A Cheerful Goodbye to the Guardians of the Galaxy
<em>Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3</em> salutes the last Marvel characters I care about—and shows what the superhero genre has been missing.
The best, most audacious idea of the Marvel Cinematic Universe has been to present franchises within franchises, entwining various long-running series with their own internal logic and casts of favorites. The films imitate the feeling of comic books, of which people would select issues with their favorite heroes and occasionally shell out for the special ones where they cross over with everyone else. The concept has seldom worked on-screen, though—brands such as and always felt bogged downmovie. Meanwhile, the general thrust of Marvel’s storytelling feels particularly adrift this year after the .
