Spider-Man: Major in real life, Minor in-universe?

[Revolutionary_Jack]

Actually, just a small correction: The Night Gwen Stacy Died took place just after Spidey returned from Canada where he had a battle with the Hulk, and got a cold from it that weakened him in the battle against Goblin. You know, the one. So while it wasn't a big part, the shared universe did play into that story.

Bit of a stretch, since after all Peter having or not having a cold wasn't a factor in Gwen living or dying. Gwen got killed by the Goblin who rammed his glider into Peter, knocking her from a great height and killing her with the fall. At least going by the story that got written.

Anyways, the shared universe aspect of Marvel goes back to Day 1. Stan Lee made Marvel stand out because they not only had a continuity, but they shared a world with each other, where DC had neither one (forcing them to adapt).

DC did have a shared universe. In fact a shared multiverse, it just wasn't well integrated that's all. The Justice League and Justice Society teaming up various heroes and villains existed then, as did World's Finest which was the title of Superman-Batman team-ups.

What distinguished Marvel was the writing, the artwork, the serialized continuity, and the real-time growth and progression, and value of the stories. That's what forced DC to adapt.

Many elements spun out of the Fantastic Four such as Doctor Doom/Latveria, Galactus and the Heralds, the Inhumans, the Moloids, Namor/Atlantis (canonized through FF after Timely), Black Panther/Wakanda, the Kree, the Skrulls, and The Negative Zone.

Yeah eventually it spun into their corner. I mean most people would agree that Black Panther works pretty well standalone. If you watch the movie, until the post-credits scene, it was a self-contained thing. Do a Ctrl+F on the script here (https://www.springfieldspringfield.c...=black-panther) not one mention of Stark, Avenger, Iron Man, Thanos in the entire script.

Whereas Tony Stark/Stark/Iron Man is mentioned more than 50 times in Spider-Man Homecoming, Avengers mentioned 12 times. (https://www.springfieldspringfield.c...man-homecoming)

The fact is that a Shared Universe was a fun and cool thing to play around in and it can work that way, but only if it serves the individual stories and characters first and foremost, and if each corner of the Marvel Universe can work independently.

Like take Jason Aaron's run on Thor, and a story like Gorr the God Butcher. That story doesn't really refer to stuff outside Thor's corner and it works largely within it. A villain like Gorr who challenges Thor's entire identity and values really needs Thor by himself (and his future and past selves, and his potential grand-daughters) to work.

What matters is how they're written.

On that I agree. I mean ultimately good writers and artists can make things work.