[Deathryuger]

IMO, Marvel Studios is riding the George Lucas wave. They basically flipped the bird to the movie industry and made the movies the way they wanted to, like Lucas with the first Star Wars trilogy. That is where a lot of the critical leniency is coming from. However, I think that the shine will eventually fade, and I think Guardians could be that first miss.

Comparing ASM with Cap was something I did, and I personally enjoyed Cap more. Now there is personal bias due to Winter Soldier being a personal favorite, but I thought the movie had a better pace to it. ASM felt too long, and there were moments in the theater where I was checking my watch to see the time. I think the movie would have been tighter if they had just cut out the parts with Peter's parents, which would have also given more time to Electro and Osborne.

As for Fox and Sony, it doesn't make any sense as to why they don't swallow their pride and cooperates with Marvel Studios/Disney. Unless I'm missing something, they are already licensing the properties, so Marvel is still getting a cut. They don't even need to do crossover movies every year, but just that connected universe where Iron Man or Cap could be in Spiderman 3 would bring in even more money. The issues are already becoming apparent since the new X-Men movie will have Quicksilver/Scarlet Witch and they are going to be using them leading into Avengers 2.