Chris Wallace said:
The difference is that comics have more room for that sort of thing. By this I mean they're ongoing monthly (sometimes bi-weekly) stories, with more varied plot points. So I can deal w/something like Maximum Carnage or Secret Wars in a comic, because a storyline like that has a generally solo hero seeking specific help for that specific situation. I can even take a situation like MTU, where Blade & Punisher are arguing on a rooftop while Spidey & Daredevil are battling Ringmaster. Now if Spidey was ALWAYS running to Mr. Fantastic or DD or whoever & ALWAYS calling in backup, it's get kinda lame. With a movie, you're not gonna see these people on screen for another 2 years or more. Let the focus be on the character whose name is on my ticket.
Now passive references on the other hand, are cool as long as they're not along the lines of "This is why Superman works alone."
I just remembered a line from those earlier games that I loved:
"No Blackbird, no Quinjet, no Helicarrier, no Fantasticar-no backup whatsoever! Where's the love?"
I wouldn't mind him saying something like that.
Well, the bottom line is that our little difference of opinion (minor as it is) is pretty much a moot point. I don't really think we even disagree. I am with you that, FOR NOW, they should just do the solo movie thing because there's so much left to be seen in the solo realm. I wanna see Iron Man and all the Avengers done solo. I want Doc Strange done right. I want Luke Cage (would REALLY love it if they did a Heroes for Hire film with Iron Fist - maybe that goes against what you want?). I want a lot more that I'll probably never see like Morbius and Nova.
But after all the heroes are out and have several solo movies under their collective utility belts, I would love to see a crossover. Heck, if they got the right person to do it, I'd love to see a big 3-hour (maybe even multi- film crossover, ala LOTR or something) crossover with all of the heroes so far portrayed. If that's several years down the road, we could have Spidey, Hulk, DD, X-men, FF, Avengers, Silver Surfer, Blade, Ghost Rider, Punisher...
Wait, let me catch my breath...!!!
I think what we actually disagree on is whether it COULD EVER work. I absolutely think it COULD. They'd just have to get the right people to do it. I mean, the LOTR trilogy could have been done horribly wrong (odds were actually against it, IMO - I mean, a project of that scope has more chance of being screwed up just because of the size and length and number of characters) but it worked to great success! I think you're of the opinion of "Spidey and Blade and Hulk have no business being in a film together - ever - because there is no common element!" I say a good, creative writing team could bang out a great story that could logically (well, comic logic anyway!) bring all of those together in a superhero extravaganza that would never be topped!!!