Is it possible that the MCU will be quickly forgotten?

[ChiggyvonRichthofen]

It's too big to be quickly forgotten, both in terms of box office and cultural presence. There are generations of kids who will have fond memories of the MCU, which is one advantage of a franchise that is at least kid friendly. The novelty of their approach will keep them in memory as well, and will probably be copied for years to come.

There's a perception that it's the artsy films that stand the test of time while "popular entertainment" can be forgotten after a generation or two. I think it's true that more artistically serious, Oscar-contending films are "playing the long game", and the best of those tend to grow in reputation and become more firmly embedded in culture than they might have been upon first release. At the same time, if you look at the (adjusted for inflation) list of highest grossing films, every older movie that's anywhere near the top of that list is still remembered and still watched. I see Avatar as a possible outlier there- it made obscene amounts of money, and yet I never see anyone talking about it.

With all that said, it's not like the MCU movies are great film overall. Most of them are good entertainment, some of them great entertainment, and a handful are very good movies; yet none of them are all-time classics in terms of pure quality. So I expect them to lose some sheen, but they'll still be seen as fun.

[Yukaphile]

Well, that's because most people today tend to agree Hollywood is in decline, that they suck, but opinions vary on why. Slash clearly thinks it's SJWs swarming everywhere like bedbugs. For me, though, I think it's how CGI has become so inexpensive, you don't have to tell a good story anymore to compensate for unrealistic, cheap, or even hokey effects, or bring in some well-known talent like a big-name actor to draw views. None of the actors of my generation seem to hold a candle to the legends of the big screen from previous generations. At least imo. Chris Pine, for example, was just a pale imitation of Shatner. A kid playing dress up.

[ChiggyvonRichthofen]

There's always been a lot of unambitious, rote cashgrabs that play to general audiences who aren't film buffs but are just looking for a fun time at the movies. Fortunately the cream eventually rises to the top, but that creates the impression that movies today are on average worse. I don't think that CGI or SJWs or anything else is turning good movies into bad movies- it's just that great movies only come around so often. So to me, things are just about the same as they've always been.

Although, I have been somewhat disappointed that we haven't gotten more truly classic sci-fi movies since the turn of the millennium. There's only a couple movies that I think of as guaranteed classics, although you could make a case for a small handful of films.

[Rasp]

I agree with the sentiment things are as good or bad as they've always been - the ordinary or subpar tend to be quickly and easily forgotten. Oceans of movies were made in the 70s 80s and 90s and most of them are lost to memory - how many movies can we say for sure actually GOT dvd rereleases? not as many as got released on VHS in this first place I'm sure.

For example - Honey, I shrunk the kids got several movies and a live action TV series and I bet you haven't been thinking about that franchise.

[Yukaphile]

I still remember it.

[Winter]

Not sure if this land mine is still active but to take a look at something that a lot of people made a big deal about but have pretty much forgotten was even a thing, the 2016 Ghostbusters movie. It has been almost three years since GB 16 came out and in that time it has been almost completely forgotten everyone with the only thing keeping it in most peoples minds is the arguments that sprung up while it was being marketed.

Then it came out, said it's peace, everyone shared their opinions on it, and then everyone just sort of forgot about it. It wasn't the worst movie ever made, it wasn't the best movie ever made it was just there and then it was gone. It had some good jokes, some bad jokes but nothing to write home about either way.

By contrast, people are still talking about Marvel's The Avengers 9 years after it's release. For that matter, everyone is still talking about the First Iron Man movie TEN years after it came out. The MCU has left a mark on that will likely never be forgotten, even if the series is seen as dated in a few years I don't think anyone will ever forget about it.

[Karha of Honor]

Not sure if this land mine is still active but to take a look at something that a lot of people made a big deal about but have pretty much forgotten was even a thing, the 2016 Ghostbusters movie. It has been almost three years since GB 16 came out and in that time it has been almost completely forgotten everyone with the only thing keeping it in most peoples minds is the arguments that sprung up while it was being marketed.

Then it came out, said it's peace, everyone shared their opinions on it, and then everyone just sort of forgot about it. It wasn't the worst movie ever made, it wasn't the best movie ever made it was just there and then it was gone. It had some good jokes, some bad jokes but nothing to write home about either way.

By contrast, people are still talking about Marvel's The Avengers 9 years after it's release. For that matter, everyone is still talking about the First Iron Man movie TEN years after it came out. The MCU has left a mark on that will likely never be forgotten, even if the series is seen as dated in a few years I don't think anyone will ever forget about it.

It shall be remembered as part of the Kulturkampf along with TLJ.

The answer is no, but there's a few reasons for that.
Or rather, a few reasons that particular films or other properties are remembered. It happens the MCU overall hits most of them.
1) A film develops new techniques or writing trends that change how films are made (and inspire a lot of lesser knockoffs.) Even if no individual MCU film hits this marker, the shared universe model it pioneered very definitely DID. Movies aren't the same after The Avengers.
2) the property achieves cultural saturation beyond the film itself. Duh, the MCU had that before it existed since it's an adaptation of extremely well-known comics that have been running 50-odd years uninterrupted at this point.
3) The works inspire people who later go on to make their own movies, keeping the techniques and references to it in the cultural consciousness. I'm not sure we've seen this yet, but I guarantee we will.

There's probably a lot more but yeah.

1. Not pioneered by them Universal Studios already did that. You can make a case for the degree but the tv and movie side di not really mesh.

2. Comics are tiny and fairly irrelevant industry right now.

3. What? Are any of them so great to serve as inspiration?

In my opinion, the MCU is this generation's cultural zeitgeist. It is to Millenials and Gen Z what Star Wars was to Boomers and Gen Y. It's light will fade, particularly when the superhero bubble bursts, but it'll never be forgotten this century.

SW and the MCU are mythic stories outside of the zetgiest for the most part.

No, even if the Superhero bubble pops, (which it hasn't for over 70+ years at this point) the series has made several classic films such as The Avengers, Captain America: The Winter Solider, Captain America: Civil War, Guardians of the Galaxy Vol.s 1 and 2 and most recently Avengers: Infinity War. And the films in between these classics have also been really fun if not out right good.

Also keep in mind that the DC Animated Universe is still remembered and well loved to this day and it's almost 30 years old at this point... why do I feel old all of the sudden? But no, the MCU has so far aged really well though I've no doubt that some elements will be seen as dated in years to come, much in the same way that Star Trek (both the TOS and the TNG Eras) and the Classic Doctor Who Series have a number of dated elements and yet there still considered classics.

Personally I wonder if the new Star Wars movies will stand the test of time as so far, IMHO, The Force Awakens and The Last Jedi are just A New Hope and The Empire Strikes Back and, again IMHO, aren't as good as the first two films in the Original Trilogy, The Thrawn Trilogy or even the Prequel Trilogy which I actually happen to like.

But again, that's just my opinion, will just have to let history be the judge of all this.

What is your benchmark for a classic?

Are you a comic book big 2 fan?

[Yukaphile]

I'm not against an all-female Ghostbusters movie. I just think it wasn't very memorable.

[Winter]

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.

[Yukaphile]

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