That said, Marvel’s demand for sequels is compromising its movies. There was no reason for the Falcon to be in Ant-Man except to remind you he’s in the next Captain America movie. Marvel has spent years shoehorning Thanos into movies, solely to set up an Avengers sequel we’re all going to see anyway. But Marvel hasn’t made it clear why he matters, what his motives are, or why we should care.
DC, of course, hasn’t really had an opportunity to show us how they’ll connect their universes. But their 2016 slate is a massive superhero brawl introducing an older, angry Batman and a bunch of supervillains destroying Toronto for giggles. The two seem only lightly connected and entirely different in tone, style, and ultimate goals. And maybe, that’s the way it should be. Superhero movies can be anything a good director wants to make them, so let’s only have sequels if there’s something else to do with the character. I’d much rather have Superman be great in five movies than five disappointing Superman movies.
