There are movie franchises that I care a great deal about, like Alien and Star Trek, and others that I really don’t that are still enormously popular, like the Fast and Furious and Friday the 13th. There are venerable film series that have been trundling along for decades with various degrees of success like James Bond. And then there’s Marvel’s Cinematic Universe, an ongoing series of films that have not failed to be excellent in nearly every way — even when I didn’t think they possibly could be.

The latest entry in the MCU, Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2, adds yet another achievement to this series of films that already includes Iron Man, the Mighty Thor, Captain America, Doctor Strange, and a host of supporting heroes — and villains — in it’s ever expanding roster. A film critic once described The Lord of the Rings as having more characters than the Bible. The MCU embodies this sentiment like no other film franchise since.