In recent years, as the film industry bleeds whatever IP it can find for all it's worth, it feels like the movie franchise has come to mean a specific thing. A certain (obsessive) relationship to its own history; an interwoven story building to an eventizable climax; an emphasis on fan service, whether via callbacks or Easter eggs that can be religiously cataloged. It's something that can often be felt, as if the studio turned on the franchise filter before sending their movie out into the world.

The Marvel Cinematic Universe remains the model that everyone's chasing – or, more specifically, the MCU's Infinity Saga heyday. After The Avengers proved audiences were on board for individual series that fed into a climactic team-up event, the universe approach proved a natural fit for a

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