Star Wars, Batman, and James Bond all have iconic movie themes that most can hum on command. But can you remember Iron Man’s theme song? Every Frame a Painting examined why Marvel’s music is so forgettable:

• In an earlier age of cinema there were moments where there was nothing but on-screen visuals accompanied by music – such as in the Star Wars opening crawl. Marvel’s movies though rush to have someone talking, leaving little time for a film’s score to breathe.
• Movies are typically scored after they are shot. In the process of editing, the film director’s will use scores from other movies as a stand in for what they want their score to sound like. Sometimes they’ll become so attached to the old score that they’ll ask their film’s composer to come up with something similar. Some remarkable examples can be heard here.
• There’s been a general cultural shift in movies where filmmakers want music to fade in the background and be unnoticeable, rather than be a main component of it.
• Composers themselves have been less interested in writing individual memorable motifs for each of the characters, opting instead for more thematic music.

Via: Kotaku