Why Shared Universes Are Expanding Beyond Superheroes

 

For a while, the "shared universe" was basically just a Marvel thing. It worked there because it made sense. Comic books already operate that way -- overlapping characters, ongoing storylines, different arcs feeding into each other. The movies just translated that structure to the screen.

But now, that same model is showing up everywhere else. And not always for the same reasons. It’s not just superheroes anymore. It’s video games, legacy franchises, even movies that probably weren’t meant to be connected in the first place. Everything is starting to feel like it’s part of something bigger, whether it needs to be or not.

You can see it most clearly with Nintendo right now. The Mario movies aren’t just adapting games; they’re quietly setting up something larger. When characters from other franchises start appearing, even briefly, it stops being a standalone story and starts feeling like groundwork. The goal isn’t just one successful movie, It’s a system that can keep expanding.

And that’s the key difference -- studios aren’t just making sequels anymore. They’re building ecosystems. It makes sense from a business perspective. A shared universe gives you multiple entry points, multiple characters to spin-off, and a built-in reason for audiences to keep coming back. If one project works, it feeds into the next. If it doesn’t, something else in the same world might.

It’s a safer bet than starting from scratch every time. That’s why you’re seeing this push across different types of IP. Video game adaptations are leaning into it. Older franchises keep getting revived with the idea that they could branch out again. Even movies that feel self-contained still leave room for expansion, just in case.

The assumption is always the same: if this works, it shouldn’t stop here. The problem is that not every story benefits from that approach. Superheroes were built for it, but a lot of other properties aren’t. When everything is designed to connect, you start to lose the sense that any single movie fully stands on its own. Endings feel less like conclusions and more like pauses. Characters don’t just exist in one story, they’re positioned for future use. It can make things feel thinner, even when the production itself is big, and audiences are starting to notice that.

 

There’s still interest in big, connected worlds, but there’s also a growing fatigue around the idea that everything has to lead somewhere. Not every movie needs a setup. Not every character needs a spin-off. Sometimes the appeal is that something just… ends. But the industry isn’t really built to prioritize that right now. As long as shared universes keep working financially, they’re going to keep expanding into new spaces. Superheroes just proved the model. Everything else is following it.

The real question is whether all of these franchises can sustain that kind of growth, or if we’re heading toward a point where the model stops working outside of the genre that made it successful in the first place, because once everything is connected, it stops feeling special. It just feels expected.