Thatguy4683 wrote: ↑Wed Sep 15, 2021 2:51 pm
Spuro wrote: ↑Wed Sep 15, 2021 1:14 pm
Chrispy_G wrote: ↑Wed Sep 15, 2021 12:29 pm
The Marvel Cinematic Universe films released by Marvel Studios currently number 25.
If you include the slate of films scheduled for the rest of the year...that's 27.
If Spider-Man: Far From Home really does bring all 3 Spider-Man incarnations together(villains from the previous two versions are confirmed to be in) then retroactively, that adds those 5 Spider-Man movies into the 'shared universe' continuity....bringing the total to 32.
If Venom 1 and 2 and Morbious are also brought in by Holland crossing over into that universe...you are at 35.
And there is no telling how many previous X-Men/Deadpool/Fantastic Four movies might be inherited into the larger canon by some of the shenanigans of Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness. A new Deadpool movie is in early development from what I understand.
Godzilla has been recognized as the longest running film franchise by Guinness, which they base on when the first film releases vs when the most recent film released, so that record won't be in jeopardy. Having 36 entries made it the longest film series that was still ongoing....but it seems like the MCU is going to launch beyond that in no time.
If we're including those older superhero movies by Fox and Sony as part of the MCU, then we should probably consider the Godzilla series as including the likes of
Rodan,
Mothra,
Frankenstein vs Baragon,
War of the Gargantuas,
Rebirth of Mothra, etc. That'd bring it up to 50 films at minimum. It's only fair.
Good point
I could get behind the argument of including films that somehow connect back into the main Godzilla universe. I think Mothra deserves inclusion more than a Rodan, which would deserve an inclusion more than War of the Gargantuas and Frankenstein vs Baragon.
Just having a monster from one film appear in another doesn't really imply a connection or continuity. Having Spider-Man in Civil War didn't automatically make every Spider-Man film part of the continuity...but the events of Far From Home seems like it will clearly link back to those films.
So just having a monster like Varan or Baragon show up for a cameo in Destroy All Monsters doesn't really mean their respective films are part of the canon and continuity. They count as Varan films and Baragon films, but not necessarily in the Showa Godzilla universe.
In the same way that The Dark Knight and Batman v Superman are both on the list of "Batman Films" but The Dark Knight is not a part of the currently running DC Extended Universe. Nor would Man of Steel be listed as a Batman film just because it is in continuity with BvS.
You have to either share the character or share continuity, by my reckoning, to be considered part of any kind of 'single franchise' but just checking one box doesn't check both. Spider-Man: Homecoming is an MCU film, but not every MCU film is a Spider-Man film. Every old Spider-Man movie is a Spider-Man film, but not every Spider-Man film was an MCU film...until now, it seems.
With DC also building their own multiverse...they have a huge catalog of films they could potentially hook into their DCEU though. The TV Arrowverse left nearly no stone un-turned in terms of the films and shows it wanted to be part of ITS continuity.
Mothra in Mothra vs Godzilla seems very much to be the SAME creature as in the 1961 film. The Rodan in Ghidorah doesn't seem necessarily billed as the same Rodan or having any meaningful connection to that film besides, I believe, the location where Rodan wakes up and the dialogue being worded as 're-awakened' and 'resurrected' and things like that.
Gargantuas introduces the maser tanks...it can be debated how much of a meaningful connection that is for the universe, but it is still a debate to have. Any time a monster shows up in one movie and then in a Godzilla movie...you can certainly justify including it in the lineup. Of course, GAM and Tokyo SOS kind of clearly put Mothra and Gargantuas into the continuity of THAT film...so they are even more deserving of inclusion within the pantheon.
But I don't think EVERY Toho Kaiju movie necessarily just automatically deserves to be part of the "Toho Cinematic Universe"
I don't believe the "Rebirth of Mothra" films are designed to share continuity with the Heisei Godzilla films...so I would be very much against arguing to include them. You can make a case for a number of Showa films, but Rebirth of Mothra clearly seems to be in its own continuity. If there had been a film that crossed that Mothra over with Godzilla Junior or one of the Millennium films, then it is a different story.
With the Marvel Universe films, they consistently share a strong continuity and overlapping characters and story elements, and if they use the "multiverse" as a narrative device to link continuity with other films...then it now becomes the Marvel multiverse, and every outward film they extend continuity to now gets "Grandfathered in" to the series in a pretty meaningful way.
Like Cryptid_Liker mentioned, even if we do add those various films...what would that add? 5-10 films? I still think the MCU and the Multiverse element of it are expanding at such a rapid rate that it is quickly going to become the largest/most numerous film franchise/continuity ever. Technically I think in terms of 'films existing in the same continuity' it already owns the record with a bullet.
Believe me....I don't really consider it to be a feather in the cap like some, I see it as a detriment.
If a 15 year old like my younger brother is told how amazing the Lord of the Rings Trilogy is, he has to watch 3 films...and I was able to show him easily enough and he liked them a lot.
Within the next few years, a 15 year old who didn't really ever watch the Marvel stuff...who gets told "Man, all those Marvel movies are great, check them out!" might go to wikipedia and find a list of 50 connected movies to watch. At that point they'll likely just cancel their plans to ever watch the films.
Just as, no matter how great I hear it is or how highly it might be recommended....I will never watch One Piece because tackling 1000 episodes of anime is simply a mountain I'm not going to climb.
"I'm saying a prayer, George. A prayer for the whole world."
