brought Silvestri back now, for a third and fourth go at scoring their films. His official website just made the following announcement:

“We are pleased to announce that Alan is slated to score the Marvel films “Avengers: Infinity War – Part I and Part II”

These films are scheduled for release in May of 2018 and May of 2019.”

So he’ll be back. He’s got considerable talent, and a strong track record, but- until the MCU starts taking their scores more seriously- I can’t get too, too excited about this news. I’ve always maintained that the final sequence in THE AVENGERS would’ve been 10x better had there been a moment where each character’s theme/motif played, as part of a unified medley, as they battled the Chitauri. 

As it stands, the most old school theme to be found is this one Silvestri created for Cap- which wears its nods to Superman and John Williams very proudly on its sleeve: