LogFAQs > #975184043

I think the fact that we couldn't see any other studio replicate the Marvel formula without falling dick-first in dogshit is a sign that we probably won't see another Avengers-level cinematic event for a good while - maybe not even within our lifetimes.

Other cinematic universes either didn't understand why the MCU worked, or they thought they could ride the coattails of those Marvel movies with a pale imitation of what they were doing. DC are probably the most visible example of this - while the first Avengers movie took 4 or 5 movies to build each individual superhero and establish the sort of world those characters live in, with those settings and stories being totally independent of each other aside from some connective tissue that built towards that big team-up movie, DC tried to blow their load in three movies. Superman was the only DC character to get his own movie, BvS was like The Avengers 0.5 with a rushed Batman introduction and an unexpected Wonder Woman role, and Justice League had half of a cast who you were meeting for the first time in that movie. They built Superman up in MoS, KILLED HIM in the next movie, and then REVIVED HIM AGAIN in their third big movie, and then they never used him again outside of some silly cameos. Consider what happened when the MCU killed off a significant main character like that.

Or consider a cinematic universe which got flushed down the drain after one movie - the Universal Dark Universe, which began and ended with Tom Cruise's The Mummy. One of the main characters is Russell Crowe as Dr. Jekyll - he exists solely to be like "ooh, Dr. Jekyll!! Wonder what his movie is gonna be like!". It's like if Iron Man got out of Afghanistan in Iron Man 1, then instead of his own standalone plot, Nick Fury recruited him on a mission to save Bruce Banner in the middle of the Amazon jungle. They cast a series of actors years before their movies were scheduled to be made, including Johnny Depp as the Invisible Man - when the Mummy flopped, all of those movies got canned.

Nobody cared about worldbuilding. The Paramount Marvel movies might not have been a-grade material, but they were individual, standalone movies with their own stakes. They each offered a different look into the worlds of these characters, and when the Avengers came out, those worlds collided. Those individual stories formed the foundation of a cohesive whole - and frankly, it shouldn't have worked. Thor, Captain America, The Incredible Hulk and Iron Man 2 weren't universally praised, they kind of varied in quality and in hokeyness. And then you have the matter of six or seven main characters, each of them vital parts of the movie.

But it's because you had those five movies beforehand, you knew the characters and their worlds, that you could see those paths crossing and go "okay, this is coherent and makes sense".

What context does Dr. Jekyll have in The Mummy that makes him such a vital and exciting part of that movie, except to try and bank on a popular name in the hopes of making a movie about him down the line? Why do we only meet Batman in the movie where he wants to kill Superman? What's the context of Ben Affleck's Batman, why does his entire fucking deal have to be crammed into a movie where he's meant to be fighting Superman? Nobody cares about worldbuilding. Everyone wanted their Avengers moment without putting in the work first.

And then, consider the more recent trend of the "surprise crossover". The Lego Batman Movie isn't just about Batman - Sauron from Lord of the Rings, Voldemort from Harry Potter and the Daleks from Doctor Who are all in that movie! Look at Scoob!, where - to my understanding - the main villain is Dick Dastardly from Wacky Races, trying to save Muttley's soul from hell or something. Are the cameos and appearances kind of interesting and fun? Sure. I would watch Scoob! for that reason, I just don't have a good enough reason to track down a copy otherwise. I got a kick out of seeing Daleks in the Lego Batman movie, even if they were a glorified cameo. Then you have the worst example of the lot, Ready Player One existing as Cameo: The Movie.

That being said, I think those movies are perfectly content achieving what they achieve. Those failed cinematic universes, on the other hand, are malignant and shortsighted. They were never gonna compete with the MCU because they either didn't understand the rules or they decided to take shortcuts.

The MCU up to Endgame wasn't perfect, but it had a lot of variety and it established a lot of different characters and settings. Infinity War and Endgame paid all of that off. The franchise built on itself like layers, and then they paid it all off with Endgame. Unless there's a franchise that's patient enough to build those layers again, which is willing and capable of building that foundation one block at a time, there's not going to be another cinematic event like Endgame.

That being said, the closest thing we might get are the next three Avatar movies. They're taking their time and telling a story that's been in the works for well over a decade at this point. These movies have been in development forever, and somehow Avatar 2 managed to pay off despite everyone writing the first movie off as a fluke - a spectacle as wide as an ocean but as deep as a puddle.