Entertainment franchises have become extraordinarily valuable intellectual property for media and tech titans. Some go deeper than others, and the criteria is a challenge, but this week’s Top Ten Tuesday ranks the best entertainment universes that are in ways a world of their own.
10. Rocky
There are many universes that have a case for the top ten, including Universal Classic Monsters, some Disney/Pixar stories, and anime like Pokémon and Dragon Ball. But there’s something to be said for the relentlessness and longevity shown by the Rocky franchise started by Sylvester Stallone. Rocky Balboa is a beloved fictional character that has a real-life statue in Philadelphia, where the film series is set. Also, the Creed films starring Michael B. Jordan have done a great job of carrying the torch.
9. Tarantinoverse
This is the most loosely connected of the universes included in these rankings, but legendary director Quintin Tarantino has scattered easter eggs throughout his films and has confirmed that there are connections, including most notably the presence of the Vega brothers from his first two films (Michael Madsen, who confirmed the theory, as Vic Vega in 1992’s Reservoir Dogs and John Travolta as Vincent Vega in 1994’s Pulp Fiction). Tarantino says his expected tenth and final film will be “epilogue-y”, so it’ll be interesting to see if any connections within the alternate-history Tarantinoverse are more evident.
8. Breaking Bad
Based on quality alone, the Breaking Bad universe would be in the top five of fictional type of universes. Both Breaking Bad and Better Call Saul are arguably top-ten television shows of all-time, and El Camino was a solid movie centered around the distinctive character Jesse Pinkman. However, the scale of the little world—mostly set in Albuquerque, New Mexico—simply isn’t as massive as the top seven on the list, which go further in creating an original world for its characters. But a major hat tip to Vince Gilligan and Peter Gould for landing in this Top Ten Tuesday based on two television series and one film. Like Rocky Balboa, Walter White and Jesse Pinkman have real statues thanks to their fictional contributions.
7. The Wizarding World
J.K. Rowling’s original Harry Potter story has by far become the highest-selling series of novels in history, with the debut Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone (released in 1997) selling an astonishing 120 million copies alone (third all-time behind only A Tale of Two Cities and The Little Prince among novels that have accurately had sales tracked). Say what you will about popular opinion, but that type of success is not to be discounted and speaks of the caliber of Rowling’s fictional world—which quickly and successfully transitioned to telling the story on screen with big Hollywood movies.
6. The Lord of the Rings
The Middle-earth story from the great J. R. R. Tolkien has similarly gone from very successful novel series (starting with The Hobbit, a children’s fantasy novel from 1937 and eventually the masterpiece The Lord of the Rings epic fantasy released from 1954-1955) to acclaimed motion-pictures. At its core, The Lord of the Rings is a traditional good-versus-evil tale, and Amazon’s willingness to spend $250 million to the Tolkien estate for the television rights of the universe is an indication of its quality.
5. Star Trek
Space is an interesting topic to many folks, and Star Trek (created by Gene Roddenberry) pioneered the genre and instantly became a pop-culture phenomenon in the 1960s. Star Trek began with The Original Series on television from 1966-1969, and TV arguably gives a better medium to tell a story over the course of more hours than films—but movies were also created and have been running for years. Star Trek was totally groundbreaking for its time and has an influence surpassing its science-fiction premise.
4. Marvel Comics
Marvel Comics have long been very popular since the Marvel era began in 1961, led by The Fantastic Four. Over the past several decades, characters like Spider-Man, Iron Man, and the Hulk—along with teams like the X-Men and supervillains like Doctor Doom and Magneto—have become very popular. However, Disney’s Marvel Cinematic Universe deserves credit for taking advantage of the IP they acquired and putting together a superbly connected cinematic universe that’s become a world of its own—the MCU helps Marvel land easily in the top five.
3. Star Wars
Disney’s handling of the Skywalker saga has been more controversial than Marvel, but no matter where you stand on the sequel trilogy, some really good stuff has been done with Star Wars under its owners (like Rogue One and The Mandalorian). The foundation is sturdy from the celebrated original trilogy, which brought us characters like Han Solo, Princess Leia, Luke Skywalker, Yoda, R2-D2, and one of the greatest villains ever in Darth Vader. Whereas Star Trek’s universe has little need for money, money, power, and fear is a motivating factor in Star Wars, making it highly relatable on a space opera scale. It’s no wonder Disney paid a few billion dollars to purchase the franchise.
2. DC Comics
Marvel has had the advantage overall when it comes to creating a shared movie universe of its characters over the past 15 years, but DC Comics (launched in 1939) is the original and basically started the superhero trend. DC’s trinity of Batman, Superman, and Wonder Woman are as iconic as it gets in comic books, and the villains like the Joker, Darkseid, and Lex Luthor are tough to top. While the DCEU hasn’t enjoyed the success of the MCU, DC has shown in comics, film, and television that they can bring their characters together—“World’s Finest” Batman and Superman most of all—within the story, including at iconic fictional locations in Gotham City and Metropolis. Warner Bros. did well to buy DC Comics all the way back in 1969. To note, The Dark Knight Trilogy from Christopher Nolan easily could have been on the list alone, but his Batman story is of course included with DC Comics here at No. 2.
1. Game of Thrones
The depth and detail of George R.R. Martin’s A Song of Ice and Fire universe is fully deserving of the term “awesome”. Taking things from real life like the Wars of the Roses, the Black Dinner of 1440, and the Massacre of Glencoe of 1962, the characters and events in Westeros have backstory upon backstory and feel like a legitimate alternate reality. Like other fantasy worlds, there is magic; but the magic is on the outskirts of the story, which is arguably a major plus. Martin’s creation of “Houses” that readers/viewers can relate to and cheer for or very strongly against was masterful. As opposed to most stories of good-versus-evil, A Song of Ice and Fire is able to essentially capture the best of everything to create a realistic, unpredictable drama with characters that behave as we as people do in the real world—with epic battles, stunning twists, and elite heroes and villains (and those in between) on top of it. Warner Bros. Discovery and HBO are fortunate to have A Song of Ice and Fire—headlined by the hit series Game of Thrones and now followed up by the promising House of the Dragon—under its umbrella.
For more on the depth of ASOIAF, check our non-spoiler and spoiler family trees for Game of Thrones, which covers just a portion of GRRM’s creation.