10 Marvel Movie Elements That No Longer Matter

The Marvel Cinematic Universe feels like such an iconic mainstay of Hollywood that it's hard to believe it only started in 2008. Since then, it has released 12 movies to critical acclaim and a jaw-dropping $9.084 billion at the box office, recently topping Harry Potter and James Bond as the highest-grossing movie franchise of all time. You don't get that far without knowing a thing or two about compelling, crowd-pleasing filmmaking, but at the same time, the enterprise is so ridiculously huge that, unsurprisingly, some things get lost in the shuffle. Whether by accident or by economic design, these characters, concepts and seemingly integral elements of the MCU have largely been cast aside as the series has grown over the years, becoming less relevant with each passing movie in most cases. Some make sense in terms of streamlining a potentially complex web moving forward, whereas others just smack of laziness, and opinion will no doubt differ massively on whether these elements are the product of smart filmmaking or complacency. Here are 10 Marvel elements that no longer matter...

10. Dividing Movies Into Phases

The upcoming release of Captain America: Civil War will signal the beginning of MCU Phase Three, but in honesty, does that really mean anything worthwhile? When the MCU began to take shape and the idea of it having various phases was highlighted, it seemed like it might have some purpose beyond dividing the movies up for Blu-ray boxed sets. In reality, though, it does next-to-nothing outside of this: Phase One of course concluded with The Avengers, which actually made sense, whereas Phase Two finished with Ant-Man rather than Age of Ultron, which didn't feel like a very "neat" way to tie it off. Phase Three will meanwhile end not with Infinity War Part 2 but Inhumans, pretty much cementing the idea that the decision to divide the movies up really doesn't matter much at all.