With the upcoming movies leading to the Avengers, Marvel have created something that has never truly been seen in the movie medium; an interconnecting continuity spanning several franchise. A point must be made that if anyone has the experience and ability to handle an ever expanding world and continuity it is the big companies from comics medium because its something they handle everyday.
Prior to this, Marvel had established a crossover universe in the animated TV world but this was never more than cameo or guest spots. The best example of a truly crossover universe prior to this was the expansive and interconnecting DC Animated Universe. However, they have never gotten enough momentum to bring established characters together on the big screen.
Marvel have gotten ballsy enough to get a hold of these characters and do this themselves, and so far its worked but can it continue to grow and last or will it crumble around them. With the Captain America, Iron Man, Hulk and Thor sole franchise pretty much guaranteed sequels while the combined Avengers getting sequels and spin-offs Nick Fury, Ant-Man etc plus future movies like Runaways, Doctor Strange and Luke Cage all possibly being Marvel produced makes for an expansive Universe.
I guess the biggest question is are the general movie public ready to take in this world and are they going to be able to cope with the reality of this many crossovers. I know us Fans of Marvel can, and will, lap up every second of it and every little nod with excitement at the future possibilities, even people with limited knowledge of the Marvel Universe (from TV shows and popular culture etc) will understand enough to keep track. However, the rest of the public and movie audiences might find this too much and reject it. I saw Iron Man and The Incredible Hulk with to non-Marvel enlightened and for the most part Marvel played it well, most nods needed to be spotted or were subtle enough not to distract/annoy people; the two exceptions to this being Nick Fury and Leader.
I forcibly made my two friends sit through the credits (which they were not amused by) to see the Nick Fury clip which left them a little confused, and me bemused why they didn’t understand that how epic having Nick Fury on screen was. The Leader thing was obviously not as much of a problem with more than a few people not even taking much notice of it.
These reactions worry me a bit, and with the addition of plausi-magical elements in Thor (and in the future Doctor Strange), will it become too much that the general public get confused by it all and lose interest. I hope not and I don’t think we are far enough in to be in a position to tell what the reaction will be but the public have been know to be fickle and I just don’t know if there are enough fanboys to keep the money flowing.
Another more interesting element, is whether Marvel have the strength of will to allow to let the Movieverse expand in its own right. Marvel currently has plans for many movies in this line which will undoubtedly keep them busy for a good decade but what then? What happens when Robert Downey, Jr. and Samuel L Jackson shows their age more than they do already? By this time you would have hoped that Hollywood’s reboot crazing will have passed and Marvel will take the leap to diverge away in a new and continues continuity. It maybe only a pipe dream but Marvel have shown that allowing directors and actor to use the established worlds as more of a rough guide to be modernized and adapted for the big screen works, and lets face it if anyone told you 5 years ago that Captain America, Thor and Iron Man would be standing side-by-side on the big screen in the near future; you would have laughed in there face.
10 years is a long time, franchises could come back under Marvel control, the face of The Avengers could be more fluid than any of us could imagine, actors could leave or die leaving the possibility of legacy characters being introduced and merged in to the Universe. The future of the Marvel Movieverse could be something truly unprecedented, or its existence something we all must savor will the chance is available to us.