But that’s not what happened. Most films are either new stand-alone films with some connective bits at the end, or they’re direct sequel films that assume you’ve see the previous films within that franchise, but also fill you in.
The two biggest films were actually the most interconnected. Spider-Man No Way Home is full of Spider-Man references not just in the MCU, but to the previous Spider-Man films. Deadpool & Wolverine is full of X-Men and Marvel films pre-MCU references. Both of these films are highly rated and made a shit ton of money.
But are there a number of mid tier films released? Absolutely. But it has nothing to do with required viewing.
Ok maybe I didn’t express myself too clearly. I meant required viewing as in “you need to see this movie to get the full picture when Doomsday rolls around”. If you skip the bad movies, you’re gonna go into Doomsday and not recognize anyone. Yeah the movies thus far have been pretty standalone since there really hasn’t been much if any connective tissue thus far. Like for example Shang Chi popped up once and has been AWOL for 5 years now.
I don’t think if you skipped films you’ll go into Doomsday confused.
Look at the opening of Infinity War. Thor and Hulk are in space. When Bruce returns to Earth everyone is surprised to see him. Bruce is surprised to learn that Tony and Cap are fighting.
In theory you could say that you have to have seen Thor Ragnarok to understand why Thor and Hulk are in space. You have to have seen Age of Ultron to understand why Hulk was missing. You have to have seen Captain America Civil War to understand why Tony and Cap are on bad terms.
But when you watch the film you’re not confused.
Let’s say you skipped the Doctor Strange films, he gets a whole introduction when they explain the Infinity Stones, plus a fight sequence to see more. If you skipped Age of Ultron you don’t know who Wanda and Vision are, but they get a whole character moment intro and then again a fight scene to show off who they are.
Obviously if Doomsday is a bad film, then yeah it will be confusing, that’s what will make it a bad film. But if it’s a good film you can just have a passing knowledge of the MCU, the last film you could have seen could be Endgame, and it’ll still work.
Man I want to have your optimism. But uh I think we’ve gotten too far away from the original point of superhero fatigue. Obviously if the last movie you’ve seen was Endgame and then you go into Doomsday you’re not gonna have fatigue. Doesn’t change the fact that phases 4 thru 6 only had 4 good movies out of 14. Lets set aside my (poorly worded) point about being required watching. If you’re just keeping up with the movies you’ll have to sit thru 10 bad ones and shit gets tiring.
And that’s the point that I really want to make. The pile of bad movies don’t drag down the good movies. No matter how much trash Disney pumps out, people won’t get tired of superheroes altogether.
Exactly. It’s called “Superhero fatigue” but it’s wildly inaccurate. It’s bad movie fatigue. Not that pre-Endgame we didn’t have bad films, they were just more in the beginning of the saga and people were more forgiving.
Plus it’s not like the MCU was alone in putting out bad movies. We had the Sony Spider-Man without Spider-Man films (Venom, etc) and the DCEU which had great films, but more bad than good.
But that’s not what happened. Most films are either new stand-alone films with some connective bits at the end, or they’re direct sequel films that assume you’ve see the previous films within that franchise, but also fill you in.
The two biggest films were actually the most interconnected. Spider-Man No Way Home is full of Spider-Man references not just in the MCU, but to the previous Spider-Man films. Deadpool & Wolverine is full of X-Men and Marvel films pre-MCU references. Both of these films are highly rated and made a shit ton of money.
But are there a number of mid tier films released? Absolutely. But it has nothing to do with required viewing.
The competing hypothesis is that it’s just superhero fatigue, no?
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Ok maybe I didn’t express myself too clearly. I meant required viewing as in “you need to see this movie to get the full picture when Doomsday rolls around”. If you skip the bad movies, you’re gonna go into Doomsday and not recognize anyone. Yeah the movies thus far have been pretty standalone since there really hasn’t been much if any connective tissue thus far. Like for example Shang Chi popped up once and has been AWOL for 5 years now.
I don’t think if you skipped films you’ll go into Doomsday confused.
Look at the opening of Infinity War. Thor and Hulk are in space. When Bruce returns to Earth everyone is surprised to see him. Bruce is surprised to learn that Tony and Cap are fighting.
In theory you could say that you have to have seen Thor Ragnarok to understand why Thor and Hulk are in space. You have to have seen Age of Ultron to understand why Hulk was missing. You have to have seen Captain America Civil War to understand why Tony and Cap are on bad terms.
But when you watch the film you’re not confused.
Let’s say you skipped the Doctor Strange films, he gets a whole introduction when they explain the Infinity Stones, plus a fight sequence to see more. If you skipped Age of Ultron you don’t know who Wanda and Vision are, but they get a whole character moment intro and then again a fight scene to show off who they are.
Obviously if Doomsday is a bad film, then yeah it will be confusing, that’s what will make it a bad film. But if it’s a good film you can just have a passing knowledge of the MCU, the last film you could have seen could be Endgame, and it’ll still work.
Man I want to have your optimism. But uh I think we’ve gotten too far away from the original point of superhero fatigue. Obviously if the last movie you’ve seen was Endgame and then you go into Doomsday you’re not gonna have fatigue. Doesn’t change the fact that phases 4 thru 6 only had 4 good movies out of 14. Lets set aside my (poorly worded) point about being required watching. If you’re just keeping up with the movies you’ll have to sit thru 10 bad ones and shit gets tiring.
And that’s the point that I really want to make. The pile of bad movies don’t drag down the good movies. No matter how much trash Disney pumps out, people won’t get tired of superheroes altogether.
Exactly. It’s called “Superhero fatigue” but it’s wildly inaccurate. It’s bad movie fatigue. Not that pre-Endgame we didn’t have bad films, they were just more in the beginning of the saga and people were more forgiving.
Plus it’s not like the MCU was alone in putting out bad movies. We had the Sony Spider-Man without Spider-Man films (Venom, etc) and the DCEU which had great films, but more bad than good.
Everything prior to endgame is required. Everything post is not. Post has been a mess