bren2k wrote:It didn't - and I've made the same point before; but to suggest that someone needs to 'put a bullet in the Marvel franchise' because you judge that 'its going nowhere' is plain daft; subjectively up to your quality standards or not, they are a money making box office juggernaut and as such, won't be going away anytime soon.
It ISN'T going anywhere. Marvel is attempting to fundamentally change the dynamic of big-budget motion cinema by transforming it into expensive TV.
In cinema the idea is you achieve some kind of resolution. Perhaps it might take more than one film. But eventually you get to where you wish to go.
Under the Marvel paradigm the idea is to NEVER achieve resolution. You just keep extending it in all directions (often contradicting everything you said previously) thus robbing it of any kind of dramatic weight and catharsis.
Yes, I suppose there is a precedent already set with Bond. But Bond has always recognised the perils of over-familiarity. It never attempted to flood the summer market with two or three films each year.
To make matters worse we now have Star Wars arriving on the scene. Which will likely repeat Marvel's mistakes. Throw in Transformers and DC (if it ever gets its act together) and you've effectively killed summer cinema as we once knew it.
