Are Massive Cinematic Universes Sustainable?

 Hey everyone! How's it going? I'm doing really well. Today I'm doing something a little bit different. I'm going to discuss my thoughts on whether or not massive cinematic universes such as the Marvel Cinematic Universe and the DC Extended Universe are sustainable. I am not a business expert or a film industry expert. But, I am a movie fan, and I am a fan of the Star Wars Universe, the Star Trek Universe, the MCU from Iron Man to Avengers: Endgame, and DCEU films like Shazam! (2018) and Wonder Woman (2017). So let's get into it.

The concept of a shared cinematic universe goes all the way back to the Universal Monster movies of the 1930s and would be utilized in the '50s with the Godzilla series in Japan. Beyond that though most movies were separate from each other, unless they were part of a series. On TV the biggest shared universes are the Filmation DC Cartoon Universe from the '60s, and the DC Animated Universe from the '90s to the mid 2000s with Batman: The Animated Series, Superman: The Animated Universe, The New Batman Adventures, Batman Beyond, Justice League, Justice League Unlimited, and The Zeta Project, which ran from 1992 until 2006. But in film, there wasn't really a shared cinematic universe again until the MCU started in 2008, though the Mummy movies starring Brendan Fraser kind of attempted it with the spin-off Scorpion King series in the 2000s. 

The MCU has been running since 2008, and it was really easy to follow in the 11 years between Iron Man and Avengers: Endgame. I think that's because for the most part each movie could stand on it's own and be an entry point for new viewers, except for Infinity War and Endgame itself. In my case I was able to watch The Avengers (2012) in theatres without having seen The Incredible Hulk (2008), Thor (2011), or Captain America: The First Avenger (2011). I saw them later, but I saw The Avengers without having seen the other three movies, though I had seen Iron Man (2008) and Iron Man 2 (2010), and I was able to follow what was going on in the movie despite not knowing what the tesseract was, who Loki, Hawkeye, Black Widow, and Maria Hill were or anything like that. 

Marvel has changed tactics slightly as every show and movie seems to lead into the next one. Which makes it very difficult for a newcomer to simply just jump in at this point. It's also hard for people like me, who aren't interested in many of the shows and movies that Marvel Studios is putting out, to watch the shows and/or movies that we are interested in because they're so interconnected with each other. And honestly that's actually a major issue with Marvel Comics as a whole and not just the movies and shows.

When Stan Lee, Jack Kirby, and Steve Ditko created the Marvel Comics Universe in the 1960s, they did it with connecting everything together from the beginning. For example if something happened to Spider-Man in an issue of Fantastic Four or The Avengers or Captain America or whatever book he appears in, it affects his story going forward in The Amazing Spider-Man, Spider-Man, Spectacular Spider-Man and Web of Spider-Man. No Marvel comic truly stands alone, just like no Marvel movie or TV show truly stands alone anymore.

Honestly, I don't think that's sustainable for a movie universe. It works for the comics because the people reading the comics are comic book fans. However, because movies and TV shows are about reaching the largest audience possible, since that's how the studios make their money, the way the MCU is going at the moment probably isn't sustainable in the long term. Look at Eternals for example. The audience was split on it. Some loved it, most people hated it. Why? Because the Eternals is a pretty high concept series and for the majority of the wide, mainstream audience, they don't care about high concept stories and many of them aren't comic book readers. Which is the key. 

For me personally, I gravitate towards DC Comics stuff more than Marvel, because Batman is my favourite comic book character of all time and always has been. But has always made it easier for me to get into DC characters is that even though it's a shared universe, everything is self-contained. For example if something happens in Justice League and Batman has a major part in it, it wouldn't necessarily have an effect on what's going on in the Batman titles and vice versa. The only times this hasn't been the case was events like Crisis On Infinite Earths and The Death of Superman. 

The thing about the DC Universe is that each part was created independently of each other, by different creative teams at three different publishers. It was only later that they chose to bring them together in a team like the Justice Society of America, and then later, the Justice League of America. It wasn't until the mid-'40s that characters like Batman and Superman began appearing as guest stars in each other's books. That philosophy has moved over to the movies.

I've enjoyed very little of the DCEU films. In fact the only two I've genuinely enjoyed are Wonder Woman (2017) and Shazam! (2018). And yet, I actually prefer the model that Warner Bros. is using for the DCEU. Less connectivity between the movies and the shows, with the exception of Peacemaker being a spin-off of The Suicide Squad (2021). I think this model is more sustainable because audiences don't have to watch everything to understand what's going on in a particular movie or TV show. And I think it'll work for WB in the long run because general audiences can just not see the stuff they don't care about. 

Now, I've enjoyed the majority of the MCU films and TV shows that I've seen, with some noted exceptions like Doctor Strange (2016), Thor: Ragnarok (2017), WandaVision (2021), and Loki (2021). But I don't have the time or energy to watch everything. Especially because I'm watching several TV shows every week with the various Star Trek shows, The Orville, Superman & Lois, The Hardy Boys, the various Star Wars shows (with some notable exceptions), and Only Murders in the Building. Not to mention I read, watch movies, go outside to get some fresh air, AND I run this blog in addition to eating, going to get groceries and everything else. Even without a job to go to every day I don't have time to watch every single TV show and movie that comes out. 

Which is why I don't think Marvel Studios's current model for their shows and movies is sustainable in the long run the way their previous model was. I mean the majority of people watching these shows and movies aren't YouTubers or bloggers who watch them for a living. But the way Marvel Studios has structured them you have to watch everything in order to understand just one movie or show. Spider-Man: No Way Home and Shang-Chi seem to be the exceptions. And eventually that means that the MCU will lose viewers or some shows won't do as well because people will be picking and choosing what they watch. It's possible that might not happen for another five to ten years, I don't know. But I do think it will happen eventually. 

That's going to be it for me for today. It's kind of a quick rant post today since I didn't know what to talk about really since I was able to get my review of the third season of Love, Victor out yesterday. I'll be back tomorrow for my review of this week's episode of Star Trek: Strange New Worlds so until then have a great evening and I will talk to you later. Take care.