Do you remember this article at CBM about David S. Goyer and the narrative?
Well the Ultimate Marvel Writer tweeted this friendly dialog between the editor Tom Brevoort and an anonymous:
Anonymous
"Marvel works because the people involved on all levels understand the Marvel characters and what makes them work intimately." And yet you have people working on the comics who are themselves stunningly ignorant of the history and established continuity of these characters. If comics were family court, you would have been taken in for a custody hearing a long time ago. I'll bet half your writers - or editors! - couldn't even pass the most basic continuity exams.
and the answer
Yeesh!
All right, one more time. Tattoo this phrase on your eyelids, it’ll save a lot of agita all around:
The continuity exists to serve the stories, the stories do not exist to serve the continuity.
More often than not creators and editors who focus on the continuity rather than the stories end up crafting stories that are dull and impenetrable to all but the most hardline core fans.
The continuity is important, but it is a tool, nothing more.
And I’d rather have a writer who was excellent, who made me feel as i read his stories, than one who knew and remembered every appearance of the Unicorn, and everything the character did in those appearances. One is storytelling, the other is trivia.
And either way, I know more trivia than you do.
Of course the continuity in the X-Men movies is out of discussion.