10 Things You Don't Want To Admit About The Marvel Cinematic Universe

8. There€™s No Peril

In the source material the Marvel Cinematic Universe draws upon there€™s a much-maligned concept called Comic Book Death. The unfortunate trope carries the truism that any time a character is killed off in a superhero comic, it€™s rarely (if ever) permanent: any major character that kicked the bucket will be resurrected thanks to magic, a universe reset, or some other ridiculous jiggery pokery. There€™s yet to be any of that in the MCU so far - unless SPOILERS Bucky counts in The Winter Soldier - but they arguably have something much worse. It€™s a matter of public record that almost all of the heavy hitters in the Marvel Cinematic Universe have signed, like, ridiculous contracts. Dozen picture deals and the like. They€™re mostly locked in to star in Marvel movies right up through the next decade or so, with the recent announcement of the company€™s slate of films due out until 2020 all adding to the general issue that there€™s no real sense of threat. None of these characters are going to die, and audiences know that. Obviously no cinematic hero is ever really in any peril, but it€™d be nice to at least pay the concept lip service.
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Tom Baker is the Comics Editor at WhatCulture! He's heard all the Doctor Who jokes, but not many about Randall and Hopkirk. He also blogs at http://communibearsilostate.wordpress.com/