On 9/10/2025 at 11:45 PM, Ben Kendrick said:

This is 100% how I feel these days. I see everything but find that I’m much much more connected to a great solo story than a cameo packed crossover.

Maybe this is just me being nostalgic for when I was younger, but this year I've been rewatching Raimi Spider-Man, Fox X-Men, etc. and there's almost something refreshing about watching a superhero movie that isn't part of some massive interconnected universe. I kinda miss movies like that.

It's sad the MCU has come to this. I think, for me, Endgame was the mistake; I remember writing at the time that the only way to properly handle an event like the snap was to undo it with time travel. Because the MCU really works when it's set in "the world outside your window", and an event like the snap breaks that. There is no sane and sensible way to imagine that this is "the world outside your window" anymore. That five-year time jump made things worse, because you had five years of progression that was unseen. How much of the Hulk's story, for example, was actually on-screen in the first place? Honestly, I think Endgame broke the MCU. I enjoyed the film - but it was a full stop, not a comma. A conclusion, not a launchpad.

That, to me, is the big issue with Secret Wars. If Marvel get this wrong, it will feel like a full stop - and a bigger one than Endgame, because it will tie a bow over every Marvel story since 2000 (possibly beyond, if Wesley Snipes' Blade is in it). The stakes are very, very high right now. And I don't know if Marvel realize it, or frankly can pull this off the way it needs to be.

I'll still watch. I still am a fan; but I'm undeniably less passionate and excited, and it's a matter of individual projects getting me engaged rather than the universe itself. I've always loved the X-Men, so I'm guaranteed to see those. But beyond that... Marvel hasn't sold me on much yet. Black Panther 3 has Ryan Coogler, but I dislike that we've had an entire Black Panther movie where Shuri becomes the new BP, and the very next film is about a new one. Actually, dislike is too weak a word; that actively annoys me. And if Marvel dare reduce Storm to "New T'Challa's love interest," when that's only one arc for a character who's been around since 1975, then I will be seriously angry. Coogler's involves, so I have hope, but the MCU doesn't do well at handling female characters.

I'll be there watching all of them of course but doesn't mean I'm gonna keep liking it. Too far in to give up now