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While I agree with this quote somewhat, there still has to be some stakes and sense of scale, even in something like superhero stuff.
I'd say consistency. The world has to be consistent with its internal rules. MCU world says "hulk is much stronger than a normal human" + says "falcon is a normal human"
Without consistency you loose a frame of reference, narrative weaving and hence believable (likely in world) stakes.
The universe of The Little Mermaid establishes the crabs can sing. The Marvel Universe establishes that Hulk is one of the strongest characters in said universe. Meanwhile, Sam Wilson is established as a normal man just with some fancy gadgets.
So not even in the fictional Marvel Universe does it make sense for Sam to go toe-to-toe with Red Hulk![]()
Even in the comics they play with scaling powers but within limits.
Robert Mayer Burnett often talks about the need for believability in the stakes in a movie as encompassed by the term "verisimilitude".
"Verisimilitude (/ˌvɛrɪsɪˈmɪlɪtjuːd/) is the "lifelikeness" or believability of a work of fiction. The word comes from Latin: verum meaning truth and similis meaning similar.[1] Language philosopher Steve Neale distinguishes between two types: cultural verisimilitude, meaning plausibility of the fictional work within the cultural and/or historical context of the real world, outside of the work; and generic verisimilitude, meaning plausibility of a fictional work within the bounds of its own genre (so that, for example, characters regularly singing about their feelings is a believable action within the fictional universe of a musical)"
"In the production of the classic superhero film, Superman, director Richard Donner had a picture of the title character holding a sash with the word "verisimilitude" on it in his office during the project. That display was to remind Donner that he intended to approach the story of the fantasy superhero in a way true to the source material that would make it feel intuitively real to the audience within the context of the story's world. The result was a highly acclaimed film that would set the standard for a film genre that would become dominant decades later.[8]"
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Verisimilitude (fiction) - Wikipedia
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