"I think they're at a point with the success they've had over the last decade where they can pull away from basing the big franchises off of popular comic-book events," Betancourt said. "They have enough firepower now that they don't need to go into the comic-book vault. Maybe they can start just leaning on the creativity of the people they have in house to create something new."
Franchises dominate the moviegoing experience these days, but the MCU is the only one that has landed on a winning formula where it can deliver up to three movies a year, and all of them are box-office successes.
Even the "Star Wars" franchise hit a speed bump last year with "Solo," which was the first "Star Wars" movie during the Disney era that didn't crack $1 billion worldwide (it made less than $400 million). Iger said to expect a "slow down" on "Star Wars" movies following "Solo."
The MCU has experienced no such speed bump, and has only grown over time. Seven of the nine MCU movies released since 2016 are among the franchise's top 10 highest grossing movies worldwide.
