The Marvel Cinematic Universe began rather humbly with the first Iron Man movie in 2008 which would turn into a trilogy later. Following that, a few other superheroes were slowly introduced like Captain America and Thor. Over time the cinematic universe kept growing with more and more characters and more and more movies being introduced till eventually, the MCU ended up making the biggest cross-over event in cinematic history in the form of Avengers: Endgame which ended up becoming one of the top 3 highest grossing movies of all time.
Now the universe is as big as it has ever been and it keeps getting bigger. The universe has diversified and has gone from being exclusively in the film format to branching out into TV series as well. While some fans are absolutely ecstatic at having so much content available, others are criticizing the MCU saying it has gotten too big for its own good.
Damon Lindelof, the creator of HBO’s Watchmen, criticized the MCU in a similar way, saying that with so many interwoven new projects being announced and released at once, the value of the singular projects by themselves is reduced.
While some may agree, the MCU’s own Mark Ruffalo does not seem to think that is the case. The actor defended the MCU in the following words while speaking to Metro:
“It’s not something I worry about. I understand that these things run their course and then something else comes along. But the thing Marvel has done well is that, inside the MCU, just as they do with comic books, they let a director or an actor sort of recreate each piece to their own style, their likeness. Marvel generally lets them bring that to the material. If you watch a Star Wars, you’re pretty much going to get the same version of Star Wars each time. It might have a little bit of humor. It might have a little bit of different animation. But you’re always, really, in that same kind of world. But with Marvel you can have a whole different feeling even within the Marvel Universe.”
Mark has been playing the character of Bruce Banner AKA Hulk in the MCU since 2012 and it’s no question that his loyalties to the cinematic universe have not wavered.