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Welcome to the main discussion thread for the Marvel Cinematic Universe! This pinned post is here to establish some basic guidelines. All of the Media Forum rules still apply.

  • This thread is for talking about the live-action films, TV shows, animated works, and related content that use the Marvel brand, currently owned by Disney.
  • While mild digressions are okay, discussion of the comic books should go in this thread. Extended digressions may be thumped as off-topic.
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If you're posting tagged spoilers, make sure that the film or series is clearly identified outside the spoiler tagging. People need to know what will be spoiled before they choose to read the post.

    Original post 
Since Thor and now Captain America came out this year, I wanted to get what Tropers thought of the concept and execution of the Marvel Cinematic Universe in general. Personally I love the idea and wonder why this idea hasn't been seriously tried before. It sorta seems to me like the DCAU in movie form (And well, ummm, with Marvel), and really 'gets' the comic book feel of a shared universe while not being completely alienating.

Edited by Mrph1 on Jul 29th 2024 at 3:09:00 PM

wehrmacht belongs to the hurricane from the garden of everything Since: Dec, 2010 Relationship Status: YOU'RE TEARING ME APART LISA
belongs to the hurricane
#49526: Jan 17th 2016 at 6:35:25 PM

i don't know if they're a reliable indicator, but the sales for the direct-to-dvd films always had lower sales if they weren't batman and superman, which seems to indicate that this is a cyclical issue. it isn't even that the other movies are bad; Green Lantern First Flight was basically everything that the live-action GL movie wishes it could have been.

edited 17th Jan '16 6:38:03 PM by wehrmacht

KarkatTheDalek Not as angry as the name would suggest. from Somwhere in Time/Space Since: Mar, 2012 Relationship Status: You're a beautiful woman, probably
Not as angry as the name would suggest.
#49527: Jan 17th 2016 at 6:42:25 PM

I do think that DC ought to push its other heroes more.

Last semester, I was taking a graphic novel class, and at one point our professor had us pick out what sort of superpower we would like to have, just as a sort of exercise to get into the mindset of the genre. One guy picked superspeed - he said that the CW Flash series had really shown him just how cool such a power can be.

I think there's room for cultural impact, here - they just need to better exploit it.

Oh God! Natural light!
PushoverMediaCritic I'm sorry Tien, but I must go all out. from the Italy of America Since: Jul, 2015 Relationship Status: watch?v=dQw4w9WgXcQ
I'm sorry Tien, but I must go all out.
#49528: Jan 17th 2016 at 6:48:11 PM

I'd pick the ability to teleport anything anywhere, including abstract concepts. Because I'm a monster who likes to break the system with the most overpowered shit I can think of.

wehrmacht belongs to the hurricane from the garden of everything Since: Dec, 2010 Relationship Status: YOU'RE TEARING ME APART LISA
belongs to the hurricane
#49529: Jan 17th 2016 at 6:50:47 PM

they've kinda dropped the ball more than a few times.

i thought man of steel was ok and didn't mind the film's tone or color schemes, but with all of its miscellaneous issues taken into account, it wasn't the movie that DC needed it to be. and the GL movie before that was shit.

there are only 3 MCU films that i can say i genuinely really like (iron man 1, winter soldier, and guardians of the galaxy), but even with that, it's hard to deny that marvel's been doing more than a few things right.

ultimatepheer Since: Mar, 2011
#49530: Jan 17th 2016 at 6:53:12 PM

[up][up]That's a power that's open to gaming harder than most Touhou characters can.

edited 17th Jan '16 6:54:27 PM by ultimatepheer

comicwriter Since: Sep, 2011
#49531: Jan 17th 2016 at 7:03:58 PM

Marvel probably isn't gonna be rebooting because they saw how poorly it went over for DC. Even with Secret Wars they went to great lengths to assure everyone that the resultant relaunch was not a reboot.

Swanpride Since: Jun, 2013
#49532: Jan 17th 2016 at 7:14:28 PM

It's not? What is the difference?

Marvel has a fluent timeline, right?

Halberdier17 We Are With You Zack Snyder from Western Pennsylvania Since: Aug, 2013 Relationship Status: Dating Catwoman
We Are With You Zack Snyder
#49533: Jan 17th 2016 at 7:19:57 PM

[up][up]Didn't Marvel reboot the same year DC rebooted last with the start of the New 52? The latest event from DC wasn't a reboot it just made everything pre Flashpoint including pre Crisis On Infinite Earths canon again.

As for if I could have any super power I would pick control of the weather. I don't like most types of weather and would mainly make it sunny outside. I know we need precipitation so that would only happen when I'm sleeping.

edited 17th Jan '16 7:29:57 PM by Halberdier17

Batman Ninja more like Batman's Bizarre Adventure
comicwriter Since: Sep, 2011
#49534: Jan 17th 2016 at 7:22:54 PM

[up][up]They just gave all their series new #1s and promoted it as a jumping on point for new readers.

DC gave all their books new #1s but effectively said almost every book published before that wasn't canon anymore.

[up]Nope. Not sure what you're thinking of but Marvel has never done a line-wide reboot.

edited 17th Jan '16 7:23:29 PM by comicwriter

Swanpride Since: Jun, 2013
#49535: Jan 17th 2016 at 7:28:48 PM

So...the idea is that the stories beforehand still exists, but are not referenced anymore?

Kostya (Unlucky Thirteen)
#49536: Jan 17th 2016 at 7:32:38 PM

Marvel tends to take a Broad Strokes approach. They don't start the universe over but as time goes on they retcon certain things in and out of continuity.

edited 17th Jan '16 7:38:48 PM by Kostya

Halberdier17 We Are With You Zack Snyder from Western Pennsylvania Since: Aug, 2013 Relationship Status: Dating Catwoman
We Are With You Zack Snyder
#49537: Jan 17th 2016 at 7:35:18 PM

[up][up]They could be referenced again since those Multiverses still have existed in the DC Universe they are using a Superman story from pre New 52 when he and Lois got married and had a child.

[down]Oh sorry. I probably should've asked which you meant first.

edited 17th Jan '16 7:38:51 PM by Halberdier17

Batman Ninja more like Batman's Bizarre Adventure
Swanpride Since: Jun, 2013
Khfan429 Since: Aug, 2009
#49539: Jan 17th 2016 at 7:38:36 PM

[up]I... don't know where you're getting the idea they aren't referenced. Some of the lines are literally picking up where their status quos left off right before Secret Wars, which would be impossible in a reboot/if they were just ignoring everything that came beforehand.

Swanpride Since: Jun, 2013
#49540: Jan 17th 2016 at 7:42:33 PM

[up]Well, if they want it make easier for new readers, it would make sense, wouldn't it?

kkhohoho (4 Score & 7 Years Ago)
#49541: Jan 17th 2016 at 7:43:05 PM

I really just think that rebooting causes more problems than it's worth, at least when it comes to large shared universes such as Marvel or DC. By this point, DC has rebooted enough times and added enough different companies into its' line-up that if feels less like one coherent universe and more like a loose association of characters and ideas. If you pick up two different issues from even the same series at a given point in time, there's no guarantee that they'll relate to one another in any meaningful way, because DC has rewritten and altered its continuity so much that you practically have to keep a scoreboard to make sense of it all. So much of it just feels disconnected from one another that there doesn't always seem much point in calling it a 'DC Universe'. Maybe a 'DC Conglomerate?'tongue

Meanwhile, the Marvel Universe, for all of its own retcons and inconsistencies, at least feels like an actual universe. There is a clear path from point A to point B, and stuff from decades ago can still have some sort of impact on the present, nor has the MU absorbed 6 different comic universes into itself. (Or at least it hasn't tried to integrate them into 616.) Compared to DC, the MU feels relatively coherent, which is quite the feat considering stuff like Avengers Disassembled still leaves Continuity Snarls from time to time. That's the part of reason why I've read more Marvel than DC, because the formers' world just seems so much larger and richer than the latter, which sort of makes sense. The MU was designed to be a universe from the get-go, whereas DC only made an active effort to fit everything together once Marvel started creating some serious competition. Before that, it had three freaking different versions of Atlantis which it later had to somehow fuse together to make any sense. (And kudos to Peter David for that.)

Bottomline, continuing to use the same continuity can only serve to enrich a given universe and open up story possibilities so long as the present stories aren't too dependent on it, whereas trying to streamline things can instead needlessly limit yourself as well as seriously damage your fanbase if done poorly, which is the situation DC seems to be in right now.

edited 17th Jan '16 8:15:11 PM by kkhohoho

Bocaj Funny but not helpful from Here or thereabouts (4 Score & 7 Years Ago) Relationship Status: Pining for the fjords
Funny but not helpful
#49542: Jan 17th 2016 at 7:46:29 PM

It has been the difference in their approaches from the beginning.

DC gave every hero their own city. And when they acquired other companies, their own universe.

Marvel put everyone in New York so you could have people popping into each other's titles like it wasn't a thing.

Forever liveblogging the Avengers
ultimatepheer Since: Mar, 2011
#49543: Jan 17th 2016 at 7:50:05 PM

On the other hand, Marvel's NY is safe as SHIT because of all the heroes.

Victin Since: Dec, 2011
#49544: Jan 17th 2016 at 7:55:12 PM

That's now what the MCU NY seems to be, though.

Swanpride Since: Jun, 2013
#49545: Jan 17th 2016 at 7:58:49 PM

Marvel's NY looks like the most dangerous place on earth to me...I would hate do live in a city where Supervillains go on a rampage on a regular basis.

Just look how much of an impact the one Battle had on MCU New York.

KarkatTheDalek Not as angry as the name would suggest. from Somwhere in Time/Space Since: Mar, 2012 Relationship Status: You're a beautiful woman, probably
Not as angry as the name would suggest.
#49546: Jan 17th 2016 at 8:27:39 PM

[up] On the bright side, if there is a supervillain attack or the like, someone will be on it in fairly short order.

Oh God! Natural light!
LordofLore Since: Jun, 2012 Relationship Status: Consider his love an honor
#49547: Jan 17th 2016 at 8:36:52 PM

Of course nowadays you're more likely to have the different heroes fight each other in the Marvel universe than work together. We're getting a second Civil War which says pretty much everything about the superhero community. Hopefully they won't flatten part of the city again while "debating" and/or completely miss the war for the survival of the universe that they're the only planet that doesn't help with(which in-universe ruins their PR and makes no other planet trust humanity for years).

Iron Fist casting on the way.

edited 17th Jan '16 9:00:43 PM by LordofLore

Swanpride Since: Jun, 2013
#49548: Jan 17th 2016 at 8:47:08 PM

[up][up]That doesn't help much if I already lie under the destruction...especially if the place which got destructed happened to be my own apartment. Insurance in Marvel's New York has to be incredible expensive.

Bocaj Funny but not helpful from Here or thereabouts (4 Score & 7 Years Ago) Relationship Status: Pining for the fjords
Funny but not helpful
#49549: Jan 17th 2016 at 9:36:59 PM

What a surprise, Reed Richards dropping the ball

Forever liveblogging the Avengers

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