Nothing breeds confidence and bravado like the knowledge that you're invincible. It's basically got to the stage now where the MCU is entirely critic proof: both Iron Man 2 and Thor 2 were poor enough to be considered in the same terms as X-Men 3, but both still spawned sequels. Considering how catastrophic one bad move used to be for comic book movies, that's a fair indication of how far Marvel have dug their nails into the fan-base. Obviously confidence in your brand is a great thing: Apple didn't get where they were without a certain amount of cockiness, and the rewards for the audience and the consumer can be massive. But what about when it goes too far? What about the decisions Marvel have made from their lofty throne that should be viewed with disdain, or worse might be seen as disrespectful of the audience's faith in the property? But as they are all too aware, at this stage, there's very little Marvel could do to turn fans off, and that has bred some odd - and occasionally downright vindictive - decisions that fans seem far too happy to accept without complaint...