The Marvel-verse is certainly expansive, while Disney took steps to shrink the Star Wars EU quite a bit from its previously unfathomable size to a merely gigantic undertaking- we have properties like the Star Trek franchise which to fully appreciate requires watching over 800 episodes of TV content (to be fair, at least IMHO you can skip quite a few of those and be fine- maybe better off for it…) 13 films, an expansive EU and tie ins of various canon value- and it’s still expanding. Quite a few series or franchises world wide are quite expansive- Animation being full of behemoths like the Dragon Ball franchise, One Piece, Gundam, and so forth.
If we view these in a historical context I suppose they can be counted similarly to ancient myths- if we look for example to “Greek Mythology” and the countless intertwined stories of gods and Demi gods and mortals- following the adventures of Hercules and Jason and Zeus and Persephone and so forth is itself an undertaking warranting a…
High level degree. Now- I don’t compare in quality or “staying power,” but in size and context to future audiences we can say there are less than passing similarities as these stories are meant to appeal to masses and carry certain moral lessons while dealing with “larger than life” heroes and fantastical concepts. I suspect that much the same as we tend to do with these classic works, future audiences may simply choose a more casual approach- while many people are familiar with certain popular myths or retellings and versions of them, few people are engrossed in the details and have even read the majority let alone all the stories that tie together to form the mythology of the ancient world. The most popular myths tended to be “rebooted” and carried along or built off over time while the less popular ones faded to relative or complete obscurity- some even being lost with elements relating to them written out of history.
So to be clear- I know this is a joke, and I find it funny- but it is an interesting thought. It’s 2022 and there is a Star Trek show about Captain Pike- a character that someone turning 20 or even 30 wasn’t alive to see make their first appearance let alone see the show he was on when it first aired. The “new” Star Trek shows like Next Generation and Deep space Nine had finished production when a 20 year old today was born- they are about the same age give or take that the original series was when little kids in the 80’s and 90’s could have seen TNG for the first time. While studios for the most part have kept a certain continuity in the franchise, most people tuning in to watch the new series don’t bother to go back and watch the original series and everything in between. For the most part while nods are kept and such, they’ve been careful to keep the franchises to where new viewers don’t need to have seen ALL the content but perhaps just the most recent content to have a solid…
.. footing. I suspect that if Marvel continues their continuity and doesn’t fall out of favor or “reboot” indefinitely- they’ll manage the franchise in a similar way, to appeal to casual viewers while encouraging watching all their most recent content, and perhaps throw some nods to “hardcore” and if time fans who go through all the “legacy” content- but not penalize those who don’t.
If we view these in a historical context I suppose they can be counted similarly to ancient myths- if we look for example to “Greek Mythology” and the countless intertwined stories of gods and Demi gods and mortals- following the adventures of Hercules and Jason and Zeus and Persephone and so forth is itself an undertaking warranting a…