The Greater Marvel Universe

A few quick things to note now that I'm decompressing my viewing of Iron Man 2 on Sunday, and the movie was fantastic by the way.

Any minor plot threads that have been left "unresolved" at the end of Iron Man 2, and I can honestly think of none at the moment, were probably left open because they play into the larger Marvel Film Universe.

Marvel is doing something brand new that hasn't been tried before. This company is creating a movie franchise that spans multiple, and unique properties, tying these films together in a consistent and clear universe.

Films so far include Iron Man, The Incredible Hulk, and Iron Man 2. Coming up next is "Thor." So far they've done a pretty good job tying in these films. Iron Man introduced Nick Fury. The Incredible Hulk had a nice cameo of Tony Stark. Iron Man 2 established that it takes place during the events of The Incredible Hulk and includes a fantastic tease... Stick around until after the credits (you may as well for all films since theaters have its people rush out of the theater the second the film ends so you're not going anywhere for a few minutes anyway).

This may benefit the narrative of this fictionalized universe far better than some of these other comic book franchises have been handled, where the "goal" is a "trilogy" and that's that. If Avengers is a hit (I see no reason why it wouldn't be), I suspect that that least the rest of the decade will be filled with additional Marvel comic book films that will tie directly into new comic films with tons of cameos from already established characters with zero "reboots" of the franchise anytime soon.

This prospect is far more exciting than knowing every few movies they'll just "reboot" Spiderman again.