It’s no secret that the Marvel Cinematic Universe is arguably the most successful film franchise running today. Each new Marvel movie is greeted with anticipation by fans, by and large receives a favorable critical response, and scores huge at the box office. But when The Avengers first grouped these disparate superheroes together in 2012, this was a somewhat novel idea (though admittedly not to comics fans who’d been reading crossover events for decades). This cinematic universe was something of a risky gamble, as general audiences were instead used to either direct sequels, spinoffs, or reboots—not disparate films …