8 Cinematic Universes That Existed Before Marvel's

5. View Askewniverse

While Tarantino had a bit of fun seeding clues only people like him would ever pick up on, his contemporary Kevin Smith went all in with the notion of a shared universe. A massive comic book fan, Smith was fascinated with bringing the idea of interlocking continuity across similar-yet-conventionally-unrelated titles to the big screen and with the View Askewniverse that's exactly what he did, albeit with his Gen X dramas rather than superheroes. Jumping off from his festival-storming breakout Clerks, Smith's first five films (and Clerks II) were all part of this wider world centred around New Jersey, linked primarily by Jay and Silent Bob, who appeared in all six movies. Fitting for the characters, there were several muddled connections - multiple castings and the like - which only strengthened the slacker stereotype Smith (and Silent Bob) purported to embody. The View Askewniverse is something only really held close by Smith fans, not helped by his odd change of direction in recent years, but nothing can escape the success of what he did; he managed to beat out Marvel by a whole decade (Bongy Westphall started earlier, but didn't start really leaning into the shared universe until later).