Has the MCU surpassed the Star Wars saga?

[YolkFolk]

Last year we had Endgame and Rise of Skywalker. One was a huge box office success and was mainly well liked by critics and the other performed disappointingly and became one of the most panned films in the saga. It got me thinking whether the way these climaxes unfolded was in line with how these sagas are generally viewed these days.

Which series do you think is a bigger deal now?

What about in terms of overall quality?

 

[Jason Frost]

Somehow, it has.

 

[Zombine]

Bigger deal now? Marvel

Biggest franchise? Star Wars

The pandemic has really killed every bit of momentum the MCU had coming off of End Game though.

 

[Brinbe]

the main movies? for sure

 

[Rodelero]

There are far more good films in MCU than Star Wars.

 

[BLACK LAC]

Without question, yes.

 

[KillstealWolf]

Since Star Wars seems to just literally be Original Trilogy Stuff? Sure.

I dunno what wins on Merch though. I imagine Marvel Merch is still bigger than Star Wars ones, but that's more because Star Wars just tries to focus on old characters for the merch with a limp effort on more recent stuff (Look how the first Battlefront was just Original Trilogy stuff, not even stuff from the new trilogy coming out at the time)

 

[Deleted member 4034]

There are far more good films in MCU than Star Wars.

Click to shrink...

23 vs 11. Yeah ...

 

[Huncho_Houdini]

The peak of SW during the original trilogy? Probably not, those are one of a kind.

On average though? Absolutely.

 

[Rodelero]

23 vs 11. Yeah ...

Click to shrink...

Fair enough. There are, admittedly, about as many atrocious films on both sides.

 

[Era Uma Vez]

I recently watched all Star Wars films, except for those spin-offs, and I can understand being big at the time it came out, or being big if you grew up with it, but otherwise, I finally get that I will never get Star Wars.
Out of the 9 movies I saw, I would say 3 were good/great, and the rest went from okay to awful, like parody movies awful.
MCU has it's lows, sure, but they never hit as low as Star Wars, and they have highs, which, to me personally, are higher than Star Wars highest point, so yes, MCU to me.
But it's not a fair comparison.
Star Wars was being made movie by movie, with no actual plan.
Even this new ones, each director was making shit up as they went along, judging by the amout of retcon that happens.
The MCU knew what was the path since the first Avengers, pretty much.

 

[Bishop89]

I mean probably yeh.
SW hasn't been good since revenge.

Granted there are quite a few stinkers in the MCU. But I think overall the mainstream audience prefers the MCU

 

[The Unsent]

I like the 4 Avengers movies about as much as the OT, let alone the whole MCU which is far more consistent and better than the entire SW saga.

 

[DIE BART DIE]

I'll never love any of the MCU films as viscerally as I love the OT.

But when I saw a group of teenage girls crying at the end of Infinity War in the cinema, it confirmed to me that it was the Empire Strikes Back of today.

 

[pochi]

Definitely.
When Infinity war and Endgame were shown, cinemas was full for weeks.

 

[Deleted member 4034]

I recently watched all Star Wars films, except for those spin-offs, and I can understand being big at the time it came out, or being big if you grew up with it, but otherwise, I finally get that I will never get Star Wars.
Out of the 9 movies I saw, I would say 3 were good/great, and the rest went from okay to awful, like parody movies awful.
MCU has it's lows, sure, but they never hit as low as Star Wars, and they have highs, which, to me personally, are higher than Star Wars highest point, so yes, MCU to me.
But it's not a fair comparison.
Star Wars was being made movie by movie, with no actual plan.
Even this new ones, each director was making shit up as they went along, judging by the amout of retcon that happens.
The MCU knew what was the path since the first Avengers, pretty much.

Click to shrink...

I get the ST Star Wars criticism (though exaggerated there's really just the one big retcon), but I don't understand pretending that each MCU movie was building toward Infinity War/ Endgame and that there weren't even more retcons.

 

[Napalm_Frank]

SW has higher highs and lower lows. MCU certainly is much more consistent which is impressive for having so many movies.

 

[sir_crocodile]

There are no films in the MCU as good as ANH or ESB. Iron Man comes closest, and Black Panther & Winter Soldier are great too.

In terms of overall consistency over a franchise I would say MCU is probably higher now, as SW has a lot of lows in the PT/ST, whereas MCU is very rarely out and out bad. MCU also has more consistancy in the world it creates, where the ST & PT in SW didn't really gel very well with the OT.

Also Endgame is not really a good movie either. Though I'll grant you it's way better than RoS, it's still pretty disappoitning coming off the back of IW, which was a good film.

 

[blueredandgold]

Technically the MCU will never actually cease now whereas Star Wars stayed on our collective minds despite decades of laying dormant.

You can't say the former has surpassed the latter. If the MCU does pass the baton to a completely fresh cast, then maybe we contrast the two.

You're still comparing that original trilogy to the multimedia monolith of movies, shows and whatever else they are going to throw out, aren't you?

 

[Stoopkid]

offtopic but does anybody remember the classic kids don't care about the mcu like star wars thread on gaf? Lol

 

[DIE BART DIE]

What Marvel achieved with these films is impressive. The consistency is easy to downplay as focus-tested, assembly line filmmaking, but you only have to look at DC to see how easily you can fuck up the popcorn genre. They make it look effortless.

They made me, someone who thought their first wave of films (excluding Iron Man) were aggressively average, care about the fates of Thor and Captain America by the time Endgame rolled around. That's impressive.

 

[IlGialloMondadori]

Easily.
The original trilogy is monumental, and was very important to me. The effects work and creativity was mindblowing.
Future releases have lacked that power of imagination and vision, and MCU has been so consistent.

 

[Baccus]

I don't even like most of the MCU but it's way more complex, expansive and engaging than Star Wars, whose original good idea was destroyed from the third film back in the 80's onwards, with the honorous exception of The Last Jedi.

 

[Era Uma Vez]

I get the ST Star Wars criticism (though exaggerated there's really just the one big retcon), but I don't understand pretending that each MCU movie was building toward Infinity War/ Endgame and that there weren't even more retcons.

Click to shrink...

But I didnt say every movie was building towards Infinity War.

 

[LewieP]

I think for anyone who was at the right age when the first Avengers movie came out, it has surpassed in terms of cultural relevancy from then onward.

 

[Vern]

Lol no. MCU has what... 1 good and 1 average film out of 20? Star Wars is at least batting around the Mendoza Line.

 

[apocat]

Depending on your viewpoint, maybe. But I don't think the McU has the cultural impact as the original trilogy, and subjectively I don't think it is anywhere near as good as the OT either. And I still quite like a few of the MCU movies (though certainly not all of them, there are a lot of bland ones in between the more lively instalments).

 

[Patryn]

Bigger deal now? Marvel

Biggest franchise? Star Wars

The pandemic has really killed every bit of momentum the MCU had coming off of End Game though.

Click to shrink...

Endgame kind of killed the momentum on its own, and it was kind of supposed to, because it was an ending. It clearly was the end of that book, even if there is another book coming out.

I really think Marvel is never going to be able to recapture the highs of the Infinity Saga.

 

[Zonal Hertz]

I mean they are both big pop-culture entertainment packages. Ignoring the quality of the films as it's obviously not relevant with stuff like this. I think Marvel is more impressive.

 

[Weeros]

Ultimately it seems MCU is far richer ground to tell varying interesting stories while still building coherent universe. Star Wars it seems is having extremely difficult times breaking out from those few archtypes established in the OT: the Jedi, the scroundel / bounty hunter, the fighter pilot.

That being said, I'd love to see eg. capital ship battle/submarine commander drama or a family comedy set in Star Wars universe but those would probably be seen as too big risk by Disney, so I bet the next movies are gonna be Republic era Jedi, smuggler, pilot...

 

[Deleted member 21339]

Star Wars is still relevant 43 years later. MCU peaked with Endgame.

 

[karmaforgotme]

Surpass how? Very subjective of course, but I didn't like either the new Star War movies or the Avengers movies (End Game is just a bad movie). Which one had a bigger cultural milestone or bigger impact on society? Easily that goes to Star Wars. MCU never came close to capturing the imagination of the world like Star Wars did. In MCU defense it is a completely different world now and a lot harder to achieve the level that Star Wars did. Now? The MCU is more popular, but in a 100 years? I still believe Star Wars will be look back on more than MCU when it comes to impact. Now which had the better movies? I think overall I might give the edge to MCU due to movies like Thor Ragnarok, Guardians of the Galaxy 1, and Black Panther. I would only put New Hope and Empire on the same level.

 

[PeskyToaster]

Star Wars is always exciting because you never know if it's going to be true greatness or bad but still really cool. The MCU is pure blandness. Even at its worst, Star Wars still has amazing scores, sets, designs, and sounds. Even at its best, the MCU still has boring action, boring characters, and a boring score. They managed to make dropping a planet on someone lack any sort of oomph.

10 times out of 10 if someone if someone had the choice to work on Star Wars or the MCU, they're picking Star Wars. Anyone who says otherwise is lying to themselves. It's just inherently cooler.

 

[24thFrame]

Star Wars has offered at least one genuinely great piece of cinema in the past decade. *points to avatar*

The MCU is a franchise made up of consistently average popcorn movies. Outside of a few standouts (Black Panther, Guardians 2) they're largely soulless works of spectacle. The casting and characters elevate them a little, but the filmmaking and storytelling is as basic as it gets. They're entertaining, but they seem to immediately evaporate from my memory by the time the credits are rolling. I don't get why people slobber over these things.

 

[Fallout-NL]

There are far more good films in MCU than Star Wars.

Click to shrink...

There's no denying that, though I'm not sure there's an MCU film that's on the level of Empire. Still have a soft spot for that film despite my disdain for all current things Star Wars.

they're largely soulless works of spectacle.

Click to shrink...

Eh yeah. True of both franchises though.

 

[Fonst]

Star Wars is king to me. It makes my mind soar with ideas of cool things, even the bad movies have interesting ideas. It inspires me even after the films end. Only ones i don't like are 2 & 9, but two spawned Clone Wars which is great. It can't be topped.

mCU is just run of the mill popcorn flicks. They are safe and do nothing new. I was told I HAD to see Thor before Avengers but I felt it detracted from it. I missed a film or two before Endgame and I didn't miss a beat. None of the movies inspire imagination in me; the closest is Guardians 1 but that's because it is basically Star Wars (kind of funny). I got bored of MCU and probably won't see another unless of a family event or my partner (who doesn't go to movies) wants to see one.

I can see comic fans loving MCU cause they now see it in motion and see it with life.

 

[Lifejumper]

I don't think a single scene in the MCU reaches the emotional highs of the OT/TFA/TLJ.

The MCU movies are also a lot uglier in terms of cinematography.

I enjoy both franchises tho.

 

[ArkhamFantasy]

TBH, you'd have to include the best stars wars books, shows, and games to make this a fair comparison. There's more mixed reception Star Wars movies than universally praised star wars movies, almost all of the MCU movies are good and there's like 30 of them.

 

[giancarlo123x]

Not to me. Not sure how to explain the mcu but most feel samish? I think winter soldier was the last one I was hyped about.

 

[24thFrame]

Eh yeah. True of both franchises though.

Click to shrink...

There are at least 3 Star Wars films that are genuinely great pieces of cinema.

Even some of the lesser movies have a personal touch that's lacking in a lot of the Marvel movies. I'm not a huge prequel defender, but they at least feel like an authored work carrying someone's point of view.

Most of the Marvel movies feel like the cinematic equivalent of a factory-produced snack food.

Though yes, at least 2 or 3 of the Disney Star Wars movies have that feeling too.

 

[Dankir]

Yup! Rise of Skywalker wasnt a good way to close at all three trilogies.

Infinity War and Endgame were next level.

 

[DeltaRed]

I think for the general population, as the biggest movie franchise it has yes.

In terms of impact on pop culture I think that will take longer but eventually it will be on a similar level because of all the kids growing up with it now.

 

[808s & Villainy]

23 vs 11. Yeah ...

Click to shrink...

Even as a percentage it probably still holds true. I think I still get more hyped at the thought of a new Star Wars, if only because they're rarer, and it's still fairly unique among movie franchises, but MCU is definitely more consistent in quality

 

[Fallout-NL]

There are at least 3 Star Wars films that are genuinely great pieces of cinema.

Even some of the lesser movies have a personal touch that's lacking in a lot of the Marvel movies. I'm not a huge prequel defender, but they at least feel like an authored work carrying someone's point of view.

Most of the Marvel movies feel like the cinematic equivalent of a factory-produced snack food.

Though yes, at least 2 or 3 of the Disney Star Wars movies have that feeling too.

Click to shrink...

Agreed.

 

[Rondell Dobard]

Marvel is just objectively bigger deal than Star Wars is now. (potentially a it ever was)
Quality is just personal.

 

[Admiral Woofington]

Star wars love coasts everything on the original trilogy and how much pop culture revolves around them. I have no strong feelings one way or another over the latest trilogy which tells me more how little I care for star wars outside of enjoying the first 3 films as films more so than a franchise.

Marvel I loved phase 1 but they've really gotten rid of the heroes I liked the most to give a chance for some other heroes to shine and while I'm not against it, I took that chance to step off the marvel train for the time being. Maybe I'm convinced later on to return who knows.

 

[BossAttack]

Culturally? No.

Financially? Yes.

 

[hiredhand]

Yeah, probably. Disney has managed to devalue the Star Wars brand to the point that it is now no more special than any other franchise.

 

[Mivey]

There are far more good films in MCU than Star Wars.

Click to shrink...

True, true, can't expect Empire and Last Jedi to carry an entire franchise.

 

[jsnepo]

Yes. Absolutely.