Is it possible that the MCU will be quickly forgotten?

[Winter]

I'd agree with Winter. The MCU is the premier movie event of the decade, the way Star Wars for the seventies and eighties.

Well in all fairness clearspira has been the one saying that but I do see the MCU as the Pop Culture Event of this generation much in the same way Star Wars when it first came out and how Star Trek The Next Generation was when it finally got it's feet under it.

[Yukaphile]

Yup.

[Karha of Honor]

I'd agree with Winter. The MCU is the premier movie event of the decade, the way Star Wars for the seventies and eighties.

Well in all fairness clearspira has been the one saying that but I do see the MCU as the Pop Culture Event of this generation much in the same way Star Wars when it first came out and how Star Trek The Next Generation was when it finally got it's feet under it.

The MCU got consumed in a different way. You prbably cannot compare SW and TNG.

A classic has to be something that strikes a cord with several people even after several years have past, 5 to 10 being the main marker.

A Good example of a comic book that is still seen as a classic The Dark Phoenix Saga from the X-Men. This is a story that is so well known that it has been adapted no less then 3 times and was alluded to in other X-men adaptations even if they never got around to making it. TDPS is almost 40 years old at this point and it is still very much remembered and talked about much in the same way the Original Star Trek series is.

Same thing for the MCU movies I mentioned, they may have a few flaws but their likely going to still be remembered years, if not decades from now, because their stories struck a cord with so many people.

To contrast this take a look at the Michael Bay Transformer movies. These films are, to quote Shakespeare, a tale told by a idiot. Full of sound and fury signifying Nothing. And as the years rolled on they were eventually forgotten as all they did was say a few dumb things, had a few people yelling their lines and some ok action scenes. Today all anyone remembers about them is that they are awful movies but good luck finding anyone who can remember one line of dialogue, anyone's character arc or even what it all looked like.

Take this in contrast with the Original Transformers Cartoon as despite being effectively a 20 minute toy commercial it is still remembered to this day. Everyone knows who Optimus Prime, Megatron and Starscream are, even if they never saw the show itself. Even one knows what Cybertron, Energon and the Matrix of Leader Ship is and can likely describe what it they all look like even if, again, they've never seen any of it.

The reason one has stood the test of time, despite being a bit dated, while the other has been mostly forgotten despite both being part of the same franchise is because the latter gave us characters we cared about while the other only gave us characters we never could care about.

To close this bit out, when I say "I am Iron Man", "I can do this all day", "I am Loki of Asgard", "Is it to late to change the name?" "Cause if we can't protect the earth you can be damn well sure we'll Avenge it" "Puny God" "This, does put a smile on my face" "You get hurt, hurt 'em back. You get killed... walk it off." "Activating instant kill." "Teach me" "We know each other! He's a friend from work!" "I don't know if you've been in a fight before but there's usually not this much talking." "Just a typical homecoming, on the outside of an invisible jet, fighting my girlfriend's dad." "You walked right into this one. I've dated hotter chicks than you." "Doth mother know you weareth her drapes?" and "I thought he'd be taller."

I'm pretty sure that I don't need to tell you who said these lines you all know who said what which film it was said in.

Now quote one line from the Transformer movies that wasn't said in the original cartoon.

And yes I'm a fan of comics, along with games, movies and TV Shows (not much of a novel reader due to dyslexia), cause I love stories.

Would they strike that cord without being the top tier CGI mega movies?

[Winter]

From my POV the MCU has been consumed the same way that SW and ST did. Everyone knows who these characters are, and everyone knows the basics. To switch over to Trek for a moment, everyone knows who Data, Picard and Riker are even if they've never seen a single episode of TNG. Far fewer people know how Sisko, Odo and Kira are. Not because they're poorly written characters but because DS9 didn't make the same sort of impact of TOS and TNG did.

To better show my point, what do you know about Indiana Jones? Can you describe him, his back story and his basic personality? Odds are good you know the basics even if you have never seen the films or haven't seen them in awhile because the character made a impact on you.

Likewise, everyone knows the name, Tony Stark, Steven Rogers, Scott Lang, Natasha Romanoff and T'Challa and which Superhero they are. And to close this out, who Philip Brainard, Abby Yates and Dallas Howard are?

[Deledrius]

If nothing else, the films of the last decade in this franchise have deeply affected how blockbusters are made, and how franchises themselves are treated. That's probably going to be one of the biggest legacies of the MCU.

[Karha of Honor]

If nothing else, the films of the last decade in this franchise have deeply affected how blockbusters are made, and how franchises themselves are treated. That's probably going to be one of the biggest legacies of the MCU.

As far as i know that can be only pulled of by smaller budget movies and the MCU. Disney had the MCU potential with Star Wars but they fucked it up trough legit insanity.

[AllanO]

The more daring stuff by the standards of the time from the 30s and 40s is more remembered than the popular franchises of those decades.

Well I question the premise, if most popular franchise means something like being a top-grossing film, then top grossing films were often the ones we best remember. So the top grossing film of the thirties was Gone with the Wind, which is certainly remembered if less beloved than it once was, the next movies in the list are Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, then The Wizard of Oz, Frankenstein, and finally one I think is forgotten Tom Sawyer, but the next one is King Kong, then Mr. Smith Goes to Washington, now after this movies get more obscure but number 12 is A Star is Born, which of course was recently "remade" (? I get the feeling the new movie is more inspired by). 18 was All Quite on the Western Front. Even so called innovative movies were I suspect often actually really popular at the time apparently. The 40s are less stark in the correlation (the 20s even more so as I only recognize Birth of a Nation and the Jazz Singer...), but I still think its a bit of a stretch to say that there is not some correlation between contemporary popularity and standing the test of time... (source: https://www.filmsite.org/boxoffice2.html )

Going by that historical trend (arguably the 30s are not the right precedent but because it was suggested I have gone with it...) and others we can find suggestive in the data (many of the Disney animated films seem to have been top grossers and are well remembered) it seems that just on the basis of being box office toppers a given MCU film has a high chance of being remembered (50/50), combine that with being part of a successful series and it starts to seem very probable (80/20 more?) that many MCU films are going to have a lasting life in the collective mind space (at least until we are wiped out in the inevitable robot uprising).

Sorry I just saw this starting point and went "wait is it?" Popularity and artistic merit etc. are somewhat independent, but plenty of popular stuff has some or a lot of merit even if there is also plenty of schlock. Of course some stuff is necessarily niche and niche stuff is almost necessarily not of wide appeal or popularity, but may be really good in that niche.