I grew up on Marvel Comics. I read some DC. I was a Batman guy for sure, but the major reads were always Marvel. As such I had a specific age-based understanding of that universe. Unlike a Universe like Star Wars or even Stranger Things (as there will one day be a spin off), the Marvel Universe has undergone many many iterations and those are all very different and, unlike DC, rarely represented by a cohesive reset. Instead, Marvel plays with the idea of the Multiverse. This can be its ally, but I think now it has become the problem. They’re ruining the storyline by trying to make it cohesive–They want it too much to be one thing and culminate in some massive blockbuster. It worked the one time, but I think it is already played out.
One thing they should be pursuing is smaller collective meetups. They tried this with The Defenders, but made the stakes too high. I mean they brought up dragons for crying out loud. I believe instead the key to making this work is to find smaller opportunities and smaller conflicts to create team up shows and films and such. Build the Universe out not up. Don’t make it so everyone has to be saving the world every movie. They may all be ‘heroes’ but they are about different things.
Also, make the movies different enough to hold value. The last Captain America movie was not so significantly different from the series to have value. It should have never happened and it did not need to step the universe forward significantly the way these things seem to always do–Except for Fantastic Four. That was just trash. It is always Trash.
I’m a bit more excited about the arcs being connected together in the DC Universe under Gunn. The Gods & Monsters chapter is already building towards revealing some cool hero moments. I think the next arc will be far more grounded and human. Marvel could learn a thing or two from the new DC.