The Infinity Saga was an epic story that built up over 10 years and ended with 1 of the best cinema experiences you’ll ever experience in your life. It was this generations Star Wars and will forever be remembered for its great characters, emotional stories with those characters, and a villain who stands amongst the best in fiction.
The MCU will go on for as long as it makes money and with the Kang and Secret Invasion storylines taking centre stage now many people are wondering if what’s to come will top previous efforts. Unfortunately, and for reasons outside of Marvels control, I don’t think anything will ever top the Infinity Saga.
The Infinity Saga was Our First Saga
George Lucas famously once said
“No matter what expensive car you buy, you will never beat the feeling of driving your first car for the first time”
The Infinity Saga was our first time experiencing a saga of films that all each told different stories that connected to each other and “ended” with a team up event. Going into The Avengers, we’d spent 4 years watching new heroes being introduced and developing favourites amongst them. We then watched our favourite hero work alongside with someone else’s favourite to save the day and this was often a big moment amongst society.
What I’m saying is that these were not only special moments but also our first time experiencing such events. We’d never seen something like this before and we were excited because we had no idea where it was going. It was our first time, and it was special to us.
Even better were the announcement events which told us what we could expect going forwards and if you watch the videos you’ll see just how passionate the crowd was for future projects. Phase 3 of the Infinity Saga will forever be 1 of the greatest runs of films because we knew that it was leading up to an epic battle against Thanos. We knew what was coming and while we could make pretty accurate guesses at how it was going to end; it was special to us.
Going forwards, that novelty and special feeling has worn off since we’ve seen it before. The battle against Kang could be bigger and more epic but it will never be our first time watching Iron man vs Thanos. You never beat your first time.
The Infinity Saga had Some of the Best Characters in Media
As I said earlier, going into The Avengers we all had a favourite character and we watched that character grow throughout the Infinity Saga from their first movie to their last. We watched Tony Stark change from an arrogant selfish billionaire to a superhero willing to sacrifice himself for the world. We watched Steve Rogers lose his faith in authority but never lose his conviction to do the right thing even when it meant going up against impossible odds.
Just like how the Infinity Saga was our first time experiencing a saga, this was our first time watching these characters grow across many films. We grew attached to them and their journeys, we understood why they made certain choices, and we truly loved them. This is again something that I fear we will never see again because we put all of our love and care into the original characters our first time round.
There’s also the meta issue that the original Avengers were the building blocks of the MCU and now most of them are gone (or have been replaced by replicas) it feels wrong. I would love to see how Steve and Tony take on Kang, but I don’t care to see how Falcon and Riri face the same challenge. They were my first loves and they’re my characters.
The Infinity Saga was Concise
The Infinity Saga contained 23 movies across 10 years. Phase 4 contained 7 films and 8 Tv shows in 2 years. Granted, Covid caused projects to be moved around but even if Covid never happened, it would still have only spanned 3 years.
Times have changed since the MCU started in 2008. Back then, the only way to see the latest MCU offering was to go to the cinema which was always an event. Every Marvel release had a cultural impact and was an event to go to with your friends to see the ever evolving story of the Infinity Saga. Every film had to be seen so you wouldn’t miss details for the big finale and so you went to see every film.
In 2023, most of Marvel’s output comes in the form of shows on Disney Plus which are not social events and make very little impact on society as a whole. You might watch the shows, but you don’t do this with others like you would when going to the cinema which makes it feel less special. The shows also take up a lot more of your time than a 2 hour film which can make keeping up with them a bit of a hassle.
The worst aspect of the MCU being mostly shows is that many of the shows just aren’t necessary to watch so you end up not caring about certain shows if the marketing doesn’t take your interest. This again takes away from that special connection to the MCU since now not everyone is on the same page when it comes to the story.
The Infinity Saga was concise, and everything worked to pay off somewhere else. Phase 4 onwards has been messy, unnecessary, and unfocused which has led to people losing interest in whatever’s to come.
In Summary
- The Infinity Saga had novelty because it was our first time experiencing a saga, but that novelty has worn off
- We fell in love with the characters of the Infinity Saga and now they’re gone a lot of our love has gone too
- The Infinity Saga was concise, and everything had a point, Phase 4 has been messy and it’s lead to people losing interest
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