When Nick Fury first stepped out of the shadows to greet Tony Stark in the after-credits stinger of Iron Man ten years ago, it not only signaled the dawn of a new era of blockbusters, but the next logical step in offering up a faithful adaptation of many long running comic-book properties.

Back in 2012, I looked over the ups and downs of the handful of superhero film franchises that had made it all the way to Chapter 3 before going downhill.

With big screen superheroes assuming command of the box office and Avengers: Infinity War on the horizon, now’s a good time as any for a quick retrospective at the trilogies that have formed in the meantime, and how they’ve managed to circumvent the problems that doomed many of their predecessors.