What irks me most about the whole “we can’t do what the audience expects!” attitude that has developed for big franchise stories is that, honestly, 95% of the audience isn’t thinking about it that hard. It says that creators are looking at the 5% of their audience who care the most, who are really invested in their work, often the people who care about stories and narratives in general…and perceiving that not as care, as a positive offering, but as the opening of intellectual combat.
What a deeply tiring way to interact with the rest of the world.