The mere fact this robust collage is now possible stirs within me a sense of joy and awe at the achievement that’s hard to explain to folks who didn’t spend the ’70s and ’80s being forced to accept that the limitations of studio imagination and, to be fair, CGI were preventing the characters who came to life in the pages I devoured from coming to life on the Big Screen. As I sat awaiting the first scenes from Black Panther, I was struck by how amazing it is that the opening animation to all MCU films, which was once a flipping of pages showing scenes from Marvel comics-usually aligned to match whichever character the film was featuring-was now made up of pictures of the actual movie characters themselves. Mild snark aside, it has been an incredible run for this particular Disney-owned billion-dollar movie machine. After 13 years and 26 films, it’s time to participate in the most hallowed of internet traditions and rank us some Marvel Cinematic Universe offerings!
