Trending: Is the Marvel Cinematic Universe Expanding Too Quickly?

In which I address online news, web content and trending issues.

So I was all set to review the latest episode of Really that Good when I came across a Cracked video that I knew that I just had to address.  I figured that I'd already reviewed Die Hard itself this week, so my core thoughts on the matter were already out there.  Besides, this was something that I knew that I had to get out ASAP.

As much as I've always loved Cracked's highly addictive articles, I've always felt that their video content was vastly more substantive.  Sure, they lost a lot of humor in the medium shift, but they addressed current entertainment issues with a great deal more analysis than the printed content of the site.  When it comes to this particular episode, however, I can't help but feel that they're entirely off base.

The issue that they address isn't so much the speed at which the MCU is expanding, but the medium-spanning growth of phase 2.  The MCU isn't just about the movies anymore: it's about TV series, one-shots and original Netflix series.  They're not upset about the fact that we have far more franchises than the four that made up phase 1, but that in order to stay up to date on everything you need access to theaters (for the movies), DVDs / BluRays (for the one-shots), ABC (for Agents of SHIELD and Agent Carter) and Netflix (for Daredevil, Iron Fist, AKA Jessca Jones, Luke Cage and The Defenders).  You can't simply coast by anymore on the latest sequel to Iron Man, The Incredible Hulk, Thor and Captain America anymore.

But is this really a problem?  The one-shots, while awesome, don't really do a whole lot of substantive world-building.  They're fun little throwaways like Coulson thwarting a gas station robbery in New Mexico or the World Security Council's failed attempts to recruit The Abomination for the Avengers.  The only one that ever had any larger implications to the MCU was "All Hail the King," and that was made to appease piss-off Iron Man fans who hated the Mandarin twist in Iron Man 3.  Besides, five shorts weighed against 12 films - most of which are available on YouTube - doesn't really amount to much of a barrier to entry.

The TV series are even less of an issue than the one-shots.  They do more peripheral world-building than anything: developing events or characters introduced in the movies in ways that rarely circle back to cinematic importance.  When Thor fought Malaketh in London, the agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. were the ones that cleaned it up.  In the aftermath of the Dark Elves' assault on Asgard, Lady Siff had to recapture an escaped Asgardian prisoner that fled to Earth.  Agent Jasper Sitwell, who appeared in both Thor and The Winter Soldier, developed as a key player within S.H.I.E.L.D. before finally being ousted as a Hydra agent.

I'm not saying that there won't be major blow back from the series in the future, just that there hasn't been any yet.  Coulson's continued existence will undoubtedly be revealed by the end of Phase 3, and key characters from the series have been revealed to be the Inhumans.  But do you honestly think that Marvel will just sit back and hope that everybody shelling out money for tickets has already seen the Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. and not need to explain anything to anyone?

The answer that you're looking for it "no."  These will be addressed in the movies in due time, but they'll need to be explained to the characters as much as they'll need to be explained to the audience.  Coulson being alive will be as world-shaking of a revelation as Fury being alive, and they seemed to handle that reveal just fine.  I can assure you that you will never be required to watch a TV series in order to follow what's happening in the latest movie.

The Netflix series are probably the most problematic expansion to the MCU, by which I simply mean that you need to subscribe to Netflix to get it.  Really, though, is that honestly any worse than shelling out money to buy a movie ticket or going to ABC's website to get the latest episode of Agents of SHIELD?  The majority of MCU fans have access to the streaming service (either through family, through friends or simply because they pay for it) and its hardly an expensive or a narrowly wrought service.

And if Daredevil is any indication, then just like the televised series, they build upon what the movies already establish and not the other way around.  If there is a crossover with one of the movies (such as Kingpin squaring off against Spider-Man), then I have every confidence that the movie will take the necessary time to explain his presence to the audience in the same way that somebody's going to have to clue Spidey into exactly who this guy is that he's fighting.

When all is said and done, I cannot endorse the idea that Marvel's developing its cinematic franchises too quickly.  The movies are still the core of their business model, they've just found other markets to exploit with their branding.  They've proven that they're "big enough to go small:" that they are confident and skilled enough in their properties to make use of less movie-friendly heroes in mediums that highlight their strengths.  And even if you just stick to the movies, you're not going to be missing out of anything that you're likely to care about.

So how do you think that Marvel's non-movie franchises measure up against their cinematic ones?  Share your thoughts in the comment section below.

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