Is there a downside to having a unified MCU?

[metaphysician]

I mean, the Avengers fight aliens and gods because they radically outpower things like criminal gangs. This doesn't mean criminal gangs don't exist, just that they are a problem which doesn't require Thor to oppose. The Hawkeye subplot in Endgame and his own show pretty much demonstrates what happens when an Avenger decides to focus on something lower level: a whole heck of a lot of mobsters just kind of die, without any meaningful opposition.

Basically, not all heroes operate on the same scale. You've got street level scrappers stopping purse snatchings and bank robberies, you've got cosmic beings traveling space fighting hostile gods, and you've got every level in between.

 

[Originalavenger]

Unity as in all marvel characters back under Disney house!! Maybe not so much inside MCU

 

[Iceman]

Different power levels exist in real life too. You don't have an aircraft carrier and jets and the FBI involved when a kid nicks 4p from the school tuck shop. It's a waste of resources, as it would be for Thor and Hulk to deal with mobsters.

 

[Mr. Peanut]

Different power levels exist in real life too. You don't have an aircraft carrier and jets and the FBI involved when a kid nicks 4p from the school tuck shop. It's a waste of resources, as it would be for Thor and Hulk to deal with mobsters.

Although I feel like Professor Hulk's lack of direction kind of mucks that up. As far as we can tell he isn't spending his days out dealing with bigger threats, he's just sort of chilling out as this ridiculously strong guy eating tacos and taking selfies with fans. Why isn't he out there beating up crime? Like he could be Luke Cage × 100, wouldn't even have to worry about special bullets and whatnot. He doesn't have to worry about a secret identity. He doesn't have a family to worry about. What is he even doing with his life?

 

[Frodo]

Although I feel like Professor Hulk's lack of direction kind of mucks that up. As far as we can tell he isn't spending his days out dealing with bigger threats, he's just sort of chilling out as this ridiculously strong guy eating tacos and taking selfies with fans. Why isn't he out there beating up crime? Like he could be Luke Cage × 100, wouldn't even have to worry about special bullets and whatnot. He doesn't have to worry about a secret identity. He doesn't have a family to worry about. What is he even doing with his life?

I will say , the first episode of She Hulk addresses this a bit .
I don't know if you've seen it yet , but

Spoiler: SHE HULK

Jen calls him Bruce out a bit about the state of his life.

 

[Mr. Peanut]

I will say , the first episode of She Hulk addresses this a bit .
I don't know if you've seen it yet , but

Spoiler: SHE HULK

Jen calls him Bruce out a bit about the state of his life.

Oh I completely didn't even realize the first episode just came out. Better give that a watch.

 

[Originalavenger]

La la la (fingers in ears) haven’t seen it yet!! Shhhh lol

 

[Mr. Peanut]

I will say , the first episode of She Hulk addresses this a bit .
I don't know if you've seen it yet , but

Spoiler: SHE HULK

Jen calls him Bruce out a bit about the state of his life.

Alright just watched the first episode.

Spoiler

I like that it gave us a little bit more of an idea about what Banner has been up to, but it still feels kind of vague. Like he acts committed to being a superhero and sort of implies that he's used to having run-ins with aliens and stuff on a regular basis, I guess he's supposedly been doing superhero stuff for the government off-screen, but we've really never seen any of that before. It's kind of weird how much stuff happens off screen in the MCU, particularly for Banner. I feel like we've only ever gotten such small glimpses into his superheroing life.

 

[metaphysician]

Alright just watched the first episode.

Spoiler

I like that it gave us a little bit more of an idea about what Banner has been up to, but it still feels kind of vague. Like he acts committed to being a superhero and sort of implies that he's used to having run-ins with aliens and stuff on a regular basis, I guess he's supposedly been doing superhero stuff for the government off-screen, but we've really never seen any of that before. It's kind of weird how much stuff happens off screen in the MCU, particularly for Banner. I feel like we've only ever gotten such small glimpses into his superheroing life.

I mean, that's the inevitable side effect of being movies rather than comics: when you only get a two hour movie every couple years, and maybe some odd cameos and teamup appearance? You only get a small glimpse of specific episodes, not the broader day to day life of a character.

 

[Iceman]

Although I feel like Professor Hulk's lack of direction kind of mucks that up. As far as we can tell he isn't spending his days out dealing with bigger threats, he's just sort of chilling out as this ridiculously strong guy eating tacos and taking selfies with fans. Why isn't he out there beating up crime? Like he could be Luke Cage × 100, wouldn't even have to worry about special bullets and whatnot. He doesn't have to worry about a secret identity. He doesn't have a family to worry about. What is he even doing with his life?

That's just one superpowered individual though. Not every person capable of being a good soldier/detective enlists in the army/police, and some who did don't want that lifestyle anymore or take early retirement and do a different more lucrative career. Some superpowered don't want the hero lifestyle either like Cecilia Reyes and may already be good at something different that they'd worked a long time at and want to pursue that instead (imagine Einstein got super strength for eg). Others use those same powers for bad ends while in our real world many would probably sit on the couch all day and make money on tiktok lol.

 

[metaphysician]

That's just one superpowered individual though. Not every person capable of being a good soldier/detective enlists in the army/police, and some who did don't want that lifestyle anymore or take early retirement and do a different more lucrative career. Some superpowered don't want the hero lifestyle either like Cecilia Reyes and may already be good at something different that they'd worked a long time at and want to pursue that instead (imagine Einstein got super strength for eg). Others use those same powers for bad ends while in our real world many would probably sit on the couch all day and make money on tiktok lol.

Not to mention the simple fact that we don't see 100% of Banner's days. People are taking a few scenes from Endgame where he's not actively engaged in crimefighting, to mean he never engages in superheroics, which is simply weird on numerous levels. For one, nobody is going to be "on the clock" 24/7 unless they are an absolute obsessive; having a meal with acquaintances and getting seen by people is a normal thing people do. For another, during the events of Endgame he was *literally engaged in superheroics*- the majority of the movie was doing the mad science and planning to undo the Snap!

Plus, to be bluntly honest, Banner probably *shouldn't* be spending his time jumping around on roof tops stopping ordinary crime, anyway. Doing superscience research and consulting is almost certainly a more socially helpful use of his time when there isn't a problem that actually *does* need Hulk-level power to deal with. One of the reasons why the world needs superheroes of many different power levels, is so they can divvy up the work efficiently.

 

[Frodo]

This is an IGN Inside Stories about the "MCU" when I was growing up in the 80s

 

[HydraSith12]

I think the problem with the MCU right now is that you need to watch every movie and show to understand what will happen next or you will miss something i think that is too much for the more casual audience in the comics when an event happens you only need to know some characters what happen before dont matter that much and you can still enjoy the story

 

[Bayne]

I think the problem with the MCU right now is that you need to watch every movie and show to understand what will happen next or you will miss something i think that is too much for the more casual audience in the comics when an event happens you only need to know some characters what happen before dont matter that much and you can still enjoy the story

I don't think that's true at all. Hardcore fans are constantly overestimating how much people 'need' to know to be able to enjoy something.

 

[SirStrangefolk]

I don't think that's true at all. Hardcore fans are constantly overestimating how much people 'need' to know to be able to enjoy something.

Yeah when Avengers 1 came out so many people I know had seen only Iron Man or not even that and they still enjoyed it.

And then there's this guy

 

[HydraSith12]

I don't think that's true at all. Hardcore fans are constantly overestimating how much people 'need' to know to be able to enjoy something.

Well still to enjoy the MCU at 100% you need to watch everything

 

[NotNickFury]

Well still to enjoy the MCU at 100% you need to watch everything

Watching Agents of SHIELD didn't improve or lower my interest in Age of Ultron. And I'm pretty sure that people who skipped The Runaways or Cloak and Dagger aren't missing much. Maybe you can say that with the Disney+ shows, though even then skipping WandaVision doesn't make or break Multiverse of Madness. It might help, but it's not required to enjoy the MCU at all.

 

[HydraSith12]

Watching Agents of SHIELD didn't improve or lower my interest in Age of Ultron. And I'm pretty sure that people who skipped The Runaways or Cloak and Dagger aren't missing much. Maybe you can say that with the Disney+ shows, though even then skipping WandaVision doesn't make or break Multiverse of Madness. It might help, but it's not required to enjoy the MCU at all.

Was Agents of Shield even canon? in my opinion only the Disney shows are and some parts of the Netflix shows

 

[NotNickFury]

Was Agents of Shield even canon? in my opinion only the Disney shows are and some parts of the Netflix shows

Well, you said everything, not just picking and choosing what one views or believes is or isn't canon. They're still part of the universe, so those shows, by definition, would add up to enjoying the MCU 100%, correct?

 

[Bayne]

Well still to enjoy the MCU at 100% you need to watch everything

That depends entirely on what kind of person you are. There's a reason Avengers movies can break 2 billion at the box office while Ant-man movies struggle to reach 700k. Its not just because of people going multiple times to Avengers. It's also because a significant number people find Ant-man skippable.

 

[Mr. Peanut]

Not to mention the simple fact that we don't see 100% of Banner's days.

The problem is that we barely see any of Banner's days.

 

[Originalavenger]

The problem is that we barely see any of Banner's days.

Should be seeing more if rumors are true