The Marvel Cinematic Universe is about to reach the conclusion of its biggest story arc yet: The Infinity Saga. So before Avengers: Endgame comes out, I want to reflect on why I enjoy this series so much. It all comes down to the shared universe.

Shared universes are not new. Movies, TV shows, and comic books have been doing it since the beginning of their existence. But the way comics have done it has always been different. Movies and television will either make a direct sequel, or give a character their own spinoff completely disconnected from the original source material. Sometimes crossovers happen, but they usually have little to no affect on anything once it’s over. But in comics there are multiple stories happening at the same time, and what happens in one story can affect another. Crossovers actually matter.

When Marvel Studios decided to start making their own movies, they used the same strategy from their comics. From day one it was designed to be a shared universe where crossovers happen and have an affect on the world. This amount of connectivity between movies had never been planned out like this before. At the same time, most of the films can stand on their own. Each movie is pretty self-contained while also being part of a larger universe. Marvel tells one story per movie, but they always remember that this isn’t the only story.

One of the things I really like about this format is that it gives us time to get to know the characters. The characters are the thing people love most about the MCU and part of that is because we get to spend so much time with them. This also means that when an Avengers movie happens, they don’t need to spend time explaining who everyone is and what their powers are. You have that information because you’ve seen the other movies, which means they have more time for the actual story.

You’ve probably seen a movie (or a TV show) where everything comes together in the end and it blows your mind. It feels like you have been rewarded for paying attention and watching the entire story. It’s one of the most fun experiences you can have while watching a movie. Marvel Studios has done this on a much bigger scale. Over the course of 11 years, they’ve made 22 movies that are all part of a larger story. The Marvel Cinematic Universe is one massive audience reward.

I also really appreciate the casting of these movies. First of all, Robert Downey Jr. as Tony Stark is the greatest superhero movie casting decision of all time. As for the other characters, there’s a lot of them and all of them have been cast really well. There were a couple of mistakes in the beginning, but we got there eventually. For the most part, they got it right the first time. Not only are all of these actors amazing, but a lot of them are pretty big stars in their own right. And many of them don’t just play a character once, they keep coming back. Marvel Studios even found a way to take a bunch of these actors and put them all together for two of the biggest movies ever made.

The Marvel Cinematic Universe is doing something that has never been done before. When they started building this universe, there was no template to work from. They had to figure out how all these pieces fit together as it was happening. Furthermore, this new and interesting idea could have been botched in the execution. But while Marvel Studios was inventing a new kind of cinematic storytelling, they also made a bunch of great movies. And making a great movie is really hard. It’s amazing that they have made 22 movies and most of them are at least decent. Some of them are pretty fantastic.

If I had to rate the MCU on a 5 star scale, I would give it a solid 4 stars. It’s not always amazing, but it’s still pretty great. Recently I realized that because I’ve given every movie its own rating, I could find the average and get a rating for the MCU as a whole. So I did the math and it came out to 3.5 stars, but my overall feeling is still higher than that. It’s because the thing I enjoy the most is not specific to any individual movie, it’s how they’re all connected. The Marvel Cinematic Universe is greater than the sum of its parts.