Is Anything A Greater Cinematic Achievement Than The MCU?

That’s a fair point as well, DC-Fan. Star Wars and Jaws seem more influential in the scheme of things, but then (to play devil’s advocate) they’ve also had more time to be considered “revolutionary.” I think Superman is indeed the major influence here, and I agree with you that it is a genuine “cinematic achievement.” (It’s also probably the only superhero flick I’d put on a list of my favorite movies.)

The question is, however, one of definitions. Does Arch’s term refer to box office success? Popularity with audience? With critics? Influence on other movies? On cinema in general? The question is not only hyperbolic, as sostie wrote, but also so nebulous as to render it meaningless. 

Sure, Marvel has had achieved something in marketing this shared universe concept and making it work over a series of films. No one, myself included, is minimizing that. But the greatest cinematic achievement? Even a great (no -est about it) cinematic achievement, in a world of so many films, classic and otherwise? In a world of Hitchcock, Ford, Bergman… (Here I go again!) Nope. They’re fun comic book movies—that’s all.