The cinematic universe isn't a high bar to clear, but these stories were really mature compared to other children's TV shows then and since.

Killing a major character in basically the first episode was, highly unusual.

And forcing the other X-Men to deal with that loss in subsequent episodes, isn't something you see in children's TV EVER.

Even when they finally brought back Morph (This is a comic book show, no one can die forever), he wasn't really the same. Everything didn't go back to being ok, he was permanently damaged and had PTSD from the experience and was unable to join the X-Men.

As a 6 year old who had family members with PTSD, this cartoon connected with me like nothing else would until I was a teenager and able to read real literature.

Pretty sad that this show was able to kill a major character while the MCU seems entirely unable to do so, up to the point where it seriously harms the story.

True. All the Marvel films are broadly the same. They've got absolutely nothing to say about the world or the human condition but they are of course entertaining (well, some of them anyway).

"absolutely nothing to say" is a bit extreme. The Winter Soldier had a very clear political message, Guardians has always been about artificial family, every origin story movie is an individual overcoming some relatable human flaw. They aren't complicated, but they aren't Transformers/BvS.

The victory lap movies tend to fall into your categorization at least (Avengers, Civil War, maybe Thor 3).

Very similar to people who think the Rambo movies are just action movies. Every one of those movies had a political purpose.

many of the marvel movies insist that power properly belongs to the strong, and that weak bureaucrats and politicians will be corrupted. You can identify the morally strong in the Marvel Universe by looking for the physically powerful. They certainly have something to say, and it's the typical propaganda of super hero fiction.

I strongly disagree with this. Part of Captain America’s story was that he was only given physical strength because he deserved it as a moral individual. Iron Man spends a few movies feeling guilty for being a war profiteer and trying to make up for it by doing good, and then in the post-Avengers movies he struggles even more with the idea that his heroics have resulted in just as much death and destruction as his weapons sales. Doctor Strange gains his power by being willing to question his beliefs and then work really hard. And of course there’s Spider Man, who tries to use his powers for good but ends up bumbling around and screwing things up most of the time because he needs to learn that teenagers don’t actually know everything and the wisdom of age is important. Winter Soldier specifically railed against giving the government too much power because it’s impossoble to ensure it will be used for good.

I could go on, but hopefully I’ve made my point!

>They've got absolutely nothing to say about the world or the human condition

Which is what made this show so special. Wolverine probably spent more time dealing with the death of Morph in this Saturday morning cartoon than characters in the MCU spend dealing with the death of their twin in PG-13 movies.

Well, part of that is movies (especially action movies) aren't well equipped to deal with those things. The cartoon gets ~20 minutes a week for weeks on end, the movie gets ~2-2.5 hours in one sitting. TV show can devote an entire episode to something like that, or continue bringing it up in 1-2 minute segments. Movie has to get it over and done with.

It isn't about length of screen time. The different mediums have different opportunities and obligations. What is important is the emotional weight of the screen time given. Plenty of movies, even super hero movies like Logan, are able to give that weight in short bursts.

I've always liked Prozd's 30-second videos on the subject of MCU.

* https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0zPEtyAsM94 * https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UaNWFHLy2NI

Iron Man was definitely fresh and new when it came out. But a lot of MCU movies have been more of the same. A lot of villains are simply evil counter-parts to the hero (the exceptions are basically Thor / Loki... Guardians of the Galaxy, and Spiderman).

I still enjoy MCU movies, and have watched most of them. But the formula is becoming stale and old for sure.

What about Deadpool?