So DC had one line of thought: let’s forget about it… okay, different universes… look, do you even really care?
And Marvel had another: Yes, there’s continuity. Through superscience. And magic. And alternate realities. Or sometimes partially-overwritten timelines. And a sliding timescale where “Cap punched the President” could mean Eisenhower, Nixon, or Clinton as necessary. But only as needed on a case-by-cases basis. So, do you want to start read… hey, where are you going? Fine, so long as you see the movie.
The question is, “isn’t that expected”? And the answer is “not really”. The stories most people like, the ones that are now being made into movies, really didn’t depend on any of that.
When Claremont took the X-Men and said, “they’re a lot more interesting if there’s some fear and racism toward these characters” it propelled the story forward and opened up possibilities without retcons. It saw what was there, added to it, and in such a way that none of the existing characters were damaged. I would argue the same could have been true (but largely wasn’t) with Spider-Man’s marriage. Similarly with Cap and the Secret Empire storyline. Civil War was nonsensical, but it at least had a fresh basis in today’s world that took things in a new direction without fundamentally disrespecting the characters, or the fans who’ve invested themselves in their stories.
Not everything has to be grandiose, epic arcs here either. Some of Thor’s best stories are when he was temporarily turned into a frog, or even just trying to explain to new age-ers, “well, I am a god, but I don’t actually expect worship anymore…”
And even horribly planned and executed story lines like the Spider-Man clone saga didn’t need to be magic-ed away. They could take a back seat as a thing that happened but can now mostly be forgotten about, without needing a magic reset button.
