User blog comment:ADour/Official title for Marvel's The Avengers sequel announced!/@comment-4651179-20130721032030/@comment-1895174-20130723060236

It only expands a universe in that there is a new character. Adding a new Batman to this line of Superman films or a new Spider-Man to the X-Men films expands their universes no more than adding Luthor or Apocalypse (respectively, of course) would. That doesn't create an expanded, interconnected universe. It just means there's one extra character.

And creating a spin-off doesn't create one either. No one refers to the X-Men films in the same way they refer to the MCU because Wolverine got a spin-off.

Furthermore, a film being true to the comics doesn't guarantee it'll work. Watchmen proved that.

Buddy movies don't wait for the sequel to introduce the buddy. Toy Story didn't spend an entire movie on Woody only to introduce Buzz in the sequel.

Also, Batman vs. Superman (which is apparently the film's working title) was introduced as the sequel to Man of Steel. There hasn't been a single moment where it wasn't Man of Steel 2.