8 Ways Upcoming Movies Can Fix Franchise Mistakes

8. Avengers: Infinity War Will Have A Real Threat

The Mistake: It feels like our heroes are never in any real danger.

How The Movies Will Fix It: Arguably the single biggest criticism levelled at the Marvel Cinematic Universe is that it doesn't take itself seriously enough.

Characters die and come back to life, epic, world-destroying confrontations are resolved through fluffy punch-ups between quippy villains and equally quippy heroes, and the whole thing feels like a bit of a walk in the park for everyone involved.

Movies like Iron Man 3 and Captain America: Civil War have dug deeper into the consequences of being a hero and how the characters are affected by all the fighting, but the MCU has a long way to go before this becomes a common practice instead of rare surprise.

Fortunately, Avengers: Infinity War and Avengers 4 directors Joe and Anthony Russo are aware of this issue and are attempting to ensure that their upcoming sequels carry weight, and a real sense of danger.

While speaking to io9 earlier this year, Joe Russo said the following:

“You know... my brother and I like stakes. We believe in stakes for these movies, we fight for stakes on these films, and I think people should be prepared for a very intense experience in both Avengers 3 and Avengers 4. And they should be prepared for some pretty big surprises.”

The important words there are "intense" and "stakes". Whatever happens in the next few Avengers movies, it looks like the days of dance battles resolving conflict are long over.