10 Things I Hate About The Marvel Cinematic Universe
9. Sharing Is Caring
Marvel have made a big noise about the Marvel Cinematic Universe as a shared continuity mirroring the one we’ve seen for decades in the comic books. The thing is, that shared universe concept doesn’t work like it does in the comics.
Comics readers don’t expect team-ups every issue. It’s generally taken as read that, outside of specifically designated crossovers and guest shots, most superheroes have got their own thing going on. Daredevil isn’t always helping out fellow New York superhero Spider-Man, because they both star in ongoing comic books with storylines taking place at the same time.
Like a comic book narrative, Agents Of S.H.I.E.L.D. has an ongoing storyline running through each season in bite-sized chunks, with events continuing to unfold between seasons. The movies and the Netflix shows don’t have that. They’re released to the public as self-contained stories, events that (in the absence of storylines that establish otherwise) are seen to run consecutively to one another in MCU continuity, one after another.
Given that, and given the shared universe that all of these superpowered people and clandestine organisations take part in - on TV and in the movies - there’s no good in-universe reason why they’re not constantly cropping up in each others’ stories.
It’s a plot hole Marvel have done little to address, and the bigger the Marvel Cinematic Universe gets, the smaller the world becomes. By the time Avengers: Infinity War rolls around, it’s entirely possible that every single living MCU superhero will be involved in some way: the film’s directors, the Russo brothers, were originally looking at a whiteboard with sixty-seven (67) characters on it.
Where was Banner when his best buddy and ‘science bro’ Stark had his house bombed by terrorists and was feared dead in Iron Man 3? What were superpowered New York residents Jessica Jones and Matt Murdock doing during the Chitauri invasion?
There are no answers to these, and many, many more questions… and it’s only going to get more and more implausible, even nonsensical, as more and more interrelated superhero characters are introduced.