5 Biggest Threats To The Marvel Cinematic Universe (And The 5 Best Ways To Fight Them)

2. Marvel Reboot Syndrome

Also known as "here we go again."

Every few years, these guys reboot their entire universe, start retelling many of the same stories with a few new ones in the interstices. Four idiots get hit with the same cosmic rays, a test subject gets all hopped up on super-soldier serum, and some guy named Bruce OD's on gamma rays. Lather, rinse, repeat. Yes, they tweak a few of the knobs on the story-writing machine and change a few personalities, update the plots to go with the times... and they hire some new actors to play the old roles in the movies. With "Amazing Spider-Man," some fans are starting to get tired of this retelling and retooling process.

As always, the answer is in not falling into the same traps, by telling new stories in new arcs, unencumbered by reboots and retellings. Treat all the stories as "a thousand tales" about the characters, not relying on any of them to be "true ones." Let the fans argue about which ones "really happened" and which ones are just tales told by some other hero or villain. This also has the added advantage that it allows Marvel and their studios the opportunity to keep from getting too tied to any given actor, which relates to the final significant problem.

Contributor
Contributor

Michael Marcus is a game designer, author, and mad scientist living in Hamtramck, Michigan; his current project list include a series of comic short-stories collectively called "One-Punch," a book on hypnosis and language called "The Prometheus Codex," a collaborative game project called "Art War," and a fun spy story called "The Adventures of Jack Uzi" at http://tinyurl.com/JackUziChannel (for those interested).