MCU

Near the end of John Boyne's "The Heart's Invisible Furies," a teenager exhorts his grandfather to watch a superhero movie with him and at the end of it he offers to give him a box set to view so that it will all make sense. This no doubt refers to the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU). 

The first one was "Iron Man" (2008, dir. Jon Favreau) and the most recent one (as of this writing) is "Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2" (2017, dir. James Gunn). It was with "Captain America: The Winter Soldier" (2014, dir. Anthony and Joe Russo) when these movies lifted off the genre for me. They have the ability to subvert themes into the genre, much the way Douglas Sirk stuffed all his subversions in his later melodramas, and reflect the current times.

Included in this group is "Logan" (2017, dir. James Mangold), which is not officially part of the MCU, but is a Marvel property. It is also an outstanding synthesis of the western and the superhero genre. 

I have not seen them all (16 so far). And maybe I'll listen to the grandson in Boyne's book and start from the beginning. 

Iron Man 

(2008, dir. Jon Favreau) 

War profiteer's heart

Replaced. Reflects feeling to 

End Bush era wars.

Doctor Strange

(2016, dir. Scott Derrickson)

Doctor journeys east,

Turns wizard. White-washing mars

Mind-blowing effects.

Spider-Man: Homecoming

(2017, dir. Jon Watts)

Spidey as eighties

High school comedy. Keaton's 

Vulture airborne high.

Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2

(2017, dir. James Gunn)

Quill meets dad, true blood

Disappoints. Tribe of misfits

Better family.

Logan

(2017, dir. James Mangold)

"X-men" grows up, blends

Genres, cribs "Shane." Future

Mutants, true country.