MCU: how are you going?

The Marvel Cinematic Universe is one for the ages. A complex universe, engaging all walks of life from all backgrounds.

So why do I hate it?

Maybe hate is too strong a word, but I'm not loving it.

Disclaimer: I'm not a comic book fan. I'm a movie and story fan

Let's start at the very beginning. A very good place to start. I also love musicals.

My introduction to superhero movies was Sam Raimi's Spiderman in 2002, and the subsequent sequels, forming a golden trilogy of story, memes, and irony. Following this was Christopher Nolan's The Dark Knight trilogy. A phenomenal start to my mild obsession. High quality films.

Then Iron Man came out. I was unaware because my life in 2008 was all about Batman and high school being trash. Also because Christopher Nolan wasn't part of it and for whatever reason, even as a child, I recognised his genius.

I watched Iron Man with friends when it came out on DVD, and it was good, but not mind blowing. I got bored a bunch of times and didn't care about any of the characters.

I didn't watch The Hulk. I don't know why. Probably because I was mostly over the superhero thing.

I saw Iron Man 2, and felt the same as I did with the first one. Nothing special.

I watched Thor at school as a part of research for religious studies - which was a weird choice on the part of my teacher, because Thor doesn't really adhere to many parts of ancient Nordic religion, but whatever.

From this point on, I only saw a handful.

Guardians of the Galaxy

Avengers: Age of Ultron

Spider-Man: Homecoming

Thor: Ragnarok (which I only watched because my friend was up my ass about it, and Taika Waititi was at the helm)

Avengers: Infinity War

You can see they really took advantage of using colons in the titles. I see the appeal, because you can easily see who the movie is about, while also hinting at what the movie is about. I'm being sarcastic. It's like they only discovered the grammatical technique very far into the series and ran with it.

Now, you may be thinking, the person is hardly an expert on MCU. They've hardly even seen half the movies.

You'd be right, but that doesn't mean I can't crap all over it.

As a movie lover, I want a complex story, full of twists and surprises, with emotional investment, cool stunts, quality humour, and likeable characters.

An MCU fan might say the films satisfy all of that, but I don't need to have seen all the movies to recognise that the fight scenes go on too long, and that having 73 main characters doesn't make the story complex, and an oversaturated CGI stunt is not what I'd consider, "cool", and the cheap laughs do not equal quality humour (with the exception of Ragnarok), or that I don't like any characters.

Fight me.

While I appreciate Captain Marvel and her lack of weaknesses, RDJ constant snacking, Captain America's aesthetic and Scarlett Johansen's aesthetic but feeling conflicted on whether I like her as a person. I appreciate that the finally made Black Panther, however there is still a lack of representation (with the exception of Ragnarok. Waititi can do no wrong. Did you see JoJo Rabbit?)

I honestly don't care when these characters die. Even the fast boy from Angus, Thongs and Perfect Snogging.

I didn't have an emotional response when Black Widow is telling The Hulk she can't have kids.

I didn't care when half of them Thanos snapped out of existence.

The whole concept also leaves me with a lot of questions. Like when will this end? With a book series, you know that after however many books there are, plus 1 (because they split the last book in 2) it'll be over. Harry Potter, Twilight, Hunger Games (none of them needed to split though. Part 1 of all of them was LAME)

Is the plan to make this the longest running movie series? Because you're pretty much already there. Beaten only by James Bond, which has been thriving since 1962 and has released 26 movies in 58 years. MCU is a super close second at 23 movies in 12 years. If I were bet on when MCU will take over James Bond, I'd say within 2-3 years.

With all my criticisms, I can't deny the success of the MCU. While Tobey Maguire will always be my Spiderman, I can't deny the charm that Tom Holland brings.

I fear that the only reason these movies continue to be made, isn't because the story needs to be told (I think we exhausted story possibilities 6 years ago), but money. Especially since MCU was bought by Disney. I love Disney but they're only interested in money.

Fight me.

I appreciate the joy MCU has brought to people, and the positive hand Disney has had in that - providing money. I can only hope my work brings that much joy one day.

As an actress though, I'd love to be in a superhero movie. I'll push a Jeep up a hill. Let's whip me into shape!

MCU just isn't my favourite.