EVANSTON, Ill. — Everyone loves a good conspiracy theory. But what happened to good pop culture conspiracies? Like, Paul McCartney is dead. Stanley Kubrick faked the moon landing. Walt Disney was frozen. Lewis Carroll was Jack the Ripper. Katy Perry is JonBenét Ramsey. Political conspiracy has overtaken pop culture conspiracy, so I would like to offer a fresh one: Alex Ross, on the North Shore of Chicago, toiling on Marvel and DC comics since the early 1990s, is the actual architect of the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
Not its active creator, but its true, quiet catalyst, the wind beneath its wings.
The secret secret sauce.