Marvel’s cinematic and comic universes have always been in a kind of symbiotic relationship, but the balance of power between those two worlds has never truly been equitable. The comics provide nigh unlimited source material for the MCU to riff on and adapt — but rarely do those original artists get the credit they really deserve. Somewhere between Iron Man and Endgame, comic book movies stopped feeling like true homages to the art form. The MCU now takes liberties where none need apply, buckling under the weight of creative swings that only alienate diehard fans of the comics.
Now more than ever, it’s clear that something has to give — and not just for Marvel. Even its competitors at DC are reinventing themselves with veritable love letters to the stories (and, more importantly, the creators) that started it all. It effectively began with Superman, but where the DC film feels like a concerted overcorrection, stuffed to the gills with enough stuff to give birth to a new cinematic world, Marvel takes a subtler approach.
