Is The MCU The Greatest Franchise Of All Time?

[CliffHanger2]

Eh I wouldn't say the MCU plays it safe,they mostly play it smart. They weren't swayed by the success of other movies. They stuck to their own thing and made a variety of different movies. Iron Man, Avengers, Ragnarok, Black Panther were huge risks just to name a few. And yeah I'll admit I didn't think they could pull GOTG off but they did.

[Wildling]

Winter Soldier belongs in the same category as those three.
It’s the one Marvel movie I can show non-MCU or non-superhero movie fans, and they still love it.

Glad to see it seems to be standing the test of time.

[Pinsir]

Glad to see it seems to be standing the test of time.

It really hasn't, the only people propping it up are MCU fans. Outside that group, no one really mentions it and for good reason; its okay at best.

[Jim Kelly]

The Greatest Francis of All Time was Francis the Talking Mule--star of seven movies: FRANCIS THE TALKING MULE (1950); FRANCIS GOES TO THE RACES (1951); FRANCIS GOES TO WEST POINT (1952); FRANCIS COVERS THE BIG TOWN (1953); FRANCIS JOINS THE WACS (1954); FRANCIS IN THE NAVY (1955); FRANCIS IN THE HAUNTED HOUSE (1956). Donald O'Connor co-starred with Francis in all but the last film.

[Conn Seanery]

Yeah, and that you're a big Francis the Talking Mule fan makes me miserable.

Oh wait, I don't really care. I have other things I enjoy.

[choptop]

It really hasn't, the only people propping it up are MCU fans. Outside that group, no one really mentions it and for good reason; its okay at best.

Ya I never did get the love for WS it a good movie for sure but it's not really anything new or special.

[Arfguy]

In your honest opinion, do you think the MCU is worthy of the title of “greatest franchise of all time”? To me, I think it definitely is.

Few franchises can ever lay claim to being as consistently successful as they are while maintaining the quality it has. Avengers Endgame alone was arguably the greatest achievement of blockbuster filmmaking in recent memory, even if you don’t share the love for the movie most have, you cannot deny it delivered for most a powerful and emotionally engaging experience that will remembered for the rest of their lives.

I want to, because I grew up with Marvel comics and I love the MCU. However, there are nagging things that keep me from granting that title.

I want to give the MCU title, because of achievement alone...however, nagging things like cinematography, musical themes and scores, some characters and concepts that owe a little than necessary to other franchises keep it from gaining that title, IMO.

[Powerboy]

The Greatest Francis of All Time was Francis the Talking Mule--star of seven movies: FRANCIS THE TALKING MULE (1950); FRANCIS GOES TO THE RACES (1951); FRANCIS GOES TO WEST POINT (1952); FRANCIS COVERS THE BIG TOWN (1953); FRANCIS JOINS THE WACS (1954); FRANCIS IN THE NAVY (1955); FRANCIS IN THE HAUNTED HOUSE (1956). Donald O'Connor co-starred with Francis in all but the last film.

You're probably going to ruin my childhood now by implying that Mr. Ed was a ripoff of Francis. No wait. Silly me. Mr. Ed was a horse so it couldn't possibly have been the same idea.

[TriggerWarning]

The Marvel Cinematic Universe is unquestionably the most successful film franchise of all time.

More so than any other film franchise, including the traditional heavyweights 007 and Godzilla. It's more successful than Star Wars, Star Trek, LOTR, Harry Potter, DCEU, and any other directly-connected series of movies you can name.

Not even close to Star Wars. The first movie alone has 461 million on a 11 million budget. Adjusted to 2020 dollars just to give you the scale thats 1.7 billion on a 40 million budget.

Star Wars basically reinvented the sci fi genre for its time and changed everything about movies, the toy industry, and comic books.

It created a massive toy industry as well that dwarfs the movies in terms of profits (maybe even beat them). The MCU sells toys but nothing like what Star Wars did. They don't sell like they used to but no toys sell like Star Wars used to.

Star Wars also saved Marvel comics from extinction. The company was not doing well in the late 70's and folding was becoming a strong possibility. They took a chance on the doing the comic tie in to Star Wars (before it had become popular) and when the movie exploded it drove people to buy Marvel Star Wars comics. Which then in turn got people buying their superhero comics as well. For many, including me, this was their entry point to comic books. It caused a boom in comic sales. So without Star Wars, Marvel probalby folds and the MCU never happens.

Recent MCU movies have done better than recent Star Wars movies, though it should be noted that no MCU movie even came close to Force Awakens domestically, but as a whole franchise nothing the MCU has done rivals what Star Wars has done, especially from 1977 to 1983. It was only 3 movies but they were massive and had a far greater cultural impact than the MCU has ever had.

[Kieran_Frost]

Do you think the MCU is worthy of the title of “greatest franchise of all time”?

I suppose the biggest issue is what do you define "greatest" by? Money and success, to me, is not the staple of "greatest". In my "100 Greatest Films" blog on here I define greatest as the epic-centre where enjoyment meets artistic appreciation. And it's the latter where the MCU loses me. It's not artistic. It's VERY formulaic, it's VERY produced and false. How many directors have dropped out of projects because Disney is crushing any creativity in favour of what the money-men want and think will work. The few gems of creativity in the films are either accidents or a performance that supersede the cage of Disney producers.

There is no creativity in the MCU. It's paint-by-numbers cinema. That is not art I can appreciate in terms of "greatest." I ENJOY THE FILMS! A lot. But I enjoy the First Wives Club (1996) a lot too. Doesn't make it art. Never will.

[Powerboy]

Not even close to Star Wars. The first movie alone has 461 million on a 11 million budget. Adjusted to 2020 dollars just to give you the scale thats 1.7 billion on a 40 million budget.

Star Wars basically reinvented the sci fi genre for its time and changed everything about movies, the toy industry, and comic books.

It created a massive toy industry as well that dwarfs the movies in terms of profits (maybe even beat them). The MCU sells toys but nothing like what Star Wars did. They don't sell like they used to but no toys sell like Star Wars used to.

Star Wars also saved Marvel comics from extinction. The company was not doing well in the late 70's and folding was becoming a strong possibility. They took a chance on the doing the comic tie in to Star Wars (before it had become popular) and when the movie exploded it drove people to buy Marvel Star Wars comics. Which then in turn got people buying their superhero comics as well. For many, including me, this was their entry point to comic books. It caused a boom in comic sales. So without Star Wars, Marvel probalby folds and the MCU never happens.

Recent MCU movies have done better than recent Star Wars movies, though it should be noted that no MCU movie even came close to Force Awakens domestically, but as a whole franchise nothing the MCU has done rivals what Star Wars has done, especially from 1977 to 1983. It was only 3 movies but they were massive and had a far greater cultural impact than the MCU has ever had.

This also comes down to factors such as when something was done. For instance, it's argued that no television show today can get the ratings a show in the 1970s got because there were three networks, not nearly the competition.

Star Wars was a phenomenon coming at a time when there was nothing like it. It changed movies and specifically sci fi and fantasy. Without it, there would have been no Battlestar Galactica and no remake of same. There would have been no Star Trek movies because Star Wars created the situation for taking the show and making a movie. There would have been no explosion of sci fi, good or bad. There would likely have been no Alien or Aliens, no Predator, no Avatar, etc. There would have been no MCU because Star Wars started and maintained the special effects race that led to CGI that led to the MCU being possible.

On the other hand, that can become akin to the argument that Superman is automatically the greatest of all super heroes simply because he was first and hence highly influential.

Nowadays, I hear people talking about the MCU more than Star Wars and crazier about it. Kids talk about Iron-Man more than Star Wars characters. But that may be because the MCU is much more active. There won't be another Star Wars for several years as far as movies go but there will be a steady stream of MCU movies. Add that there's a lot of conflict about recent Star Wars movies while dislike of the MCU is pretty much an extreme minority. Maybe it is with Star Wars too.

But there is no arguing that Star Wars has had far more cultural impact. But it's also had four decades of being part of our culture. People who saw it as kids are in their fifties now. We have no idea yet how kids today will look at the MCU four decades from now and attempting to do so is just conjecture based on what any of us want to believe the long-term reaction will be.

[Powerboy]

I suppose the biggest issue is what do you define "greatest" by? Money and success, to me, is not the staple of "greatest". In my "100 Greatest Films" blog on here I define greatest as the epic-centre where enjoyment meets artistic appreciation. And it's the latter where the MCU loses me. It's not artistic. It's VERY formulaic, it's VERY produced and false. How many directors have dropped out of projects because Disney is crushing any creativity in favour of what the money-men want and think will work. The few gems of creativity in the films are either accidents or a performance that supersede the cage of Disney producers.

There is no creativity in the MCU. It's paint-by-numbers cinema. That is not art I can appreciate in terms of "greatest." I ENJOY THE FILMS! A lot. But I enjoy the First Wives Club (1996) a lot too. Doesn't make it art. Never will.

I cannot pretend to be an expert on what is and is not artistic. I do think one important factor is longevity and that's something we cannot answer with the MCU. Forty years from now, if an old person says to a child, "What do you think of the Marvel Cinematic Universe", will he say, "It's great" or will he say, "What's that?" leaving the adult to say, "Well, it was something very popular when I was young but it faded". Unlike, say, Star Wars. Here we are, forty years later and it's as popular as ever.

Mind you, I'm not even saying that's the be all of greatness. There are films the general public has long forgotten that were great.

[ComicJunkie21]

Have to agree with other posters on the topic. No hate to the MCU but its achievement doesn't revolve around its creativity or film quality it revolves around the volume of films it created and its ability to link them.

The MCU films didn't do anything that hadn't been done in prior superhero films like Raimi's Spiderman or Christopher Reeves Superman when talking each MCU film standing on its own. The ability to link the films to the extent that they did was great but not perfect. Many fans can point to multiple plot holes and inconsistencies in the films. For alot of films time is not their friend when plotholes are involved as popular films tend get analyzed over and over again. Heck Endgame is full of issues and imo didn't live up to what was built before it. In hindsight Endgame's plot was bad writing and many can probably agree that Infinity War was a far better film that deserved a better ending than what Endgame provided.

As time passes and the emotional aspect and personal investment is taken out of the MCU and isn't so fresh we'll see where the MCU falls in the all time greatest franchise talk. While its definitely in the top 5 I think it will still be beat out by Star Wars, Harry Potter, and Lord of the Rings and possibly Avatar if it can deliver the same impact from the first film.

Truthfully I wouldn't be surprised if in a few years we start hearing people say the MCU was the biggest franchise that didn't deserve the title or Endgame is the biggest movie of all time that didn't deserve to be.

[ComicJunkie21]

Forgot to mention performances in my other post. While many of us loved RDJ as Iron Man, it wasn't his best performance nor did he really have a chance to showcase his true acting skills and everyone else's performance is forgettable even if I did enjoy them.

Toby as Spiderman was memorable, Hugh Jackman as wolverine was memorable, The endless Batman and Joker actors were memorable in their performances but can't say the same for MCU performances. I honestly can't even put RDJ in with the above individuals because he didn't have the material/script to do a great performance.

[Valentis]

The Godfather
Lord of the Rings
Star Wars
Harry Potter
Back to the Future

I have not seen every MCU movie, there are so many of them that I lost track. I have seen the essentials. Captain Marvel, Spiderman Homecoming, Thor, Captain America, Avengers, Endgame, Iron Man and Black Panther. The movies are breezily entertaining for the most of it.

MCU lacks creativity and film quality. I prefer Hugh Jackman's X-Men, Men in Black 1 and 2, Wesley Snipes Blade films and Raimi's Spiderman Marvel films. MCU is great at linking every film together. There is nothing special about their films once you remove the link.