As a wee lad in my homeland, I could actually get comics at corner kiosks (and I did). The comics sold there where Marvel comics, and so I had a deep apreciation for the characters. Spiderman (whos iconic form was that of a married man, to me) was my favorite, but I also liked the Fantastic 4.
It wasn't all great, and I fell out of it once I felt the characters became repetative, but I liked the universe as a whole.
Then came the Marvel films, and they felt impressive at first. To me the entire idea of what could be done with it culminated in the Avengers. After that, I became increasingly bored with them. The limits of the format, the general repitition, and near identical everything between every film made each one feel like a Malibu Stacey. Identical sans a different hat.
With time I began to forget what I even liked about the Marvel Universe since it was so boring. My childhood liking of the setting faded away and was replaced by an endless procession of special effects farmed out to the same people in South korea or india. Similar art design, similar toned down villians, samey plots....So boring. I attributed me liking it as a kid to having low expectations.
But one day I watched the Avengers: Earths Mightiest Heroes animated show (because I like animated things)....And it was like a jolt of energy. 'Oh yeah, THATS what the MU is about!'. AEMH is a brilliant adaptation all on its own, doing in two seasons nearly what the DAU did in multiple series with a strong focus on continuity and a great backstory that meant you got to experience the story in media rez instead of focusing on a villian of the week.
Which made me realize how shitty the MCU is outside of its base elements of being a mildly crossovery series. How much creative or fun stuff had to be given the axe in order to cram this animal into a standardized generic box. The Scrull, an awesome species of shapeshifting paranoia inducing alien invaders are a fuckin footnote.
Im not blind to the old Marvel comics faults. Lots of flabs and bad writing. But I realized that the MCU is cripplingly limited. It turns all plots and characters into a mush, dyes it up in the same cinematographic food coloring, and then sells it. Thats why the MCU is a crabstick.