I hate shared universes

[Citizen Kane]

We live in an era where most of the "biggest movies of the year" are shared universe superhero movies. I miss when the blockbusters of the year were mostly one-and-done movies.

[Vakanai]

I prefer ignoring the younger characters aging so the "old guard" isn't the "old guard". All the Golden and Silver Age guys have to be in their 40s? Yeah, nah.

[the illustrious mr. kenway]

We'll just agree to disagree.

My answer still the same to the OP. If you hate shared universes, just go read/watch something else.

[CosmiComic]

We'll just agree to disagree.

My answer still the same to the OP. If you hate shared universes, just go read/watch something else.

While I wouldn't necessarily say "go elsewhere," I do agree the shared universe is here to stay.

As for characters not progressing, to me that's the bigger issue than connectivity.

[PCN24454]

I prefer ignoring the younger characters aging so the "old guard" isn't the "old guard". All the Golden and Silver Age guys have to be in their 40s? Yeah, nah.

Characters should be allowed to move on or retire imo.

[Vakanai]

Characters should be allowed to move on or retire imo.

And characters should be allowed to remain in their prime as long as there's writers and readers who love it imo.

[lemonpeace]

And characters should be allowed to remain in their prime as long as there's writers and readers who love it imo.

I disagree, mainly in relation to a shared universe. you shouldn't hold up a whole universe so a handful of characters can tell slight variations if their same narratives arcs ad infinitum. if a character need to be perpetually in their prime then they should have their story end in-universe, and move on to their own bubble out of continuity in minis and limited series.

[Vakanai]

I disagree, mainly in relation to a shared universe. you shouldn't hold a whole universe so a handful of characters can tell variations if their same narratives arcs ad infinitum. if characters need to be perpetually in their prime then they should have their story end in-universe, and move on to their own bubble out of continuity in minis and limited series.

I disagree - the shared universe exists to strengthen the characters, the characters do not exist to strengthen the universe. The universe must yield to better suit the characters and give them new stories and keep them going. There's no point in a fictional universe if it needs to kill off the characters it was created to serve.

Edit: That bubble of out of continuity minis and limited series is where you should tell those "retirement/ending" stories, not the other way around.

[the illustrious mr. kenway]

While I wouldn't necessarily say "go elsewhere," I do agree the shared universe is here to stay.

As for characters not progressing, to me that's the bigger issue than connectivity.

Fine. Just read Black Label or the other imprints. I recommend the Sandman universe .

[CosmiComic]

Fine. Just read Black Label or the other imprints. I recommend the Sandman universe .

Yeah, I should check out Sandman

[AdamFTF]

Shared universes can be fun and useful provided they're not taken too seriously. Done right, they shouldn't hinder the telling of stories of individual characters while allowing for things like team-ups. Done wrong and it results in having to spend too much time in stories setting up things for other characters, spending too much time world-building for the sake of structure (how things work) rather than texture (the feel of the world) and obsessing over contradictions and continuity errors. It's almost better to take a lackadaisical approach. Legendary's Monsterverse does that and it's fine. DC did that back in the '60s (Wonder Woman was teammates with Martian Manhunter in the Justice League of America, but the Martians of J'onn J'onnz's people were very different from the ones in any of Diana's Duke of Deception stories). Heck, Marvel created the No Prize to pretty much poke fun at the idea of keeping a super-tight continuity.

[PCN24454]

Shared universes can be fun and useful provided they're not taken too seriously. Done right, they shouldn't hinder the telling of stories of individual characters while allowing for things like team-ups. Done wrong and it results in having to spend too much time in stories setting up things for other characters, spending too much time world-building for the sake of structure (how things work) rather than texture (the feel of the world) and obsessing over contradictions and continuity errors. It's almost better to take a lackadaisical approach. Legendary's Monsterverse does that and it's fine. DC did that back in the '60s (Wonder Woman was teammates with Martian Manhunter in the Justice League of America, but the Martians of J'onn J'onnz's people were very different from the ones in any of Diana's Duke of Deception stories). Heck, Marvel created the No Prize to pretty much poke fun at the idea of keeping a super-tight continuity.

We're comic book nerds. We take things like continuity very seriously, so we could never accept the lackadaisical approach. Either they have a shared universe with perfect continuity, or they have separate universes with perfect continuity. They'll accept either, but it has to have perfect continuity. That's not up for debate.

[LordMikel]

We're comic book nerds. We take things like continuity very seriously, so we could never accept the lackadaisical approach. Either they have a shared universe with perfect continuity, or they have separate universes with perfect continuity. They'll accept either, but it has to have perfect continuity. That's not up for debate.

Actually I feel that is up for debate.

The number of times where I'll be in the forums discussing the last episode of Arrow and this will be someone's post.

"Why didn't Oliver call the Flash? The Flash could have handled this. Or he should have explained why he didn't call the Flash, or explained how the Flash was busy doing something else and couldn't be called."

I'm not watching Arrow so that every episode he can call the Flash to help him. Else it becomes a running joke like in Magnum when Magnum says, "Hey, I need a favor."

[SiegePerilous02]

Shared universes have pluses and minuses. They are built around the fact that it is neat and exciting to see these characters from different narratives you love teaming up and interacting. But it gets old hat after a while, and these days they cross over in service of big stupid events, and some heroes are written poorly in service of the narrative of others. Currently, I think both shared universes are bloated and keeping track of things is more of a chore than fun.

For aging characters up and out of the books...that can be a narrative tool that can be rewarding when done well, but isn't an automatic recipe for success either. Especially as the end result is aging out a character proven to be successful on the off chance that a successor will be popular as well. And even if they are, they will just partake in the same types of stories their predecessor did, and those generally are becoming increasingly stupid. Same ****, different toilet. Instead of the characters aging, ideally the audience should be growing up and moving on from superhero comics. No, Batman doesn't need to grow old and retire. You (the audience) should maybe consider just putting Batman down and moving on to other things and leave him for the audience he was meant for. There's nothing wrong with being along for the ride or revisiting him, but demanding plot progression for a character not tied to one particular plot and designed to be published indefinitely seems exhausting and self defeating.