4. The Infinity Saga (MCU)
We’ve made no secret of our feelings about modern superhero movies and the many issues that plague them. However, not only are they massively successful, but they also deserve celebrating as impressive feats of storytelling. Formulaic though some of the movies may be, the MCU struck movie adaptation gold with it’s Infinity Saga.
If we were to narrow it down to a specific movie, it would either be Avengers: Infinity War or Avengers: Endgame. However, the ways in which the MCU so deftly surpassed its comic book source material are far more complex, as they accumulated over a period of years. Though the specific story of Thanos collecting the Infinity gems to wipe out half of all life in the universe was lifted from the comics, the movies did many things that the comics simply didn’t.
By spending years introducing individual heroes and ideas to the franchise, there were over a decade of movies that led to the epic conclusion of the Infinity Saga. Thanos’s motivations were also tweaked to make them more believable, as were certain aspects of the story. Learning exactly what its audience wanted and finding a way to make the story match it was a true masterstroke, and even non-MCU fans can’t help but admit that the story is incredibly well-told.