A Guide to the Marvel Cinematic Multiverse

In a previous blog post, we examined the history and future of the various DC Comics cinematic franchises that make up what I (apparently alone) am calling the DC Cinematic Multiverse. But DC isn’t the only company to have a massive tangle of cinematic universes under its belt. It’s long-time rival Marvel has been even more prolific when it comes to adapting their material for the large and small screen. Unlike DC, though, Marvel gave up control over much of it’s catalog during the dark times (the 1996 bankruptcy and subsequent reorganization), resulting it several different studios having access to bits and pieces of the Marvel world. To this day there is still a lot of confusion over who has what rights, who can be in which films, and on-screen with who else, and which films belong to which shared canon.

Note: As with the DC post, I am mostly ignoring the animated parts of the Marvel multi-verse. There have been 36 (to date) animated shows and about a dozen animated movies.  In general, with two notable exceptions, these shows all exist in their own separate universes, with their own separate designations in the Marvel reality catalog, and otherwise play no role in the live-action TV or movie worlds.

So, as we did with DC, lets see if we can make some sense of of the tangled mess that is the Marvel Cinematic Multiverse.

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The Great Science-Fiction/Fantasy TV Showdown! – Results and Round 3 (2nd Edition)

First, an explanation and an apology. This is not the original Round 3. The first version had different rankings, that in retrospect, were not the best. After multiple people expressed their views on it, I decided to start Round 3 over. Sorry for the poor choice and confusion, and hopefully this will go better the second time around.

Now, the results from Round 2! I’m happy to write that 37 members voted, eight more than Round 1.

The bold numbers represent how many people voted for each series.

  1.  “I’m old enough to know that a longer life isn’t always a better one. In the end, you just get tired; tired of the struggle, tired of losing everyone that matters to you, tired of watching everything you love turn to dust. If you live long enough, Lazarus, the only certainty left is that you’ll end up alone.” Doctor Who just barely lost to Star Trek: The Next Generation. 17/16
  2. “What do we say to the God of death?” “Not today.” Game of Thrones lost to Firefly. 22/12
  3.  “Pants are an illusion, and so is death.” Perhaps not, as Avatar: The Last Airbender lost to Star Wars: The Clone Wars. 13/11
  4. Batman: The Animated Series and Justice League Unlimited tied.  Out of necessity, a coin was flipped and Batman: The Animated Series won. 9/9
  5. The man with no fear beats the fastest man alive. The Flash loses to Daredevil. 19/9
  6. Stargate: SG-1 beats Babylon 5. 13/9
  7. Transformers was apparently exactly what met the eye, and lost to TMNT. 17/8
  8. Futurama beat MLP:Friendship is Magic. 20/8
  9. The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy didn’t have anything on how to beat Quantum Leap. 20/9
  10. Buffy the Vampire Slayer beat X-Files. 17/12
  11.  Farscape was far more popular than The Twilight Zone. 13/8
  12. Supernatural beat Sabrina the Teenage Witch, (super)naturally. 13/10

 

And now, on to The Great Science-Fiction/Fantasy TV Showdown, Round 3: Back with a Vengeance!

I used Random.org to input the 12 properties. I then took the pairs to use for the brackets.

Screen Shot 2016-05-15 at 7.22.19 PM

  1. Buffy the Vampire Slayer VS Daredevil
  2. Stargate: SG-1 VS Star Wars: The Clone Wars
  3. Firefly VS Quantum Leap
  4. Farscape VS Star Trek: The Next Generation
  5. Futurama VS TMNT (Original)
  6. Batman: The Animated Series VS Supernatural

 

To vote for Round Three, just click here.

 

Remember, you can also chat about all aspects of the competition here!

The Great Science-Fiction/Fantasy TV Showdown! – Results and Round Two

First off, I’d like to thank everyone who’s helped me with this, including, but not limited to everyone who helped choose shows, everyone who voted and predicted,  Jack B Nimble for all the blog stuff and especially, Rand al’Thor, for helping me, giving positive feedback and defending this entire event multiple times.

And now, the results! I’m happy to write that 29 members voted and 19 predicted. The bold numbers represent how many people voted for each series.

  1. Star Trek: The Original Series went boldly where no show had gone before and lost to Star Trek: The Next Generation.  17/3
  2.  Futurama beat Rick and Morty. 17/3
  3. Adventure Time just barely lost to MLP: Friendship is Magic. 9/8
  4.  Buffy the Vampire Slayer slew Angel. 12/8
  5.  Nu-Who beat Classic Doctor Who so much it couldn’t even regenerate. 20/2
  6.  The Legend of Korra couldn’t redirect Avatar: The Last Airbender‘s lightning. 11/4
  7.  LOST lost. The X-Files won.  15/4
  8.  Batman: The Animated Series beat Classic Batman like it was the Joker’s henchman. 11/4
  9.  And the twist is that The Twilight Zone beat The Outer Limits. 11/5
  10.  “This is a rebellion, isn’t it? I rebel lose to Star Wars: The Clone Wars“. 12/5
  11.  TMNT (2012) was dishonorable defeated by TMNT (Original). 12/5
  12. “When you play the Game of Thrones, you either win, or you die.” Let’s just say they didn’t die to The Walking Dead. 9/7
  13. Babylon 5 wasn’t the one who only got 5 votes. That was Battlestar Galactica (2004). 10/5
  14. The Flash just barely outran Arrow. 9/8
  15.  Justice League Unlimited apparently has unlimited appeal, compared to The Spectacular Spider-Man. 10/1
  16.  Farscape beat Red Dwarf. 12/8
  17.  Daredevil beat Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. Blindfolded. 12/5
  18. Supernatural superbeat Once Upon a Time. 10/4
  19. Stargate: SG-1 beat The Sarah Conner Chronicles across all of time and space. 14/4
  20. The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy defeated The Incredible Hulk. He’s presumably quite angry now. 10/6
  21.  Gravity Falls gravity fell. Transformers won. 9/6
  22. Sabrina the Teenage Witch beat ALF, therefore answering the age old question “who’s more popular, a magical teenager girl, or a minuscule alien who enjoys consuming cats?” 12/7
  23.  Quantum Leap quantum leapt right over Torchwood. 14/8
  24. Firefly kept flying right past Fringe.  21/5

 

Here are the prediction recaps. Bold means the show is still in the running.

  • Star Trek: The Next Generation: 4
  • Firefly: 3
  • Nu-Who:  3
  • My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic: 2
  • Daredevil: 2
  • Game of Thrones: 2
  • Batman: The Animated Series: 2
  • Buffy the Vampire Slayer: 1
  • Star Trek: The Original Series: 1

 

And now, on to The Great Science-Fiction/Fantasy TV Showdown, Round Two!

After thinking about it for a long time, I’ve decided to arrange the surviving shows in an attempt to prevent steam-rolling. This may not not be entirely “fair” but I argue it gives better data on what shows are more popular among our user-base. For example, everyone knows that Firefly is far more popular than Once Upon a Time, but as of now, we don’t really know whether Supernatural or Sabrina the Teenage Witch are more popular.

 

  1. The Heavy Contenders #1: Star Trek: The Next Generation and Nu-Who
  2. The Heavy Contenders #2: Game of Thrones and Firefly
  3. Dave Filoni: Star Wars: The Clone Wars and Avatar: The Last Airbender
  4. DC Animated: Justice League Unlimited and Batman: The Animated Series
  5. Marvel VS DC: The Flash and Daredevil
  6. Science Fiction with Numbers in their Names: Babylon 5 and Stargate: SG-1
  7. #80’s: Transformers (Original) and TMNT (Original)
  8. Animation Across the Nations, 2.0 Edition: Futurama and MLP: Friendship is Magic
  9. Old School: The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy (Series) and Quantum Leap
  10. 90’s and Beyond: Buffy the Vampire Slayer and The X-Files
  11. Left-Overs (Part 1): Farscape and The Twilight Zone (Original)
  12. Left-Overs (Part 2): Sabrina the Teenage Witch and Supernatural

 

It’s too late to predict, but you can still vote for Round Two! Just click here.

 

Remember, you can also chat about all aspects of the competition here!

The Great Science-Fiction/Fantasy TV Showdown!

HungerGames

 

If there’s one thing science-fiction and fantasy fans like more than watching, reading and playing science-fiction and fantasy, it’s arguing about watching, reading and playing science-fiction and fantasy. Marvel vs. DC. Star Wars vs. Star Trek. Classic Who vs. NuWho. These debates may very well rage on for the rest of time.

But now, The Science Fiction and Fantasy Stack Exchange is going to what they can to help settle these debates. Every month or so (hopefully), we’ll host a bracket, where all members of the site will be able to vote in order to determine the best of the science-fiction and fantasy best.

This month, we’re doing science fiction and fantasy TV shows. I, with help from other members of site, have selected 48 science fiction and fantasy TV shows from across the decades. These 48 shows were chosen by popularity and notability, and range the full spectrum of sub-genres and fan-bases. I have arranged them to hopefully prevent any round one steam-rolling.

So without further ado, arranged in no particular order for the primary bracket, the shows!

  1. Trek Yourself Before You Wreck Yourself:
    Star Trek: The Original Series /
    Star Trek: The Next Generation

  2. Not Your Children’s’ Cartoons:
    Futurama /
    Rick and Morty

  3. Fun For All Ages:
    Adventure Time /
    My Little Pony Friendship is Magic

  4. The Family That Slays Together:
    Buffy the Vampire Slayer /
    Angel

  5. Who Are You? Who, Who, Who, Who?:
    Classic Doctor Who /
    Nu-Who

  6. The Element Of Surprise:
    Avatar: The Last Airbender /
    The Legend of Korra

  7. Mysteries And Stuff:
    LOST /
    X-Files

  8. Batman V Batman: Dawn of Batman:
    Batman (‘60s) /
    Batman: The Animated Series

  9. What A Twist!:
    The Twilight Zone (Original) /
    The Outer Limits (Original)

  10. Jedi Did Not See That Coming:
    Star Wars: The Clone Wars /
    Star Wars: Rebels

  11. Turtle Power!:
    TMNT (Original)  /
    TMNT (2012)

  12. No Spoilers!:
    Game of Thrones /
    The Walking Dead

  13. Space And Stuff:
    Battlestar Galactica (2004) /
    Babylon 5

  14. DC on CW:
    Arrow /
    The Flash (2014)

  15. This IS A Place For A Hero:
    The Spectacular Spider-Man /
    Justice League Unlimited

  16. Aussies and Brits:
    Farscape /
    Red Dwarf

  17. Simply Marvelous:
    Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D /
    Daredevil

  18. Currently Airing Fantasy:
    Supernatural /
    Once Upon a Time

  19. The Spin-Offs:
    Stargate: SG-1 /
    The Sarah Connor Chronicles

  20. The Classics:
    The Incredible Hulk (1978) /
    The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy (TV series)

  21. Animation Across The Nation(s):
    Transformers (1984) /
    Gravity Falls

  22. Pretty Funny:
    Sabrina the Teenage Witch /
    ALF

  23. Time After Time:
    Quantum Leap /
    Torchwood

  24. There Are Two Left Over And I Can’t Think Of Any Connection But They Both Start With F, So Let’s Go With That:
    Firefly /
    Fringe

 

In addition to choosing the most popular series, there also a chance for you to win. During the first week of the event, everyone will have the opportunity to choose the show they think will be the most popular. After the winner is chosen, everyone who correctly guessed will go into a raffle, and a randomly chosen member will get a 100 Rep bounty.

 

To vote and predict, just click on this link!

 

 

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